Siouan-Catawban Language Family

Siouan-Catawban Language Family category image

Siouan-Catawban Language Family

Alternate Names: Siouan proper, Western Siouan,Central Siouan, Iowa-Oto-Missouri, Southeastern Siouan, Eastern Siouan, and  Catawban.

The Siouan languages are a Native American language family of North America, and the second largest indigenous language family in North America, after Algonquian.

The Siouan language family is related to the Catawban language family, together making up the Siouan-Catawban family.

Some authors use the term Siouan to refer to the Siouan-Catawban family and the term Siouan proper to refer to the Siouan family.

Some authors call this family simply Siouan. Other writers favor the name Siouan-Catawaban so that Catawban is clearly indicated as a separate branch of the family and not under Siouan proper.

The Siouan family consists of 17 languages with various sub-languages.

The Catawan language family contains two languages that are thought to be related to the Siouian family.

While the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota comprise “the Great Sioux Nation”, the language family is much broader and includes “the old speakers”, the Ho-Chunk and their linguistic cousins, the Crow.

The Siouan family also extends eastward to Virginia and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.

Linguistic and historical records indicate a possible southern origin of Siouan people, with migrations over a thousand years ago from North Carolina and Virginia to Ohio.

Some Souian people continued down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and up to the Missouri, and others across Ohio to Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, home of the Dakota.Another view of both the Dakotan and Mississippi Valley branches is to represent them as dialect continuums.

Some linguists associate Siouan languages with Caddoan and Iroquoian languages in a Macro-Siouan language family. However, such linguistic associations are yet to be proven.

I. Missouri River Siouan (a.k.a. Crow-Hidatsa)

1. Crow (a.k.a. Absaroka, Apsaroka, Apsaalooke, Upsaroka)
2. Hidatsa (a.k.a. Gros Ventre, Minitari, Minnetaree)

II. Mandan Siouan

3. Mandan

a. Nuptare

III. Mississippi Valley Siouan (a.k.a. Central Siouan)

A. Dakotan (a.k.a. Sioux-Assiniboine-Stoney)

4. Sioux

a. Santee-Sisseton (a.k.a. Santee, Eastern Sioux, Eastern Dakota)

i. Santee
ii. Sisseton

b. Yankton-Yanktonai (a.k.a. Yankton, Central Sioux, Eastern Dakota)

i. Yankton
ii. Yanktonai

c. Lakota (a.k.a. Lakhota, Teton, Western Sioux)

i. Northern Lakota
ii. Southern Lakota

5. Assiniboine (a.k.a. Assiniboin, Nakhóta, Nakhóda)
6. Stoney (a.k.a. Alberta Assiniboine, Nakhóda)

B. Chiwere-Winnebago (a.k.a. Chiwere)

7. Chiwere(a.k.a. Ioway-Otoe-Missouria, Ioway-Otoe)

a. Iowa (a.k.a. Ioway)
b. Otoe (a.k.a. Oto, Jiwere)
c. Missouria (a.k.a. Missouri)

8. Winnebago (a.k.a. Hocák, Hochunk, Hochank, Hocangara, Hotcangara, Hochangara)

C. Dhegiha (a.k.a. Dhegihan)

9. Omaha-Ponca

a. Omaha
b. Ponca (a.k.a. Ponka)

10.

Kansa-Osage

a. Kansa (a.k.a. Kanza, Kaw) (†)
b. Osage

11.

Quapaw (a.k.a. Kwapa, Kwapaw, Arkansas)
(†)

IV. Ohio Valley Siouan (a.k.a. Southeastern Siouan)

A. Virginia Siouan

12. Tutelo
13. Saponi (a.k.a. Saponey) (†)
14. Moniton (a.k.a. Monacan) (†)
15. Occaneechi

B. Mississippi Siouan (a.k.a. Ofo-Biloxi) (†)

16. Biloxi (†)
17. Ofo (a.k.a. Ofogoula) (†)

(†) – Extinct (dormant) languages

II. Catawban (a.k.a. Eastern Siouan) (†)

18. Woccon (†)
19. Catawba (†)

Quapaw, Saponi, Biloxi, Ofo, Woccon, and Catawba are now extinct (†).

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