Martha Birdbear is a fluent Hidatsa speaker and currently an elementary language instructor at the Mandaree Public School.
Siouan-Catawban Language Family
Siouan-Catawban Language Family
Alternate Names: Siouan proper, Western Siouan,Central Siouan, Iowa-Oto-Missouri, Southeastern Siouan, Eastern Siouan, and Catawban.The Siouan languages are a Native American language family of North America, and the second largest indigenous language family in North America, after Algonquian.The Siouan language family is related to the Catawban language family, together making up the Siouan-Catawban family. Some authors use the term Siouan to refer to the Siouan-Catawban family and the term Siouan proper to refer to the Siouan family.
Some authors call this family simply Siouan. Other writers favor the name Siouan-Catawaban so that Catawban is clearly indicated as a separate branch of the family and not under Siouan proper.The Siouan family consists of 17 languages with various sub-languages. The Catawan language family contains two languages that are thought to be related to the Siouian family.While the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota comprise “the Great Sioux Nation”, the language family is much broader and includes “the old speakers”, the Ho-Chunk and their linguistic cousins, the Crow. The Siouan family also extends eastward to Virginia and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.
Linguistic and historical records indicate a possible southern origin of Siouan people, with migrations over a thousand years ago from North Carolina and Virginia to Ohio. Some Souian people continued down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and up to the Missouri, and others across Ohio to Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, home of the Dakota.Another view of both the Dakotan and Mississippi Valley branches is to represent them as dialect continuums.Some linguists associate Siouan languages with Caddoan and Iroquoian languages in a Macro-Siouan language family. However, such linguistic associations are yet to be proven.
I. Missouri River Siouan (a.k.a. Crow-Hidatsa)
1. Crow (a.k.a. Absaroka, Apsaroka, Apsaalooke, Upsaroka)
2. Hidatsa (a.k.a. Gros Ventre, Minitari, Minnetaree)
II. Mandan Siouan
3. Mandan
a. Nuptare
III. Mississippi Valley Siouan (a.k.a. Central Siouan)
A. Dakotan (a.k.a. Sioux-Assiniboine-Stoney)
4. Sioux
a. Santee-Sisseton (a.k.a. Santee, Eastern Sioux, Eastern Dakota)
i. Santee
ii. Sisseton
b. Yankton-Yanktonai (a.k.a. Yankton, Central Sioux, Eastern Dakota)
i. Yankton
ii. Yanktonai
c. Lakota (a.k.a. Lakhota, Teton, Western Sioux)
i. Northern Lakota
ii. Southern Lakota
5. Assiniboine (a.k.a. Assiniboin, Nakhóta, Nakhóda)
6. Stoney (a.k.a. Alberta Assiniboine, Nakhóda)
B. Chiwere-Winnebago (a.k.a. Chiwere)
7. Chiwere(a.k.a. Ioway-Otoe-Missouria, Ioway-Otoe)
a. Iowa (a.k.a. Ioway)
b. Otoe (a.k.a. Oto, Jiwere)
c. Missouria (a.k.a. Missouri)
8. Winnebago (a.k.a. Hocák, Hochunk, Hochank, Hocangara, Hotcangara, Hochangara)
C. Dhegiha (a.k.a. Dhegihan)
9. Omaha-Ponca
a. Omaha
b. Ponca (a.k.a. Ponka)
10.
Kansa-Osage
a. Kansa (a.k.a. Kanza, Kaw) (†)
b. Osage
11.
Quapaw (a.k.a. Kwapa, Kwapaw, Arkansas)
(†)
IV. Ohio Valley Siouan (a.k.a. Southeastern Siouan)
A. Virginia Siouan
12. Tutelo
13. Saponi (a.k.a. Saponey) (†)
14. Moniton (a.k.a. Monacan) (†)
15. Occaneechi
B. Mississippi Siouan (a.k.a. Ofo-Biloxi) (†)
16. Biloxi (†)
17. Ofo (a.k.a. Ofogoula) (†)
(†) – Extinct (dormant) languages
II. Catawban (a.k.a. Eastern Siouan) (†)
18. Woccon (†)
19. Catawba (†)
Quapaw, Saponi, Biloxi, Ofo, Woccon, and Catawba are now extinct (†).
Language Classification:
Siouan -> Western Siouan -> Mississippi Valley -> Chiwere–Winnebago -> Chiwere
Truman Washington Dailey, (October 19, 1898 – December 16, 1996) also known as Mashi Manyi (“Soaring High”) and Sunge Hka (“White Horse”), was the last native speaker of the Otoe-Missouria dialect of Chiwere (Baxoje-Jiwere-Nyut’chi), a Native American language, and a Roadman in the Native American church.
AUTHOR: David Melmer For some people, unless they have heard a word before, its proper pronunciation can be quite difficult. Such can be the case with languages that never had a written version but are now translated into printed form. For anyone who has studied a second language, the difficulty is learning when and how […]
What does Wasichu mean?
22 ViewsHave you ever wondered what the literal meaning of washi’chu is?