Siouan languages facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Siouan |
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| Siouan–Catawban | |
| Geographic distribution: |
central North America |
| Linguistic classification: | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions: |
Catawban (Eastern) †
Siouan proper (Western)
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| ISO 639-2 and 639-5: | sio |
_language_map_01.svg) Pre-contact distribution of the Siouan–Catawban languages
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The Siouan or Siouan–Catawban language family is a group of languages spoken by many Native Americans in North America. These languages are mostly found in the central parts of the continent, like the Great Plains, and near the Ohio River and Mississippi River. Some are also found in the southeastern United States.
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What's in a Name?
When people talk about the whole group of Siouan languages, they sometimes call it "Siouan–Catawban." This name helps show that it has two main branches: the Western Siouan languages and the Catawban languages. Sometimes, the name "Siouan" is used for the whole family without making this distinction.
How Siouan Languages are Grouped
The Siouan languages are divided into two main groups:
- Western Siouan languages: This is the larger group. It includes languages like:
- Crow and Hidatsa, spoken near the Missouri River.
- Mandan.
- Languages from the Mississippi River area, such as Dakotan (which includes Lakota and Dakota), Chiwere-Winnebago, and the Dhegihan languages (like Omaha, Ponca, Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw).
- Ohio Valley Siouan languages.
- Catawban languages: This smaller group includes only two known languages:
Studying Ancient Siouan Sounds
Scientists who study languages, called linguists, try to figure out what the very first version of the Siouan language sounded like. This original language is called "Proto-Siouan." By comparing words and sounds in all the different Siouan languages today, they can guess what the sounds were like long ago.
Early Ideas About Proto-Siouan
One of the first big studies on Proto-Siouan was done by a linguist named Wolff in the 1950s. Another linguist, Matthews, later updated his ideas. They tried to figure out the basic sounds (like consonants and vowels) that Proto-Siouan had.
Newer Ideas About Proto-Siouan
More recently, many linguists have worked together to create a better understanding of Proto-Siouan. They started this work in 1984. They looked at more languages and more data.
One big change in their ideas is about how many different "stop" sounds (like 'p', 't', 'k') Proto-Siouan had. Earlier ideas thought there was only one type, but newer research suggests there were more.
Also, earlier studies thought Proto-Siouan had nasal sounds (like 'm' or 'n'). But new research suggests that nasal sounds only appeared later in the daughter languages, usually when a sound was followed by a nasal vowel.
Vowel Sounds
Linguists also found that Proto-Siouan likely had both short and long vowel sounds. This is important because some modern Siouan languages, like Hidatsa and Ho-Chunk, still have these long vowels. This suggests they came from the original Proto-Siouan language.
Connections to Other Languages
Linguists also look for connections between language families. They think the Yuchi language, which is a language isolate (meaning it's not clearly related to any other language family), might be the closest relative to the Siouan–Catawban family. They see similarities in sounds and how words are formed.
In the 1800s, a linguist named Robert Latham thought that Siouan languages might be related to Caddoan and Iroquoian languages. Later, in the 1930s, Louis Allen found some matching words between Siouan and Iroquoian. In the 1960s and 70s, Wallace Chafe explored the link between Siouan and Caddoan.
More recently, in the 1990s, Marianne Mithun compared how words and sentences are built in all three families. Today, many linguists are still studying this "Macro-Siouan" idea. It's not fully proven yet. The similarities might be because these languages were spoken near each other for a long time, influencing each other, rather than coming from one single ancestor language.
See also
In Spanish: Lenguas siux para niños
