Shoshoni language

Shoshoni
Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe, Neme ta̲i̲kwappeh
Native toUnited States
RegionWyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho
EthnicityShoshones
Native speakers
~1,000 (2007)[1]
1,000 additional non-fluent speakers (2007)[1]
Uto-Aztecan
  • Northern
Early form
Proto-Numic
Dialects
  • Western Shoshoni
  • Northern Shoshoni
  • Gosiute
  • Eastern Shoshoni
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3shh
Glottologshos1248
ELPShoshone
Map of the Shoshoni (and Timbisha) languages prior to European contact
Shoshoni is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (/ʃoʊˈʃoʊni/ shoh-SHOH-nee;[2] Shoshoni: soni' ta̲i̲kwappe, newe ta̲i̲kwappe or neme ta̲i̲kwappeh), is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone people. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin, in areas of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.[3]: 1 

The consonant inventory of Shoshoni is rather small, but a much wider range of surface forms of these phonemes appear in the spoken language. The language has six vowels, distinguished by length.[3]: 3  Shoshoni is a strongly suffixing language, and it inflects for nominal number and case and for verbal aspect and tense using suffixes. Word order is relatively free but shows a preference toward SOV order.[4]

The endonyms newe ta̲i̲kwappe and Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe mean "the people's language" and "the Shoshoni language," respectively.[5]: 5, 176  Shoshoni is classified as threatened, although attempts at revitalization are underway.[6]

  1. ^ a b Shoshoni at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Bauer, Laurie. (2007). The Linguistics Student’s Handbook. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  3. ^ a b McLaughlin, John E. (2012). Shoshoni Grammar. Munich: Lincom Europa. ISBN 9783862883042. OCLC 793217272.
  4. ^ "WALS Online - Language Shoshone". The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  5. ^ Gould, Drusilla; Loether, Christopher (2002). An Introduction to the Shoshoni Language: Dammen Da̲igwape. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN 0874807301. OCLC 50114343.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).