| Kitsai | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United States |
| Region | previously west-central Oklahoma and eastern Texas |
| Ethnicity | Kichai |
| Extinct | 1940, with the death of Kai Kai[1] |
Caddoan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kii |
| Glottolog | kits1249 |
| Linguasphere | 64-BAB-a |
The Kitsai (also Kichai) language is an extinct member of the Caddoan language family.[2] The French first record the Kichai people's presence along the upper Red River in 1701.[3] By the 1840s Kitsai was spoken in southern Oklahoma, but by the 1930s no native speakers remained. It is thought to be most closely related to Pawnee.[4][5] The Kichai people today are enrolled in the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi), Waco and Tawakonie), headquartered in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
- ^ Kitsai at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- ^ Sturtevant and Fogelson, 616
- ^ "Kichai Tribe". Access Genealogy. July 9, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
- ^ Sturtevant and Fogelson, 68
- ^ Kitsai language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009) (retrieved 3 May 2010)
