The Shoshonean Indian linguistic family, which once occupied practically the entire Great Basin, with considerable additional territory in both the Atlantic and Pacific drainages, is one of the great stocks of North America. It is, however, the least known ethnologically of the larger families north of Mexico. The relations to one another of its various subdivisions, and the extent and inclusion of its tribal groups, have been imperfectly understood. Linguistically, matters are superficially better, since many vocabularies have been collected and published since the beginning of the last century. But knowledge of the structure of the language has lagged behind, and there is not yet printed even a sketch of the grammar of any Shoshonean dialect (from the introduction).

Contents: Shoshonean dialects and divisions (new vocabularies, classification, Pueblo, Plateau, Kern River, Southern California Branch), Ute- Chemehuevi Group, Shoshoni-Comanche Group, Mono-Paviotso Group, Serrano Group, Luiseño-Cahuilla Group, Relationship of Shoshonean to Nahuatl, historical conclusions (Re-edition; originally published 1907 in Berkeley; written in English)