Sahaptian languages facts for kids

Sahaptian is a group of two languages spoken by Native American people. These languages are found in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. You can find speakers in parts of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Sometimes, people get the names "Sahaptian" (which is the name for the language group) and "Sahaptin" (which is the name of one of the languages) mixed up.

What Languages Are in Sahaptian?

The Sahaptian language family includes two main languages:

• Nez Perce (called Niimiʼipuutímt by its speakers)
• Sahaptin (called Sħáptənəxw by its speakers)

Nez Perce has two main ways of speaking it, known as dialects: Upper and Lower. Sahaptin has even more dialects, like the Umatilla and Yakima dialects.

About Proto-Sahaptian

Linguists study how languages change over time. They try to figure out what older versions of languages sounded like. For the Sahaptian languages, they study something called Proto-Sahaptian. This is the ancient language that Nez Perce and Sahaptin both came from.

A linguist named Noel Rude has done a lot of work on figuring out what Proto-Sahaptian was like. This helps us understand how the languages developed.

See also

In Spanish: Lenguas sahaptianas para niños