Arapaho language
| Arapaho | |
|---|---|
| Hinónoʼeitíít | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming; Oklahoma |
| Ethnicity | Arapaho |
|
Native speakers
|
1,000 (2007) |
|
Algic
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | arap1274 |
The Arapaho (Arapahoe) language (in Arapaho: Hinónoʼeitíít ) is one of the Plains Algonquian languages, closely related to Gros Ventre and other Arapahoan languages. It is spoken by the Arapaho people of Wyoming and Oklahoma. Speakers of Arapaho primarily live on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, though some have affiliation with the Cheyenne people living in western Oklahoma.
Arapaho is an Algonquian language of the Algic family.
By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed two tribes: the Northern Arapaho and Southern Arapaho. Since 1878 the Northern Arapaho have lived with the Eastern Shoshone on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and are federally recognized as the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation. The Southern Arapaho live with the Southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma. Together their members are enrolled as the federally recognized Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
The exact number of Arapaho speakers is not precisely known; however it has been estimated that the language currently retains between 250 and 1,000 active users. Arapaho has limited development outside of the home; however, it is used in some films and the Bible was translated into the language in 1903. According to one source, under 300 people over the age of 50 speak the language in Wyoming, and in Oklahoma the language is used by "only a handful of people . . . all near eighty or older". As of 1996, there were approximately 1,000 speakers among the Northern Arapaho. As of 2008, the authors of a newly published grammar estimated that there were slightly over 250 fluent speakers, plus "quite a few near-fluent passive understanders". In 2008, it was reported that a school had been opened to teach the language to children. Arapaho language camps were held in Summer 2015 at Wind River Tribal College and in St. Stephens, Wyoming. Currently, the language may be acquired by children, for a population estimate as recent as 2007 lists an increase to 1,000 speakers and notes that the language is in use in schools, bilingual education efforts begun on Wind River Reservation in the 1980s and the Arapaho Language Lodge, a successful immersion program, was established in 1993. "The Arapaho Project" is an effort made by the Arapaho people to promote and restore their traditional language and culture. Despite hope for the language, its relatively few active users and the fact that it has seen recent population decreases render Arapaho an endangered language. Ethnologue deems it "threatened," meaning that some children are learning it but it is threatened by other languages and it may be losing speakers.
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