Muscogee language

Muscogee
Creek (exonym)
Mvskoke
Native toUnited States
RegionEast central Oklahoma, Muscogee and Seminole, south Alabama Creek, Florida, Seminole of Brighton Reservation.
Ethnicity100,000 Muscogee people (2024)[1]
Native speakers
fewer than 400 (2024)[2]
Muskogean
  • Eastern
    • Muscogee
Official status
Official language in
 United States
   Muscogee Nation
Language codes
ISO 639-2mus
ISO 639-3mus
Glottologcree1270
ELPMuskogee
Current geographic distribution of the Creek language
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The Muscogee language (Muskogee, Mvskoke IPA: [maskókî] in Muscogee), previously referred to by its exonym, Creek,[3] is a Muskogean language spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the US states of Oklahoma and Florida. Along with Mikasuki, when it is spoken by the Seminole, it is known as Seminole.

Historically, the language was spoken by various constituent groups of the Muscogee or Maskoki in what are now Alabama and Georgia. It is related to but not mutually intelligible with the other primary language of the Muscogee confederacy, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, which is spoken by the kindred Mikasuki, as well as with other Muskogean languages.

The Muscogee first brought the Muscogee and Miccosukee languages to Florida in the early 18th century. Combining with other ethnicities there, they emerged as the Seminole. During the 1830s, however, the US government forced most Muscogee and Seminole to relocate west of the Mississippi River, with most forced into Indian Territory.

The language is today spoken by fewer than 400 people, most of whom live in Oklahoma and are members of the Muscogee Nation and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.[4]

  1. ^ Muscogee Nation website
  2. ^ Powell, Amy; Martin, Jack (May 17, 2024). "The Muscogee Language Documentation Project". William & Mary.
  3. ^ "Muscogee Citizen Data". Muscogee Nation.
  4. ^ Powell, Amy; Martin, Jack (May 17, 2024). "The Muscogee Language Documentation Project". William & Mary