Shoshonean language
| Shoshoni | |
|---|---|
| Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe, Neme ta̲i̲kwappeh | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho |
| Ethnicity | Shoshoni people |
|
Native speakers
|
1,000 (2007) 1,000 additional non-fluent speakers (2007) |
|
Early form
|
Proto-Numic
|
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | shos1248 |
Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (/ʃoʊˈʃoʊni/; Shoshoni: Sosoni' 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.
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. 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 SXV order.
The endonyms newe ta̲i̲kwappe and Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe mean "the people's language" and "the Shoshoni language," respectively. Shoshoni is classified as threatened, although attempts at revitalization are underway.
Principal dialects of Shoshoni include Western Shoshoni in Nevada, Gosiute in western Utah, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho and northern Utah, and Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming.
The number of people who speak Shoshoni has been steadily dwindling since the late 20th century. In the early 21st century, fluent speakers number only several hundred to a few thousand people. An additional population of about 1,000 know it to some degree. The Duck Valley and Gusiute communities have established programs to teach it to their children. Ethnologue lists Shoshoni as "threatened" as it notes that many of the speakers are 50 and older.UNESCO has classified the Shoshoni language as "severely endangered" in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The language is still being taught to children in a small number of isolated locations. The tribes have a strong interest in revitalization but efforts to preserve the language are scattered, with little coordination. Literacy is increasing. Shoshoni dictionaries have been published and Bible portions translated in 1986.
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Wikipedia