Native American Languages

Native American Languages

The languages among the Native American tribes are many. Some are very similar to each other and some are very different. Together, the native languages of the Americas are among the most numerous and varied in the world, which provides scholars with rich sources of information on the many ways people make speech and language.

The number of distinct languages in North America figures in the hundreds, however, by studying similarities and differences, scientists have placed most tribes into one of about 12  groups. Their theory is that all tribes assigned to one group were once one tribe living in the same area. Listed below are some of the  groups and some of their modern day tribes:

Algonkian:
Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cree, Creek,
Lumbee, Micmac, Ojibwa
(Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi,
Seminole and Blackfeet (Siksika)

Athapaskan:
Apache, Navajo, and Tlingit

Aztecan-Tanoan:
Aztec, Comanche, Hopi, Kiowa,
Paiute, Pima, Shoshoni,
Tarahumara, Tohono O’odham
(Papago), Ute, and Yaqui

Caddoan:
Pawnee and Wichita

Eskimoan:
Aleut and Eskimo

Hokan:
Yuman (Cocopah and Mohave)

Keres:
Keres (Cochiti and some other
tribes of the upper Rio Grande
area in the southwest)

Mayan:
Quiche, Tzotzil, and 29 others

Siouan:
Cherokee, Crow, Dakota and
Lakota (Sioux), Ho-Chunk
(Winnebago), Huron or Wyandot,
Iroquois (Cayuga, Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca)

Penutian:
Yakima and Zuni

Salish:
Salish

The above list is just a small sampling of the different languages found across North America.  According to Wikipedia, there are over 296 separate spoken languages.  The full classification of the North American languages can be seen in the map below.

North American Indegenious Languages

Source: The Indian Way CD by Mark Thiel and Wikipedia

Purchase the Indian Way CD from Noc Bay

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6 Responses to “Native American Languages”

1. WhoMe says:

   October 27, 2011 at 4:03 pm

   American Indian views of language categories do not always coincide with scientific linguistic views.

   Reply
   • Paul G says:

     October 27, 2011 at 4:05 pm

     Very good point. Do you have any resources that show the other side of language categories?

     Reply
     • WhoMe says:

       October 27, 2011 at 4:09 pm

       Off the top of my head, the Kiowa, voiced through the Kiowa museum committee made up of elders and fluent speakers, believes they are an Isolate language and do not fit into the scientific language category of Uto-Aztecan.
     • Paul G says:

       October 27, 2011 at 4:12 pm

       Any online resources we could link to?

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