The Tonkawa language was extensively studied in 1829, and a hundred years later, Harry Hoijer discovered that many words of basic vocabulary had undergone radical changes: water, tree, and body part designations.
Interestingly, among the new words, there were hardly any borrowings from other languages, and they were formed according to a similar principle: tooth became, literally translated, “chewer”, leg – “walker”, hand – “toucher”. Linguists agreed that the Tonkawa people conducted a massive euphemization of the language, and the tabooing of words was caused by their similarity to the names of deceased tribe members.
It is likely even possible to specify a particular date – October 23, 1862 – when the event that triggered these changes occurred. At that time, the Tonkawa tribe, consisting of 300-400 people and under the protection of the Confederates, was attacked by other Native Americans, allies of the Northerners, and lost about half of its population.