Shawnee language

Shawnee
saawanwaatoweewe, sâwanwâtowêwe[1]
Native toUnited States
RegionCentral and Northeast Oklahoma
EthnicityShawnee[2]
Native speakers
260 and decreasing (2015)[2]
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3sjw
Glottologshaw1249
ELPShawnee
Distribution of the Shawnee language around 1650
Shawnee is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Shawnee language
PersonShawnee people, Indigenous group from the Ohio River Valley with rich cultural heritage.
PeopleShawnee (Sawanwa), an Algonquian language with few speakers remaining, preservation efforts underway.
LanguageHistorically in eastern U.S. (Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania), now primarily in Oklahoma.

The Shawnee language is a Central Algonquian language, spoken in parts of central and northeastern Oklahoma by the Shawnee people. It was originally spoken by these people in a broad territory throughout the Eastern United States, mostly north of the Ohio River. They occupied territory in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

Shawnee is closely related to other Algonquian languages, such as Mesquakie-Sauk (Sac and Fox) and Kickapoo. It has 260 speakers, according to a 2015 census,[2] although the number is decreasing. It is a polysynthetic language that is described to have freedom in word ordering.[3]

  1. ^ "maalaakwahi ke'neemepe: Shawnee Language Immersion Program (SLIP)". www.shawnee-nsn.gov. 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  2. ^ a b c Shawnee at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).