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Spoken in Northern California, Karuk is an isolate, or a language that has no demonstrated relationship to other documented languages. The Haida language in Alaska is an isolate as well. However, most Native languages belong to language families, or groups of languages whose similarities can be attributed to shared descent from a single language spoken thousands of years ago. Curiously, isolates are more prevalent in regions where numerous nonisolates are also spoken. Thus, the geographical circumstances that favor the development of isolates may also drive diversification within language families.