Osage language

Osage
𐓏𐒰𐓓𐒰𐓓𐒷 𐒻𐒷
Wažáže ie
Native toUnited States
RegionOklahoma
EthnicityOsage people
Extinct2005, with the death of Lucille Robedeaux
RevivalAs of 2009, 15-20 L2 speakers, ongoing revival program
Siouan
Latin (Osage alphabet), Osage script
Language codes
ISO 639-2osa
ISO 639-3osa
qlc Kansa-Osage
Glottologosag1243
ELPOsage
Map showing the distribution of Oklahoma Indian Languages
Osage is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Osage (/ˈs, ˈs/;[1] Osage: 𐓏𐒰𐓓𐒰𐓓𐒷 𐒻𐒷Wažáže ie) is a Siouan language that is spoken by the Osage people of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Their original territory was in present-day Missouri and Kansas but they were gradually pushed west by European-American pressure and treaties.

Osage has an inventory of sounds very similar to that of Dakota, also a Siouan language, plus vowel length, preaspirated obstruents and an interdental fricative (like "th" in English "then"). In contrast to Dakota, phonemically aspirated obstruents appear phonetically as affricates, and the high back vowel *u has been fronted to [y].

Osage is written primarily with two systems: one using the Latin script with diacritics, and another derived Osage script created in 2006.[2] Osage is among the few indigenous languages in the United States that has developed its own writing system.

  1. ^ "Osage". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ "Osage". Atlas of Endangered Alphabets. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2021.