Native American Languages Information

Indigenous languages of the Americas (also known as Amerindian languages) are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language isolates and unclassified languages. Many proposals to group these into higher-level families have been made. According to UNESCO, most of the indigenous American languages in North America are critically endangered, and many of them are already extinct.^[1]

Background

Thousands of languages were spoken in North and South America prior to first contact with Europeans between the beginning of the 11th century (Norwegian settlement of Greenland and attempted settlement of Labrador and Newfoundland) and the end of the 15th century (the voyages of Christopher Columbus). Several indigenous languages of the Americas had also developed their own writing systems, including the Mayan languages and Nahuatl. The indigenous languages of the Americas had widely varying demographics, from the Quechua languages, Aymara, Guarani, and Nahuatl, which had millions of active speakers, to many languages with only several hundreds speakers. After pre-Columbian times, several indigenous creole languages also developed in the Americas from European languages.

The European colonizers and their successor states had widely varying attitudes towards Native American languages. In Brazil, friars actively learned and promoted the Tupi language. In many Latin American colonies, Spanish missionaries often preached to the natives in local languages. In the American colonies, John Eliot of Massachusetts translated the Bible into the Massachusett language, also called Wampanoag, Massachusett or Natick (1661–1663; the first Bible printed in North America). However, the Europeans also actively suppressed indigenous American languages. As a result, indigenous American languages suffered from cultural suppression and loss of speakers. By the 18th and 19th centuries, Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and Dutch, brought to the Americas by European settlers and administrators, had become the official or national languages of modern nation-states of the Americas.

Today, even though many indigenous languages have become critically endangered, others are now rigorously spoken. Several even have official status, such as Guaraní in Paraguay, though in other cases official status is limited to certain regions where languages are spoken, and even if enshrined in constitutions has little de facto official use: examples of this are the status of Quechua in Peru and Aymara in Bolivia, where in practice it is Spanish that remains entirely dominant in all formal contexts. In the Arctic region, Greenland adopted Kalaallisut as its sole official language in 2009. In the United States, the Navajo language is the most spoken Native American language, with over 200,000 speakers in the Southwestern United States. The language was used by the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II to transmit secret military messages, which both the Germans and Japanese had never deciphered. Today, governments, universities, and indigenous peoples are continuing to aim for the preservation and revitalization of indigenous American languages.

Origins

In American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America, Lyle Campbell lists several theories for the historical origins of Amerindian languages^[2].

1. A single, one-language migration (currently not widely accepted)
2. A few linguistically distinct migrations (favored by Edward Sapir)
3. Multiple migrations
4. Multilingual migrations (single migration with multiple languages)
5. The influx of already diversified but related languages from the Old World
6. Extinction of Old World linguistic relatives (while the New World ones survived)
7. Migration along the Pacific coast instead of the Bering Strait

Language families and isolates

Notes:

• Extinct languages or families are indicated by: †.
• The number of family members is indicated in parentheses (for example, Arauan (9) means the Arauan family consists of nine languages).
• Out of convenience, the following list of language families is divided in 3 sections based on political boundaries of countries. These sections correspond roughly with the geographic regions (North, Central, and South America) but are not equivalent. This division also does not cleanly delineate indigenous culture areas.

North America

There are approximately 296 spoken (or formerly spoken) indigenous languages north of Mexico, 269 of which are grouped into 29 families (the remaining 27 languages are either isolates or unclassified). The Na-Dené, Algic, and Uto-Aztecan families are the largest in terms of number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95 million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl); Na-Dene comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly Cree and Ojibwe). Na-Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions: Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico (due to later migrations of the Kickapoo) with two outliers in California (Yurok and Wiyot); Na-Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington, Oregon, and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico (with one outlier in the Plains). Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages. Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America. Two large (super-)family proposals, Penutian and Hokan, look particularly promising. However, even after decades of research, a large number of families and isolates remain.

North America is notable for its linguistic diversity, especially in California. California alone has 18 genetic units consisting of 74 languages (compared to the mere 3 genetic units in all of Europe: Basque, Indo-European, Uralic).^[3] Another area of considerable diversity appears to have been the Southeast; however, many of these languages became extinct from European contact and as a result they are, for the most part, absent from the historical record. This diversity has been and continues to be very influential in the development of linguistic thought in the U.S.

Due to the diversity of this area, it is difficult to make generalizations that adequately characterize the entire region. Most North American languages have a relatively small number of vowels (i.e. four or five vowels). Languages of the western half of North America often have relatively large consonant inventories. The languages of the Pacific Northwest are notable for their complex phonotactics (for example, some languages have words that lack vowels entirely). The languages of the Plateau area have relatively rare pharyngeals and epiglottals (they are otherwise restricted to Afro-Asiatic and Caucasian languages). Ejective consonants are also common in North America, although they are rare elsewhere (except, again, for the Caucasus region, parts of Africa, and the Mayan family).

Head-marking is found in many languages of North America (as well as in Central and South America), but outside of the Americas it is rare. Many languages throughout North America are polysynthetic (Eskimo-Aleut languages are extreme examples), although this is not characteristic of all North American languages (contrary to what was believed by 19th-century linguists). Several families have unique traits, such as the inverse number marking of Kiowa-Tanoan, the lexical affixes of Wakashan, Salishan and Chimakuan, and the unusual verb structure of Nadene.

The classification below is a composite of Goddard (1996), Campbell (1997), and Mithun (1999).

1. Adai †
2. Algic (30)
3. Alsean (2) †
4. Atakapa †
5. Beothuk †
6. Caddoan (5)
7. Cayuse †
8. Chimakuan (2)
9. Chimariko †
10. Chinookan (3)
11. Chitimacha †
12. Chumashan (6) †
13. Coahuilteco †
14. Comecrudan (United States & Mexico) (3) †
15. Coosan (2) †
16. Cotoname †
17. Eskimo-Aleut (7)
18. Esselen †
19. Haida
20. Iroquoian (11)
21. Kalapuyan (3) †
22. Karankawa †
23. Karuk
24. Keresan (2)
25. Kiowa-Tanoan (7)
26. Kutenai
27. Maiduan (4)
28. Muskogean (9)
29. Na-Dené (United States, Canada & Mexico) (39)
30. Natchez †
31. Palaihnihan (2)
32. Plateau Penutian (4) (also known as Shahapwailutan)
33. Pomoan (7)
34. Salinan †
35. Salishan (23)
36. Shastan (4) †
37. Siouan-Catawban (19)
38. Siuslaw †
39. Solano †
40. Takelma †
41. Timucua †
42. Tonkawa †
43. Tsimshianic (2)
44. Tunica †
45. Utian (15) (also known as Miwok-Costanoan)
46. Uto-Aztecan (33)
47. Wakashan (7)
48. Washo
49. Wintuan (4)
50. Yana †
51. Yokutsan (3)
52. Yuchi
53. Yuki-Wappo (2) † disputed
54. Yuman-Cochimí (11)
55. Zuni

Central America and Mexico

1. Alagüilac (Guatemala)'†
2. Algic (United States, Canada & Mexico) (29)
3. Bribri (Costa Rica)
4. Boruca (Costa Rica)
5. Chibchan (Central America & South America) (22)
6. Chorotega (Costa Rica) †
7. Coahuilteco †
8. Comecrudan (Texas & Mexico) (3) †
9. Cotoname †
10. Cuitlatec (Mexico: Guerrero) †
11. Guaicurian (8)
12. Huetar (Costa Rica)
13. Huave
14. Jicaquean
15. Lencan
16. Maratino (northeastern Mexico)
17. Mayan (31)
18. Misumalpan
19. Mixe-Zoquean (19)
20. Na-Dené (United States, Canada & Mexico) (40)
21. Naolan (Mexico: Tamaulipas)
22. Oto-Manguean (27)
23. P'urhépecha
24. Quinigua (northeast Mexico)
25. Seri
26. Solano †
27. Tequistlatecan (3)
28. Totonacan (2)
29. Uto-Aztecan (United States & Mexico) (33)
30. Xincan
31. Yuman-Cochimí (United States & Mexico) (11)

South America

Although both North and Central America are very diverse areas, South America has a linguistic diversity rivalled by only a few other places in the world with approximately 350 languages still spoken and an estimated 1,500 languages at first European contact. The situation of language documentation and classification into genetic families is not as advanced as in North America (which is relatively well-studied in many areas). Kaufman (1994: 46) gives the following appraisal:

Since the mid 1950s, the amount of published material on SA [South America] has been gradually growing, but even so, the number of researchers is far smaller than the growing number of linguistic communities whose speech should be documented. Given the current employment opportunities, it is not likely that the number of specialists in SA Indian languages will increase fast enough to document most of the surviving SA languages before they go out of use, as most of them unavoidably will. More work languishes in personal files than is published, but this is a standard problem.

It is fair to say that SA and New Guinea are linguistically the poorest documented parts of the world. However, in the early 1960s fairly systematic efforts were launched in Papua New Guinea, and that area – much smaller than SA, to be sure – is in general much better documented than any part of indigenous SA of comparable size.

As a result, many relationships between languages and language families have not been determined and some of those relationships that have been proposed are on somewhat shaky ground.

The list of language families and isolates below is a rather conservative one based on Campbell (1997). Many of the proposed (and often speculative) groupings of families can be seen in Campbell (1997), Gordon (2005), Kaufman (1990, 1994), Key (1979), Loukotka (1968), and in the Language stock proposals section below.

1. Aguano †
2. Aikaná (Brazil: Rondônia) (also known as Aikanã, Tubarão)
3. Andaquí (also known as Andaqui, Andakí) †
4. Andoque (Colombia, Peru) (also known as Andoke)
5. Andoquero †
6. Arauan (9)
7. Arutani-Sape (2) (also known as Arutani-sapé)
8. Aushiri (also known as Auxira)
9. Aymaran (3)
10. Baenan (Brazil: Bahia) (also known as Baenán, Baenã) †
11. Barbacoan (8)
12. Betoi (Colombia) (also known as Betoy, Jirara) †
13. Bororoan
14. Botocudoan (3) (also known as Aimoré)
15. Cahuapanan (2) (also known as Jebero, Kawapánan)
16. Camsá (Colombia) (also known as Sibundoy, Coche)
17. Candoshi (also known as Maina, Kandoshi)
18. Canichana (Bolivia) (also known as Canesi, Kanichana)
19. Carabayo
20. Cariban (29) (also known as Caribe, Carib)
21. Catacaoan (also known as Katakáoan) †
22. Cayubaba (Bolivia)
23. Chapacura-Wanham (9) (also known as Chapacuran, Txapakúran)
24. Charruan (also known as Charrúan) †
25. Chibchan (Central America & South America) (22)
26. Chimuan (3) †
27. Chipaya-Uru languages (also known as Uru-Chipaya)
28. Chiquitano
29. Choco (10) (also known as Chocoan)
30. Cholonan †
31. Chon (2) (also known as Patagonian)
32. Coeruna (Brazil) †
33. Cofán (Colombia, Ecuador)
34. Cueva
35. Culle (Peru) (also known as Culli, Linga, Kulyi)
36. Cunza (Chile, Bolivia, Argentina) (also known as Atacama, Atakama, Atacameño, Lipe, Kunsa) †
37. Esmeraldeño (also known as Esmeralda, Takame) †
38. Fulnió
39. Gamela (Brazil: Maranhão) †
40. Gorgotoqui (Bolivia) †
41. Guaicuruan (7) (also known as Guaykuruan, Waikurúan)
42. Guajiboan (4) (also known as Wahívoan) †
43. Guamo (Venezuela) (also known as Wamo) †
44. Guató
45. Harakmbut (2) (also known as Tuyoneri)
46. Hodï (Venezuela) (also known as Jotí, Hoti, Waruwaru)
47. Huamoé (Brazil: Pernambuco) †
48. Huaorani (Ecuador, Peru) (also known as Auca, Huaorani, Wao, Auka, Sabela, Waorani, Waodani)
49. Huarpe (also known as Warpe) †
50. Irantxe (Brazil: Mato Grosso)
51. Itonama (Bolivia) (also known as Saramo, Machoto)
52. Jirajaran (3) (also known as Hiraháran, Jirajarano, Jirajarana) †
53. Jabutian
54. Je (13) (also known as Gê, Jêan, Gêan, Ye)
55. Jeikó †
56. Jivaroan (2) (also known as Hívaro)
57. Kaimbe
58. Kaliana (also known as Caliana, Cariana, Sapé, Chirichano)
59. Kamakanan †
60. Kapixaná (Brazil: Rondônia) (also known as Kanoé, Kapishaná)
61. Karajá
62. Karirí (Brazil: Paraíba, Pernambuco, Ceará) †
63. Katembrí †
64. Katukinan (3) (also known as Catuquinan)
65. Kawésqar (Chile) (Kaweskar, Alacaluf, Qawasqar, Halawalip, Aksaná, Hekaine)
66. Kwaza language (Koayá) (Brazil: Rondônia)
67. Kukurá (Brazil: Mato Grosso) †
68. Leco (Lapalapa, Leko)
69. Lule (Argentina) (also known as Tonocoté)
70. Maipurean (South America & Caribbean) (64) (also known as Maipuran, Arawakan, Arahuacan)
71. Maku language (also known as Macu)
72. Malibú (also known as Malibu)
73. Mapudungu (Chile, Argentina) (also known as Araucanian, Mapuche, Huilliche)
74. Mascoyan (5) (also known as Maskóian, Mascoian)
75. Matacoan (4) (also known as Mataguayan)
76. Matanawí †
77. Maxakalían (3) (also known as Mashakalían)
78. Mocana (Colombia: Tubará) †
79. Mochita †
80. Mosetenan (also known as Mosetén)
81. Movima (Bolivia)
82. Munichi (Peru) (also known as Muniche)
83. Muran (4)
84. Mutú (also known as Loco)
85. Muzo (Colombia) †
86. Nambiquaran (5)
87. Natú (Brazil: Pernambuco) †
88. Nonuya (Peru, Colombia)
89. Ofayé
90. Old Catío-Nutabe (Colombia) †
91. Omurano (Peru) (also known as Mayna, Mumurana, Numurana, Maina, Rimachu, Roamaina, Umurano) †
92. Otí (Brazil: São Paulo) †
93. Otomacoan (2) †
94. Paez (also known as Nasa Yuwe)
95. Pakarara †
96. Palta
97. Panche †
98. Pankararú (Brazil: Pernambuco) †
99. Pano-Tacanan (33)
100. Pantagora †
101. Panzaleo (Ecuador) (also known as Latacunga, Quito, Pansaleo)
102. Patagón
103. Peba-Yaguan (2) (also known as Yaguan, Yáwan, Peban) †
104. Pijao
105. Puelche (Chile) (also known as Guenaken, Gennaken, Pampa, Pehuenche, Ranquelche) †
106. Puinavean (8) (also known as Makú)
107. Puquina (Bolivia) †
108. Purian (2) †
109. Quechuan (46)
110. Resígaro (Colombia-Peru border area)
111. Rikbaktsá
112. Saliban (2) (also known as Sálivan)
113. Salumã (Brazil)
114. Sechura language (Atalan, Sec) †
115. Tairona (Colombia) †
116. Tarairiú (Brazil: Rio Grande do Norte) †
117. Taruma †
118. Taushiro (Peru) (also known as Pinchi, Pinche)
119. Tequiraca (Peru) (also known as Tekiraka, Avishiri) †
120. Teushen † (Patagonia, Argentina)
121. Ticuna (Colombia, Peru, Brazil) (also known as Magta, Tikuna, Tucuna, Tukna, Tukuna)
122. Timotean (2) †
123. Tiniguan (2) (also known as Tiníwan, pamigua) †
124. Tucanoan (15)
125. Trumai (Brazil: Xingu, Mato Grosso)
126. Tupian (70, including Guaraní)
127. Tuxá (Brazil: Bahia, Pernambuco) †
128. Urarina (also known as Shimacu, Itukale, Shimaku)
129. Vilela
130. Wakona †
131. Warao (Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela) (also known as Guarao)
132. Wayuu (Venezuela and Colombia)
133. Witotoan (6) (also known as Huitotoan, Bora-Witótoan)
134. Xokó (Brazil: Alagoas, Pernambuco) (also known as Shokó) †
135. Xukurú (Brazil: Pernambuco, Paraíba) †
136. Yaghan (Chile) (also known as Yámana)
137. Yaruro (also known as Jaruro)
138. Yanomaman (4)
139. Yuracare (Bolivia)
140. Yuri (Colombia, Brazil) (also known as Carabayo, Jurí) †
141. Yurumanguí (Colombia) (also known as Yurimangui, Yurimangi) †
142. Zamucoan (2)
143. Zaparoan (5) (also known as Záparo)

Language stock proposals

Many hypothetical language phylum proposals concerning American languages are often cited as uncontroversially demonstrated in more popular writings. However, many of these proposals have, in fact, not been fully demonstrated if even at all. Some proposals are viewed by specialists in a favorable light, believing that genetic relationships are very likely to be established in the future (for example, the Penutian stock). Other proposals are more controversial with many linguists believing that some genetic relationships of a proposal may be demonstrated but much of it undemonstrated (for example, Hokan-Siouan, which, incidentally, Edward Sapir called his "wastepaper basket stock").^[4] Still other proposals are almost unanimously rejected by specialists (for example, Amerind). Below is a (partial) list of some such proposals:

1. Ahuaque-Kalianan
2. Algonkian-Gulf (= Algic + Beothuk + Gulf)
3. Algonquian-Wakashan (also known as Almosan)
4. Almosan-Keresiouan (= Almosan + Keresiouan)
5. Amerind (= all languages excepting Eskimo-Aleut & Na-Dené)
6. (macro-)Arawakan
7. Aztec-Tanoan (= Uto-Aztecan + Kiowa-Tanoan)
8. Chibchan stock
9. Chibchan-Paezan
10. Chikitano-Boróroan
11. Coahuiltecan (= Coahuilteco + Cotoname + Comecrudan + Karankawa + Tonkawa)
12. Cunza-Kapixanan
13. Dené-Yeniseian
14. Dené-Caucasian
15. Esmerelda-Yaruroan
16. Guamo-Chapacuran
17. Gulf (= Muskogean + Natchez + Tunica)
18. Hibito-Cholon
19. Hokan (= Karok + Chimariko + Shastan + Palaihnihan + Yana + Pomoan + Washo + Esselen + Yuman-Cochimí + Salinan + Chumashan + Seri + Tequistlatecan)
20. Hokan-Siouan (= Hokan + Keresiouan + Subtiaba-Tlappanec + Coahuiltecan + Yukian + Tunican + Natchez + Muskogean + Timucua)
21. Javaroan-Cahuapanan
22. Je-Tupi-Carib
23. Kalianan
24. Kaweskar language area
25. Keresiouan (= Macro-Siouan + Keresan + Yuchi)
26. Lule-Vilelan
27. Macro-Andean
28. Macro-Carib
29. Macro-Gê (also known as Macro-Jê)
30. Macro-Jibaro
31. Macro-Katembrí-Taruma
32. Macro-Kulyi-Cholónan
33. Macro-Lekoan
34. Macro-Mayan
35. Macro-Otomákoan
36. Macro-Paesan
37. Macro-Panoan
38. Macro-Puinavean
39. Macro-Siouan (= Siouan + Iroquoian + Caddoan)
40. Macro-Tekiraka-Kanichana
41. Macro-Tucanoan
42. Macro-Tupí-Karibe
43. Macro-Waikurúan
44. Macro-Warpean (= Muran + Matanawi + Huarpe)
45. Mosan (= Salishan + Wakashan + Chimakuan)
46. Mosetén-Chonan
47. Mura-Matanawian
48. Sapir's Na-Dené including Haida (= Haida + Tlingit + Eyak + Athabaskan)
49. Nostratic-Amerind
50. Paezan (= Andaqui + Paez + Panzaleo)
51. Paezan-Barbacoan
52. Penutian (= many languages of California and sometimes languages in Mexico)
    1. California Penutian (= Wintuan + Maiduan + Yokutsan + Utian)
    2. Oregon Penutian (= Takelma + Coosan + Siuslaw + Alsean)
    3. Mexican Penutian (= Mixe-Zoque + Huave)
53. Quechumaran
54. Saparo-Yawan (also known as Zaparo-Yaguan)
55. Takelman (= Takelma + Kalapuyan)
56. Totozoque (= Totonacan + Mixe-Zoque)
57. Tunican (= Tunica + Atakapa + Chitimacha)
58. Yok-Utian
59. Yuri-Ticunan

Good discussions of past proposals can be found in Campbell (1997) and Campbell & Mithun (1979).

Amerindian linguist Lyle Campbell also assigned different percentage values of probability and confidence for various proposals of macro-families and language relationships, depending on his views of the proposals' strengths^[5]. For example, the Germanic language family would receive probability and confidence percentage values of +100% and 100%, respectively. However, if Turkish and Quechua were compared, the probability value might be -95%, while the confidence value might be 95%. 0% probability or confidence would mean complete uncertainty.

Linguistic areas

The languages of the Americas often can be grouped together into linguistic areas or Sprachbunds (also known as convergence areas). The linguistic areas identified so far deserve more research to determine their validity. Knowing about Sprachbunds helps historical linguists differentiate between shared areal traits and true genetic relationship. The pioneering work on American areal linguistics was a dissertation by Joel Sherzer, which was published as Sherzer (1976).

In American Indian Languages: the Historical Linguistics of Native America, Lyle Campbell also lists over 20 Sprachbunds or linguistic areas ^[10], many of which are still hypothetical.

Note: Some linguistic areas may overlap with others.

Unattested languages

Several languages are only known by mention in historical documents or from only a few names or words. It cannot be determined that these languages actually existed or that the few recorded words are actually of known or unknown languages. Some may simply be from a historian's errors. Others are of known people with no linguistic record (sometimes due to lost records). A short list is below.

• Ais
• Akokisa
• Aksana (Akasanas, Kaueskar)
• Aramana
• Ausaima
• Avoyel
• Bayogoula
• Bidai
• Cacán (Diaguita-Calchaquí)
• Calusa
• Chome
• Cusabo
• Eyeish
• Grigra
• Guale
• Houma
• Koroa
• Manek'enk (Haush)
• Mobila
• Okelousa
• Opelousa
• Pascagoula
• Pensacola
• Quinipissa
• Taensa
• Tequesta
• Tiou
• Yamacraw
• Yamasee
• Yazoo

Loukotka (1968) reports the names of hundreds of South American languages which do not have any linguistic documentation.

Pidgins and mixed languages

Various miscellaneous languages such as pidgins, mixed languages, trade languages, and sign languages are given below in alphabetical order.

1. American Indian Pidgin English
2. Basque-Algonquian Pidgin (also known as Micmac-Basque Pidgin, Souriquois; spoken by the Basques, Micmacs, and Montagnais in eastern Canada)
3. Broken Oghibbeway (also known as Broken Ojibwa)
4. Broken Slavey
5. Bungee (also known as Bungi, Bungie, Bungay, or the Red River Dialect))
6. Callahuaya (also known as Machaj-Juyai, Kallawaya, Collahuaya, Pohena, Kolyawaya Jargon)
7. Carib Pidgin (also known as Ndjuka-Amerindian Pidgin, Ndjuka-Trio)
8. Carib Pidgin-Arawak Mixed Language
9. Catalangu
10. Chinook Jargon
11. Delaware Jargon (also known as Pidgin Delaware)
12. Eskimo Trade Jargon (also known as Herschel Island Eskimo Pidgin, Ship's Jargon)
13. Greenlandic Eskimo Pidgin
14. Guajiro-Spanish
15. Güegüence-Nicarao
16. Haida Jargon
17. Hudson Strait Pidgin
18. Inuktitut-English Pidgin
19. Jargonized Powhatan
20. Kutenai Jargon
21. Labrador Eskimo Pidgin (also known as Labrador Inuit Pidgin)
22. Lingua Franca Apalachee
23. Lingua Franca Creek
24. Lingua Geral Amazônica (also known as Nheengatú, Lingua Boa, Lingua Brasílica, Lingua Geral do Norte)
25. Lingua Geral do Sul (also known as Lingua Geral Paulista, Tupí Austral)
26. Loucheux Jargon (also known as Jargon Loucheux)
27. Media Lengua
28. Mednyj Aleut (also known as Copper Island Aleut, Medniy Aleut, CIA)
29. Michif (also known as French Cree, Métis, Metchif, Mitchif, Métchif)
30. Mobilian Jargon (also known as Mobilian Trade Jargon, Chickasaw-Chocaw Trade Language, Yamá)
31. Montagnais Pidgin Basque (also known as Pidgin Basque-Montagnais)
32. Nootka Jargon (spoken during the 18th-19th centuries; later replaced by Chinook Jargon)
33. Ocaneechi (also known as Occaneechee; spoken in Virginia and the Carolinas in early colonial times)
34. Pidgin Massachusett
35. Plains Indian Sign Language
36. Trader Navajo

Notes

1. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
2. ^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Ch. 3 The Origin of American Indian Languages, pp. 90-106. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
3. ^ If the Caucasus is considered to be a part of Europe, Northwest Caucasian and Northeast Caucasian would be included resulting in 5 language families within Europe. Other language families, such as the Turkic family have entered Europe in later migrations.
4. ^ Ruhlen, Merritt. (1991 [1987]). A Guide to the World's Languages Volume 1: Classification, p.216. Edward Arnold. Paperback: ISBN 0-340-56186-6.
5. ^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Ch. 8 Distant Genetic Relationships, pp. 260-329. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
6. ^ Siouan-Iroquoian-Caddoan-[Yuchi]
7. ^ American-Arctic-Paleosiberian Phylum, Luoravetlan — and beyond
8. ^ Alternatively Takelma-Kalapuyan
9. ^ Macro-Mayan includes Mayan, Totonacan, Mixe-Zoquean, and sometimes also Huave.
10. ^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Ch. 9 Linguistic Areas of the Americas, pp. 330-352. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
11. ^ May be a subarea of the Northern Northwest Coast Linguistic Area. This sprachbund is contains languages that have strict head-final syntax.
12. ^ Characterized by elaborate consonant systems
13. ^ Characterized by glottal stops
14. ^ Often included in the Mesoamerican sprachbund
15. ^ Characterized by SOV word order and postpositions
16. ^ Characterized by VO word order (instead of SOV)
17. ^ Characterized by SOV word order and elaborate suffixing

Bibliography

• Bright, William. (1984). The classification of North American and Meso-American Indian languages. In W. Bright (Ed.), American Indian linguistics and literature (pp. 3–29). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Bright, William (Ed.). (1984). American Indian linguistics and literature. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-009846-6.
• Brinton, Daniel G. (1891). The American race. New York: D. C. Hodges.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Campbell, Lyle; & Mithun, Marianne (Eds.). (1979). The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).

North America

• Boas, Franz. (1911). Handbook of American Indian languages (Vol. 1). Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40. Washington: Government Print Office (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology).
• Boas, Franz. (1922). Handbook of American Indian languages (Vol. 2). Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40. Washington: Government Print Office (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology).
• Boas, Franz. (1929). Classification of American Indian languages. Language, 5, 1-7.
• Boas, Franz. (1933). Handbook of American Indian languages (Vol. 3). Native American legal materials collection, title 1227. Glückstadt: J.J. Augustin.
• Bright, William. (1973). North American Indian language contact. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Linguistics in North America (part 1, pp. 713–726). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
• Goddard, Ives. (1999). Native languages and language families of North America (rev. and enlarged ed. with additions and corrections). [Map]. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press (Smithsonian Institution). (Updated version of the map in Goddard 1996). ISBN 0-8032-9271-6.
• Goddard, Ives. (2005). The indigenous languages of the southeast. Anthropological Linguistics, 47 (1), 1-60.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1990). Studies of North American Indian Languages. Annual Review of Anthropology, 19(1): 309-330.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Powell, John W. (1891). Indian linguistic families of America north of Mexico. Seventh annual report, Bureau of American Ethnology (pp. 1–142). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. (Reprinted in P. Holder (Ed.), 1966, Introduction to Handbook of American Indian languages by Franz Boas and Indian linguistic families of America, north of Mexico, by J. W. Powell, Lincoln: University of Nebraska).
• Powell, John W. (1915). Linguistic families of American Indians north of Mexico by J. W. Powell, revised by members of the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology. (Map). Bureau of American Ethnology miscellaneous publication (No. 11). Baltimore: Hoen.
• Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1973). Linguistics in North America (parts 1 & 2). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted as Sebeok 1976).
• Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1976). Native languages of the Americas. New York: Plenum.
• Sherzer, Joel. (1973). Areal linguistics in North America. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Linguistics in North America (part 2, pp. 749–795). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted in Sebeok 1976).
• Sherzer, Joel. (1976). An areal-typological study of American Indian languages north of Mexico. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
• Sletcher, Michael, ‘North American Indians’, in Will Kaufman and Heidi Macpherson, eds., Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, (2 vols., Oxford, 2005).
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).
• Vaas, Rüdiger: ‘Die Sprachen der Ureinwohner’. In: Stoll, Günter, Vaas, Rüdiger: Spurensuche im Indianerland. Hirzel. Stuttgart 2001, chapter 7.
• Voegelin, Carl F.; & Voegelin, Florence M. (1965). Classification of American Indian languages. Languages of the world, Native American fasc. 2, sec. 1.6). Anthropological Linguistics, 7 (7): 121-150.
• Zededa, Ofelia; Hill, Jane H. (1991). The condition of Native American Languages in the United States. In R. H. Robins & E. M. Uhlenbeck (Eds.), Endangered languages (pp. 135–155). Oxford: Berg.

South America

• Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
• Key, Mary R. (1979). The grouping of South American languages. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
• Loukotka, Čestmír. (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: Latin American Studies Center, University of California.
• Mason, J. Alden. (1950). The languages of South America. In J. Steward (Ed.), Handbook of South American Indians (Vol. 6, pp. 157–317). Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 143). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
• Migliazza, Ernest C.; & Campbell, Lyle. (1988). Panorama general de las lenguas indígenas en América. Historia general de América (Vol. 10). Caracas: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia.
• Rodrigues, Aryon. (1986). Linguas brasileiras: Para o conhecimento das linguas indígenas. São Paulo: Edições Loyola.
• Rowe, John H. (1954). Linguistics classification problems in South America. In M. B. Emeneau (Ed.), Papers from the symposium on American Indian linguistics (pp. 10–26). University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 10). Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Sapir, Edward. (1929). Central and North American languages. In The encyclopædia britannica: A new survey of universal knowledge (14 ed.) (Vol. 5, pp. 138–141). London: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, Ltd.
• Voegelin, Carl F.; & Voegelin, Florence M. (1977). Classification and index of the world's languages. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-444-00155-7.

See also

• Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America
• Classification schemes for indigenous languages of the Americas
• Mesoamerican languages
• Amerind languages
• Language families and languages
• Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Haplogroup Q (Y-DNA)
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Category:Indigenous languages of the Americas (division into geocultural areas)

• List of indigenous languages in Argentina
• Languages of Peru
• Debian North American Indigenous Languages Project

External links

• Catálogo de línguas indígenas sul-americanas
• Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas de México (El Colegio de México)
• South American Languages
• Society to Advance Indigenous Vernaculars of the United States (SAIVUS)
• How many indigenous American languages are spoken in the United States? By how many speakers?
• Indigenous Peoples Languages: Articles, News, Videos
• Virtual museum of the indigineous languages of Mexico
• Promotora Española de Lingüística (Proel)
• Documentation Center of the Linguistic Minorities of Panama
  • Linguistic map (DCLMP)
• The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America
• First People's Language Resources (Online, Offline, Commercial & Non-Commercial)
• Indigenous Language Institute
• The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA)
• The Yinka Déné Language Institute (YDLI)
• The First Nations Languages of British Columbia (YDLI)
  • Index of Variant Language Names (in British Columbia) (YDLI)
• Southern Oregon Digital Archives First Nations Tribal Collection (beautiful collection of ethnographic, linguistic, & historical material)
• Handbook of the North American Indians
• Center for the Study of the Native Languages of the Plains and Southwest
• Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica
• Programa de Formación en Educación Intercultural Bilingüe para los Países Andinos
• Yukon Native Language Centre
• Bibliographies of Northern and Central California Indians
• Native American Language Center (University of California at Davis)
• Greenberg, Joseph. 'Language in the Americas'. 1987. ISBN 0804713154
• Map of languages in the US - William C. Sturtevant. (1967). Early Indian tribes, culture areas, and linguistic stocks.:
  • Alaska & Hawai‘i
  • Western US
  • Eastern US
• Native Languages of the Americas
• International Journal of American Linguistics (one of the best scholarly journals devoted mostly to Native American linguistics)
• Our Languages (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
• Etnolinguistica.Org: a discussion list on native South American languages
• Potawatomi Language Project Kansas Humanities Council
• Swadesh Lists of Brazilian Native Languages

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