| Also Known As: Arrapahoe
Description:
The Arapaho language or "hinono'eitiit" (also "Arapahoe Language" and "hiinonoei'tiit") is a Plains Algonquian language (an areal rather than genetic grouping) spoken almost entirely by elders in Wyoming, and to a much lesser extent in Oklahoma. It is in great danger of becoming extinct. As of 1996, there were approximately 1,000 speakers of the Northern Arapaho. In 2008, it was reported that a school had been opened to teach the language to children. 22 children are currently being taught there. The school was established as a matter of urgency, as no person aged under 55 was fluent in Arapaho at that point.
Arapaho has diverged very significantly phonologically from its posited proto-language, Proto-Algonquian (Proto-Algonquian *maθkwa, "bear," became Arapaho wox, and Proto-Algonquian *weθari, "her husband," became Arapaho ííx).
As mentioned above, the Plains Algonquian languages are phonologically very distinct from other people in the great basin speak Algonquian languages and from Proto-Algonquian.
Arapaho has a series of four short vowels /i e ɔ u/ and four long vowels /iː eː ɔː uː/. It also contains three diphthongs, /ei/, /ɔu/, and /ie/.
The consonant inventory of Arapaho..... full article at Wikipedia |
