Classification schemes for indigenous languages of the Americas

This article is a list of different language classification proposals developed for indigenous languages of the Americas. The article is divided into North, Central, and South America sections; however, the classifications do not always neatly correspond to these continent divisions.

(See: Indigenous languages of the Americas for the main article about these languages.)

An early attempt at North American language classification was attempted by A. A. Albert Gallatin published in 1826, 1836, and 1848. Gallatin's classifications are missing several languages which are later recorded in the classifications by Daniel G. Brinton and John Wesley Powell. (Gallatin supported the assimilation of indigenous peoples to Euro-American culture.)

Families

Languages

11. Straits of Fuca  (=Makah)
12. Natches  (=Natchez)
13. Wakash  (=Nootka)
14. Salish  (=Salishan)
15. Shoshonees  (=Shoshone)
16. Atnahs  (=Shuswap)
17. Kinai  (=Tanaina)
18. Koulischen  (=Tlingit)
19. Utchees  (=Yuchi)

Families

Languages

  1. Adai
  2. Alsean
  3. Apache
  4. Arapaho
  5. Atakapa
  6. Caddoan, Northern
  7. Caddoan, Southern
  8. Cayuse-Molala
  9. Chinookan
10. Chitimacha
11. Comanche
12. Haida
13. Kalapuyan
14. Kiowa
15. Klamath
16. Koasati-Alabama
17. Kootenai

18. Kutchin
19. Maricopa (Yuman)
20. Natchez
21. Palaihnihan
22. Plains Apache
23. Sahaptian
24. Salishan
25. Shasta
26. Shoshone
27. Tanaina
28. Tlingit
29. Tsimshian
30. Ute
31. Wakashan, Southern
32. Wichita
33. Yuchi

John Wesley Powell, an explorer who served as director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, published a classification of 58 "stocks" that is the "cornerstone" of genetic classifications in North America. Powell's classification was influenced by Gallatin to a large extent.

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