Featured Site

How Many Indigenous Languages Still Spoken in U.S.? How many speakers? Languages, Numbers of Speakers, Location (State/City). James Estes

Publications

• The American Language Reprint Series The American Language Reprint (ALR) series aims to make available the various word-lists, vocabularies and phrase books which were compiled in the early years of North American settlement.
• International Journal of American Linguistics Papers on Native American Languages (Titles: January 1995 - April 2000)
• Vernacular Publications/Technical Publications. In the following Native languages: Alabama, Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Dakota, Hopi, Kiowa, Lakota, Mohawk, Navajo, Northern and Southern Paiute, Potawatomie, Shoshone Papago-Pima, Ute, Zuni

Language Statistics

• Alaska Native Language Center Established in 1972 by state legislation as a center for documentation and cultivation of the state's 20 Native languages.
• American Indian Languages Spoken in the Home U.S. Census 1990 figures
• Ethnologue: Statistics on all languages spoken in the US U.S. Census 1990 figures
• Language Family Index-The Americas
• Learning an Endangered Language A partial list of endangered languages and information on how and where they may be studied, where recordings may be obtained, etc. (more information on some of these and other languages can be found at the University of Minnesota Less Commonly Taught Languages page).
• Living Languages of Canada Includes many that are shared between the US and Canada. See also Woodland Culture Centre for more information on Aanishnaabeg (Algonkian: Cree, Delaware, Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomie) and Ogwehoweh (Iroquoian: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora).
• Living Languages of the United States of America Language Name, Family, Population, Location
• The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
• Status of American Indian Languages in Oklahoma
• Statistics on the Use of Native American Languages (1991)

American Indian Language Issues and Institutions

• American Anthropological Association's Statement on Language Rights (1996)
• American Indian Language Institute
• "Endangered Native American Languages: What is to be Done, and Why?" (Updated: 1998) J. Crawford
• "Heritage Languages in America: Tapping a Hidden Resource" J. Crawford (1999)
• Institutions that Teach Native American Languages: University Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (University of Minnesota)
• Native Language Links and Resources
• The Linguistic Society of America's Statement on Language Rights (1996)
• "Maintaining and Renewing Native Language" (1995) J. Reyhner
• Native American Language Center (U.C. Davis)

Language Discussion Sites

• American Indian Language Policy and School Success 1990
• Amerind Linguistic Debate
• Can the Web Save My Language? Analysis of web sites concerned with endangered languages. Emphasis is on American Indian languages. University of California, Berkeley.
• Endangered Languages University of Tokyo
• History and Discussion of Native American Languages
• Issues in U.S. Language Policy James Crawford
• Institute for the Preservation of the Original Languages of the Americas The Institute for the Preservation of the Original Languages of the Americas collaborates with indigenous communities to revitalize and perpetuate the languages and culture of the original inhabitants of the Americas.
• Introduction to "Words and Deeds": Natives, Europeans and Writing in Eastern North America An essay by K.M. Tiro (University of Pennsylvania, Dept. of History)
• Language Preservation: Wyandotte (Huron)
• Native American Language and Culture NCBE's online library of resources on indigenous languages of the US
• Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA) Internet resources, Listings of articles on American Indian Languages (1988-), Dissertation and Thesis Abstracts (1988-), Bibliographies
• Teaching Indigenous Languages Jon Rehyner, Northern Arizona University: Articles, Books, Links
• "The Wordpath Show" Cable Television Used to Promote American Indian Languages

Maps and Charts

• Alaska's 20 Native Languages: Alaska Native Language Center University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• Early Indian Tribes, Culture Areas, and Linguistic Stocks - Eastern U.S. University of Texas
• Early Indian Tribes, Cultures and Linguistic Stocks - Western U.S. University of Texas
• Language Map of the USA Ethnologue
• Map of the Atlantic Coastal Indian Languages
• Map of US Federal and State Reservations
• Tribal Language Groups of Northern and Central California University of California at Berkeley

American Indian Language Endangerment and Revitalization

• Concerned Linguists Take Counsel: Is Ours a Future of Language Fossils, or the Preservation of Many Tongues? Whole Earth (Spring 2000)
• Endangered Languages 2001 Only 250 languages in the entire world have at least a million speakers, considered the necessary safety level as globalization homogenizes every nation, every village, no matter how remote.
• Endangered Native American Languages: What Is to Be Done, and Why? James Crawford
• Foundation for Endangered Languages The aims of the Foundation are: * to raise awareness of endangered languages, both inside and outside the communities where they are spoken, through all channels and media; * to support the use of endangered languages in all contexts: at home, in education, in the media, and in social, cultural and economic life; * to monitor linguistic policies and practices, and to seek to influence the appropriate authorities where necessary; * to support the documentation of endangered languages, by offering financial assistance, training, or facilities for the publication of results; * to collect together and make available information of use in the preservation of endangered languages; to disseminate information on all of the above activities as widely as possible.
• Indigenous Language Institute The ILI collaborates with indigenous communities to reviatlize and perpetuate the languages and culture of the original inhabitants of the Americas
• Language Field Survey Project The Indigenous Language Institute
• Mohawk Language Standardization Project Conference Report 1993
• Native American Languages Act of 1990
• Native American Languages Act of 1992
• Native American Languages Act of 2001 Latest Major Action: 1/22/2001 Referred to Senate committee Title: A bill to amend the Native American Languages Act to provide for the support of Native American Language Survival Schools, and for other purposes.
• Native American Language Renewal Resources: Programs, Indexes, Online Articles and Conference Proceedings (Jon Reyhner, Online Tribal College Journal)
• Native American Language Preservation Colorado State University
• Native Languages Revitalization Resource Directory
• Oklahoma American Indian Language Endangerment
• Re-legislation Pertaining to American Indian Languages
• Revitalizing Indigenous Languages Approaches and obstacles to and the roles of writing and technology in revitalizing indigenous languages
• Status of Native American Language Endangerment Michael Krauss
• Stabilizing Indigenous Languages
• Stabilizing, Revitalizing, Teaching Native Languages A resource page: how to, financial asistance, online books, discussion and languages
• Native American Language Renewal Resources
• Native Language Revitalization Resources
• European minority Languages
• "The Last Word" Can the world's small languages be saved?
• "Endangered Languages"U.S. Language Policy
• Language Fossils or Language Presevation? A forum of linguists discuss the question
• International Clearing House for Endangered Languages
• Endangered Language Links

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Dictionaries, Fonts and Specific Languages According to Family

Sequoyah (1776-1843)

Sequoyah introduced the Cherokee Syllabary, an invented script, in 1821. Print and Native Cultures: "In eastern North America, Iroquois and Algonquian groups differed politically, socially, and linguistically, as well as in their responses to European colonization. How much can we learn about these distinctive cultures from printed texts and manuscripts?"

Native North American Indian Online Dictionaries and Word Lists

Alabama<->English Online Dictionary

Anishinaabe<->English Online Dictionary

Chinook Jargon Indian Trade Language of the Pacific Northwest (1889)

Cheyenne<->English Online Dictionary

Inupiaq<->English Online Dictionary

Inupiaq Spellchecker For Microsoft Word (Must have Inupiaq Font already installed-see below under "Downloadable Fonts")

Klallam Word List

Lakhota<->English Dictionary

Maliseet/Passamaquoddy<->English Online Dictionary

Passamaquoddy<->Maliseet Dictionary

MicMac<->English Dictionary Talking dictionary includes stories and songs

Mingo<->English Dictionary

Potawatomie<->English Dictionary

Shoshoni-English Dictionary and English - Shoshoni Dictionary

Notes on the Shoshoni Dictionary

Tlingit Audio Dictionary English>Tlingit

Downloadable Native Fonts Available on the Internet

Assiniboin Font

Cherokee Font

Cheyenne Font

Chicasaw Font

Cree Font

Creek Font

Dene (Navajo) Fonts

Inuit/Inuktitut Font or Inuktitut Font Mac only

Inupiaq Font

Iroquois Font

Ojibway Font

Omaha Font

Siouan Font

Language Families and Languages

Location of Native Peoples in the US

Classification of American Indian Languages (Canada, Greenland, Mexico, USA): Modified 1929 Sapir Classification (John Madsen. Denmark: 2000)

North American Indian Languages: Classification

Table of North American Indian Languages

Algic (Algonquian)

Abenaki

• Abenaki Language From Wobanaki Kimzowzi Awighigan (1830): (20 speakers/1991 M. Krauss
• Abenaki-Penobscot. See map.

Anishinaabe (Ojibwe)

• Anishinaabe Grammar (8000 speakers of Eastern Ojibwa including those in Canada/ 35,000 speakers of Western Ojibwe -1977)
• Anishinaabe Resources
• Anishinaabe Language and Culture
• Ojibwe > English Translation Service
• Ojibway Language and Culture

Arapaho (1,038 speakers/1990 Census) Teaching Arapaho "Going Beyond Words: The Arapaho Immersion Program" by Steve Greymorning. See map.

Pikuni Blackfeet

• Blackfoot (1,062 speakers in US/1990 Census). See map.
• Blackfeet Community College Blackfeet Studies
• Blackfoot Audio sample, bibliogrpahy, morphology, phonetics, syntax,, "Old Blackfoot" vs "New Blackfoot"

Cheyenne

• Cheyenne (1,721 speakers/1990 Census). See map.
• Cheyenne<->English Online Dictionary
• Cheyenne Language and Culture
• Cheyenne Language Pages Spelling and fonts, grammar, learning Cheyenne
• Dull Knife Memorial College Cheyenne Studies
• "Just Speak Your Language" Richard Littlebear, Dull Knife Memorial College (2000)

Gros Ventre

• Gros Ventre (111 speakers/1990 Census) Bilingual Project for the Hays/Lodgepole Rez School System. See map.
• Gros Ventre The American Indian College Fund: Learning Lodge Institute

Lenape

• Lenape (Delaware) Language
• Delaware Pronunciation

Maliseet

• Maliseet Primer and dictionary (Maliseet/Passamaquoddy, 887 speakers in USA. 1990 Census)
• Maliseet. Micmac, Passamaquoddy Research: Immersion programs. See map.

Miami (No speakers)

Narragansett

• Narragansett Extinct
• A Narragansett Dictionary Roger Williams, 1643. Williams's text, which presents itself as an introduction to the Narragansett language, also presents an overview of the customs of Native New England in uncommonly sympathetic terms. Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, maintained a reputation for just land dealings and good relations with the Narragansetts prior to King Philip's War (1675-6)
Nanticoke Extinct

Penobscot Primer Project University of Maine (Nearly Extinct)

Potowatomi See map.

• A Potowatomi Dictionary (200 speakers in USA/1990 Census)
• A Potowatomi Grammar
• Potawatomi Language Resources Audio samples
• 19th-Century Translations of the Gospel into Potawatomi
• Potawatomi Language

Wampanoag

• Wômpanâak Revitalization Project
• Wômpanâak: "Speak, Cultural Memory: A Dead-Language Debate" New York Times
• "Wampanoags Revive Language"
• Wômpanâak Text Database MIT

Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit

• Eyak See map
• The Eyak A history of the language and people
• Tlingit Language Revitalization
• Tlingit Phrases
• Tlingit Language Teachers
• Tlingit About the language

Caddoan

Pawnee Language Revitalization (127 speakers according to the 1990 census)

Wichita 38 speakers (1990 census)

Iroquoian

• Six Nation Language Statistics Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora. "The language retention rates are just over 1%. This means that out of approximately 20,000 members at Six Nations of the Grand River community, ONLY about 225 fluent speakers are remaining. Almost all of the fluent speakers left with us are over the age of 60." See map

  Cayuga

  • Cayuga Language Index Language, songs, sound clips
  • Cayuga Language Resources (10 speakers in US/ 360 in Canada/1991 M. Dale Kinkade)
  • Cayuga Dictionary Resources
  • The Cayuga Language Sound clips provided by The Six Nations Polytech
  • Cayuga Language Index

  Mohawk

  • Mohawk Pronouncing Dictionary
  • Mohawk Language Resources Language, Dictionaries, Sound Clips
  • Haudenosaunee-Mohawk
  • Kanienkehaka-Mohawk (1,667 speakers in US/1990 Census)
  • Mohawk Dictionary Resources

  Seneca

  • Mingo (Seneca) Grammar and Dictionary (200 speakers in Canada and the US)
  • Seneca Dictionary Resources
  • Seneca Writing Sample, Reference

  Oneida

  • Oneida Language Project Audio samples (250 speakers in Canada and the US)

  Onondaga

  • Onondaga Dictionary Resources (Less than 100 speakers in Canada and the US)
  • Onondaga Language Resources Onondaga Pronouncing Dictionary

  Tuscarora

  • Tuscarora Dictionary Resources (30 speakers in Canada and the US)

  Cherokee (Tsalagi)

  • Cherokee Alphabet and Pronunciation (22,500 speakers)
  • Cherokee Language Lessons On Line
  • Cherokee Language Resources
  • Cherokee Language and Culture
  • Cherokee Storytelling Project Research
  • Cherokee Script Projects Research

  Mingo

  • Mingo This site is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Mingo, the language of the West Virginia Mingo. Alphabet, Dictionary, Grammar, Texts, Language Learning Materials.
  • Use of Mingo The use of the Mingo language in the last half of the twentieth century.

  Wynadot (Huron)

  • Wyandot Language Dictionary, vocabularies, language files. Wyandot was spoken until quite recently near Sandwich, Ontario, and Wyandotte, Oklahoma. There were 2 elderly speakers in 1961. Huron was last spoken at Lorette, near Quebec City, in the mid-19th century, or 1912. Now extinct.
  • Wendat Dialects and the Development of the Huron Alliance John Steckley, Humber College

Muskogean

• Alabama Dictionary (256 speakers/1990 Census)

  Chicaksaw

  • Chicasaw Language index. (1000 or fewer speakers)

  Choctaw

  • Choctaw Phrases, grammar, wave files (9,211 speakers including 80 monolinguals/1990 Census)
  • Choctaw Fonts, Writing Sample, Reference
  • Choctaw Nation's Language Page Halito, Chim achukma? Classes and language development.
  • Choctaw Research: Television dramas in Choctaw and Creek (Oklahoma)

  Creek (Muskogee)

  • Creek (Muskogee) (6,213 speakers including 43 monolinguals/1990 census)
  • Creek Language Products Fonts, Writing Sample, Translation
  • A Grammar of the Creek Language H. F. Buckner, 1860.
  • Muskoke Language Institute Research: Approximately 11% of the population who live in Oklahoma fluently speak the language on a regular basis. Another 3% understand the language and speak it occasionally, while approximately 1% has knowledge of the language but are uncomfortable speaking due to unavailability of conversational partners.

  Seminole

  • Mikasuki ( I:laponki) (496 speakers including 33 monolinguals/1990 Census)

Na-Dene (Athabascan)

• A Clickable Map of Californian Athabaskan Languages
• Plains Apache Research: Plains Apache Language Documentation. Today, there are only three elderly people who still speak the Plains Apache language. As a non-reservationist community, the Plains Apache are surrounded by English and other non-Apachean languages as diverse as Kiowa, Wichita, and Delaware.

  Hupa

  • Hupa Language Links (93 speakers/1990 census)
  • Space, Time and Metaphor in Hupa

  Navajo (Dine) See map.

  • Dine College, Tsaile Campus Navajo Language Studies
  • Dine College Shiprock Campus Center for Dine Studies (148,930 speakers/1990 Census)
  • Navajo Language Resource Centre
  • Navajo Fonts, System, Writing Sample and Translation
  • Navajo Samples
  • Navajo The Navajo language, number of speakers, further references

Penutian

• Alsea Extinct. Spoken on the Siletz Reservation (1877)
• Map of Chinook-speaking groups. Language Extinct.
• Klamath-Modoc 88 speakers (1990 census), out of 2,000 population (1977 SIL). Oregon, south central. Penutian, Plateau Penutian, Klamath-Modoc. All speakers are middle-aged or older. Bilingual in English. 88 Speakers (1990 Census). See map.
• Klamath Research:Recording the last speakers.
• Miwok A short word list of Central Sierra Miwok (105 speakers/1990 census). A separate language from other varieties that include Coast Miwok, Lake Miwok, Northern and Southern Sierra Miwok, Plains Miwok. All are nearly extinct.

Salishan

• Elwa Klallam (5 speakers/1990, nearly extinct)
• Lushootseed (60 speakers/1990). See map.
• Lushootseed Reader

Siouan

• Assiniboine Research: An Assiniboine Grammar. 150 to 200 fluent speakers over 40 years old, most over 60, out of 3,500 population including Canada (1986 SIL). Fort Belknap and Fort Peck Reservations, Montana. See map.

  Crow

  • Apsaalooke Textual And Gestural Form Research: Videorecording Crow and Plains Sign Talk Narratives
  • Crow Language Books (4,600 speakers/1990 Census). See map.
  • Crow Writing Sample and Reference

  Dakota, Lakota, Nakota (Sioux) See map.

  • Dakota Language lessons and methodology (15, 355 speakers/US Census)
  • Dakota Powow Vocabularly and Sounds
  • Lakhota Culture and language links (6000 speakers/1987)
  • Lakota A bibliography of language resources
  • Lakota Language Grammar comments, basic vocabulary
  • Lakota Teaching Project

  Hocák Wazijaci (Winnebago) See <"A HREF="http://www.ethnologue.com/show_map.asp?name=USA&seq=3">map.

  • Hocák Wazijaci (Winnebago) Immersion Curriculum (250 speakers/1995) The name is written with a hook under the 'a' of 'Hocák', representing a nasalized vowel. The official name for the people is Hocák Nation. 'Winnebago' is the Algonguin name.
  • Hocák Wazijaci Language and Culture Program

  Iowa, Otoe, Missouria

  • Ioway-Otoe-Missouria Language (Baxoje-Jiwere-Nyut?aji) (5 fluent speaks of Iowa and 10 of Otoe. Iowa and Otoe are now effectively a single language, with some family variations cross-cutting the tribal affiliations. Speakers believe certain minor differences of pronunciation and vocabulary reflect original tribal dialect distinctions.
  • Chiwere (Iowa, Otoe, Missouria)

  Omaha-Ponca See map.

  • Omaha Language Research: Curriculum Development Project. In 1994, the Omaha Tribe stated that less than 1% of its total enrollment were identified as fluent speakers of Omaha. It is reported that less than seventy elderly speakers of the language remain and that of these, only thirty use the language on a daily basis in the Macy area of Nebraska.
  • Omaha Language and Culture
  • Omaha-Ponca Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Texts, Lexicon (85 speakers of Omaha/1993; 25 speakers of Ponca/1986)
  • Ponca Research: Ponca Culture in Our Own Words. Only about thirty fluent speakers remain, all in their 60s or older.
  • Michigamea

Uto-Aztecan

Comanche

• Comanche (854 speakers including 7 monolinguals. 1990 census). See map.
• Comanche Bibliography Texts, Grammar, Dictionary
• Comanche Research: Language preservation

Hopi

• Hopi

Shoshone

• Shoshone (2,284 speakers (1990 census), out of 7,000 population). See map.
• Sosoni' d ai gwapeha Wihindeboope Shoshone<->English Dictionary, Original Writings in Shoshone (University of Idaho)

Tohono O'odham

• Tohono O'odham (Papago) 11,819 speakers including 181. See map. monolinguals (1990 census), out of 20,000 population. Research: Dictionary.
• Tohono O'odham Alphabet

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Online Language Materials and Language Lessons

A Note Language Lessons

• Native American Language Courses

Assiniboine

• Lesson One Fort Peck Community College
• Lesson Two
• Lesson Three

Cherokee

• Cherokee Language Lessons
• The Cherokee Observer Language Editor Introduction to Cherokee (Download Cherokee Fonts above)
• Cherokee Pronunciation Guide
• Speak Cherokee Internet Public Library

Chickasaw

• Language Lessons Provided by the Chicasaw Nation (1997-98)
• Chickasaw Language Index

Cheyenne

• Cheyenne Language Website Wayne Leman

Choctaw

• Choctaw Language Lessons. From the Choctaw Nation, Durant, Oklahoma
• Choctaw Language Lessons 2

Creek (Muskogee)

• Creek Language Mvskoke em Hake
• Creek Language Archive

Lakota, Dakota, Nakona

• Dakota Language Lessons Fort Peck Reservation, Montana
• Dakota Alliance Project for Tribal Colleges (Basic Lessons 1-5)
• Lakota and Dakota Language Resources

Maliseet

• Maliseet Language Lessons

Mi'kmaq

• Mi'kmaq Language Lessons

Mohawk

• Mohawk Language Lessons Internet Public Library
• Speakers of the Earth American Indian language materials that include: Apache, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Kiowa, Lakota, Leni Lenape, Mohawk, Muskogee (Creek), Ojibwe, Passamaquoddy, Western Delaware

Muskogee Creek

• Muskogee Creek Language

Ojibwe

• Let's Speak Ojibwe Pronunication and language lessons

Potawatomie

• Potawatomie Dictionary, orthograophy, revitalization
• Beginning Bo de wad mi Real Audio: Nah Tah Wahsh Public School Academy (1997)

Tohono O'odham

• Tohono O'odham Alphabet

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Copyright © 1997-2002 by Will Karkavelas. Osaka University, All Rights Reserved.

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