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The 'Plains Algonquian languages' are commonly grouped together as a subgroup of the larger Algonquian family, itself a member of the Algic family. Though this grouping is often encountered in the literature, it is an areal grouping rather than a genetic one. In other words, the languages are grouped together because they were spoken near each other, not because they are any closer related to one another than to any other Algonquian language. Within the Algonquian family, only Eastern Algonquian constitutes a separate genetic subgroup.
The Plains Algonquian languages are well-known for having diverged significantly from Proto-Algonquian (the parent of all Algonquian languages), both phonologically and lexically. For example, Proto-Algonquian ''
★ keriwa'', "eagle", becomes Cheyenne ''netse''; Proto-Algonquian ''
★ weθali'', "her husband", becomes Arapaho ''ííx'',^[1] ''
★ nepyi'', "water" becomes Gros Ventre ''níc'', ''
★ wa·poswa'', "hare" becomes Arapaho ''nóóku'',^[2] ''
★ maθkwa'', "bear" becomes Arapaho ''wox'', and ''
★ sakime·wa'', "fly" becomes Arapaho ''noubee''.^[3]

Contents

Family division

References

See also

External links

Bibliography

Family division

The languages are listed below along with dialects and subdialects. This classification follows Goddard (1996, 2001) and Mithun (1999).
1. 'Blackfoot' (also known as Blackfeet)

2. 'Arapahoan'
: i. Arapaho-Atsina
::
★ Arapaho ''(also known as Arapahoe or Arapafoe)''
::
★ Gros Ventre ''(also known as Atsina, Aáni, Ahahnelin, Ahe, A'aninin, A'ane, or A'ananin)''
::
★ Besawunena ''(†)''
:
★ Nawathinehena ''(†)''
:
★ Ha’anahawunena ''(†)''
3. 'Cheyenne'
:
★ Cheyenne
:
★ Sutaio ''(also known as )'' ''(†)''

References

1. Mithun (1999:335)
2. Goddard (2001:75)
3. Arapaho Language through Time. The Arapaho Project. Retrieved on 2007-04-15

See also

★ Algonquian languages

★ Proto-Algonquian language

★ Algonquian peoples

External links

★ Algonquian Family

★ Algonquian languages

Bibliography

★ Campbell, Lyle (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.

★ Goddard, Ives (1994). "The West-to-East Cline in Algonquian Dialectology." In William Cowan, ed., ''Papers of the 25th Algonquian Conference'' 187-211. Ottawa: Carleton University.

★ ———— (1996). "Introduction". In Ives Goddard, ed., "Languages". Vol. 17 of William Sturtevant, ed., ''The Handbook of North American Indians''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

★ ———— (2001). "The Algonquian Languages of the Plains". In Raymond J. DeMaille, ed., "Plains". Vol. 13 of William Sturtevant, ed., ''The Handbook of North American Indians''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

★ Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.) (2000). ''Ethnologue: Languages of the world'', (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-106-9. Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Mar. 3, 2005.

★ Mithun, Marianne (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.