Extinct languages of North America

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Last Updated: 10 years Here is a list of North American languages that are now considered extinct or near extinct, along with the name of the last speaker and date of extinction, when known. An extinct language is a language that no longer has any fluent speakers, or that is no longer in current use.

  • Western Abenaki
    1. Adai: (late 19th century)
    2. Aka-Bo: Boa Sr (2010)
    3. Akkala Sami: Marja Sergina (2003)
    4. Alsean family [Alsea: John Albert (1942); Yaquina: (1884)]
    5. Apalachee: (early 18th century)
    6. Arwi: (early 19th Century)
    7. Aruá: (1877)
    8. Atakapa: (early 20th century)
    9. Atsugewi: (1988)
    10. Beothuk: Shanawdithit (a.k.a. “Nancy April”) (1829)
    11. Black Isle dialect: Bobby Hogg (2012)
    12. Baybayin: (late 19th century)
    13. Catawban family
    14. Catawba: (before 1960)
    15. Woccon
    16. Cayuse: (ca. 1930’s)
    17. Chemakum: (ca. 1940’s)
    18. Chicomuceltec: (late 20th century)
    19. Chimariko: (ca. 1930’s)
    20. Chitimacha: Benjamin Paul (1934) & Delphine Ducloux (1940)
    21. Chumashan family: Barbareño language was last to become extinct.
    22. Barbareño: Mary Yee (1965)
    23. Ineseño
    24. Island Chumash (Ethnologue)
    25. Obispeño
    26. Purisimeño
    27. Ventureño
    28. Coahuilteco: (18th century)
    29. Cochimí (a Yuman language): (early 19th century)
    30. Comecrudan family
    31. Comecrudo: recorded from children (Andrade, Emiterio, Joaquin, & others) of last speakers in (1886)
    32. Garza: last recorded in (1828)
    33. Mamulique: last recorded in (1828)
    34. Coosan family
    35. Hanis: Martha Johnson (1972)
    36. Miluk: Annie Miner Peterson (1939)
    37. Costanoan languages (a subfamily of the Utian family): (ca. 1940’s)
    38. Karkin
    39. Mutsun
    40. Northern CostanoanRumsen: last recorded speaker died in (1939) in Monterey, California
      1. Ramaytush
      2. Chochenyo
      3. Tamyen
      4. Awaswas
    42. Chalon
    43. Cotoname: last recorded from Santos Cavázos and Emiterio in (1886)
    44. Crimean Gothic: language vanished by the (1800’s)
    45. Cuman: István Varró (1770)
    46. Dalmatian: Tuone Udaina, (June 10, 1898)
    47. Esselen: report of a few speakers left in 1833, extinct before the end of the 19th century
    48. Eyak (a Na-Dené language): Marie Smith Jones, January 21, 2008
    49. Gabrielino (a Uto-Aztecan language): elderly speakers last recorded in 1933
    50. Gafat (a South Ethiopian Semitic language): four speakers found in 1947 after much effort, no subsequent record
    51. Galice-Applegate (an Athabaskanlanguage)Greenlandic Norse: (by the late 15th century (16th century at the latest))
      1. Galice dialect: Hoxie Simmons (1963)
    53. Modern Gutnish: (by the 18th century)
    54. Jassic: (17th century)
    55. Juaneño (a Uto-Aztecan language): last recorded in (1934)
    56. Kakadu (Gaagudju): Big Bill Neidjie (July 2002)
    57. Kalapuyan family
      1. Central Kalapuya
      2. Ahantchuyuk, Luckimute, Mary’s River, and Lower McKenzie River dialects: last speakers were about 6 persons who were all over 60 in (1937)
      3. Santiam dialect: (ca. 1950’s)
    58. Northern KalapuyaYonkalla: last recorded in 1937 from Laura Blackery Albertson who only partly remembered it
      1. Tualatin dialect: Louis Kenoyer (1937)
      2. Yamhill dialect: Louisa Selky (1915)
    60. Kamassian: last native speaker, Klavdiya Plotnikova, died in 1989
    61. Karankawa: (1858)
    62. Kathlamet (a Chinookan language): (ca. 1930’s)
    63. Kitanemuk (an Uto-Aztecan language): Marcelino Rivera, Isabella Gonzales, Refugia Duran last recorded (1937)
    64. Kitsai (a Caddoan language): Kai Kai (ca. 1940)
    65. Klallam:(2014)
    66. Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie (an Athabaskan language): children of the last speakers remembered a few words, recorded in (1935 & 1942)
    67. Clatskanie dialect: father of Willie Andrew (ca. 1870)
    68. Kwalhioqua dialect: mother of Lizzie Johnson (1910)
    69. Lipan (Athabaskan): a few native speakers were living in the 1980s, now extinct
    70. Mahican: last spoken in Wisconsin (ca. 1930’s)
    71. Manx: Ned Maddrell (December 1974) (but is being revived as a second language)
    72. Mattole-Bear River (an Athabaskan language)
    73. Bear River dialect: material from last elderly speaker recorded (ca. 1929)
    74. Mattole dialect: material recorded (ca. 1930)
    75. Mbabaram: Albert Bennett (1972)
    76. Mesmes: (one of the West Gurage languages), material from last elderly speaker (who had not spoken it for 30 years) collected ca. 2000
    77. Miami-Illinois: (1989)
    78. Mochica: (ca. 1950’s)
    79. Mohegan: Fidelia Fielding (1908)
    80. Molala: Fred Yelkes (1958)
    81. Munichi: Victoria Huancho Icahuate (late 1990s)
    82. Natchez: Watt Sam & Nancy Raven (early 1930s)
    83. Negerhollands: Alice Stevenson (1987)
    84. Nooksack: Sindick Jimmy (1977)
    85. Norn (a Germanic language): extinct by mid-19th century
    86. Northern Pomo: (1994)
    87. Nottoway (an Iroquoian language): last recorded (before 1836)
    88. Pentlatch (a Salishan language): Joe Nimnim (1940)
    89. Pánobo (a Pano–Tacanan language): (1991)
    90. Pochutec (Uto-Aztecan: last documented 1917 by Franz Boas
    91. Polabian (a Slavic language): (late 18th century)
    92. Sadlermiut: last speaker died in 1902
    93. Salinan: (ca. 1960)
    94. Shastan family
    95. Konomihu
    96. New River Shasta
    97. Okwanuchu
    98. Shasta: 3 elderly speakers in 1980, extinct by (1990)
    99. Sirenik: last speaker died of old age in (1997)
    100. Siuslaw: (ca. 1970’s)
    101. Slovincian (a Slavic language): (20th century)
    102. Sowa: last fluent speaker died in (2000)
    103. Susquehannock: all last speakers murdered in (1763)
    104. Takelma: Molly Orton (or Molly Orcutt) & Willie Simmons (both not fully fluent) last recorded in (1934)
    105. Tasmanian: (late 19th century)
    106. Tataviam (an Uto-Aztecan language): Juan José Fustero who remembered only a few words of his grandparents’ language recorded (1913)
    107. Teteté (a Tucanoan language)
    108. Tillamook (a Salishan language): (1970)
    109. Tonkawa: 6 elderly people in (1931)
    110. Tsetsaut (an Athabaskan language): last fluent speaker was elderly man recorded in (1894)
    111. Tunica: Sesostrie Youchigant (ca. mid 20th century)
    112. Ubykh: Tevfik Esenç (October 1992)
    113. Most dialects of Upper Chinook (a Chinookan language) are extinct, except for the Wasco-Wishram dialect. The Clackamas dialect became extinct in the (1930’s), other dialects have little documentation. (The Wasco-Wishram language is still spoken by five elders).[10]
    114. Upper Umpqua: Wolverton Orton, last recorded in (1942)
    115. Vegliot Dalmatian: Tuone Udaina (Italian: Antonio Udina) (10 June 1898)
    116. Wappo : Laura Fish Somersal (1990)
    117. Weyto: while attested as living in 1770, 18th century explorers could find no fluent speakers
    118. Wiyot: Della Prince (1962)
    119. Yana: Ishi (1916)
    120. Yola related to English: (mid-19th century)