Over a thousand

indigenous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. This language is from a linguistically distinct community that originated in the area. Indigenous languages are not neces ...

s are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large number of

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

s), as well as a number of extinct languages that are

unclassified Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

because of a lack of data. Many proposals have been made to relate some or all of these languages to each other, with varying degrees of success. The most notorious is Joseph Greenberg's Amerind hypothesis, which however nearly all specialists reject because of severe methodological flaws; spurious data; and a failure to distinguish cognation, contact, and coincidence. Nonetheless, there are indications that some of the recognized families are related to each other, such as widespread similarities in pronouns (e.g., ''n''/''m'' is a common pattern for 'I'/'you' across western North America, and ''ch''/''k''/''t'' for 'I'/'you'/'we' is similarly found in a more limited region of South America). According to UNESCO, most of the Indigenous languages of the Americas are critically endangered, and many are

dormant Dormant, "sleeping", may refer to: Science *Dormancy Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps ...

(without native speakers but with a community of heritage-language users) or entirely extinct.Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (15th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. . (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com) The most widely spoken Indigenous languages are Southern Quechua (spoken primarily in southern Peru and Bolivia) and Guarani (centered in Paraguay, where it is the national language), with perhaps six or seven million speakers apiece (including many of European descent in the case of Guarani). Only half a dozen others have more than a million speakers; these are Aymara of Bolivia and

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

of Mexico, with almost two million each; the Mayan languages Kekchi, Quiché, and Yucatec of Guatemala and Mexico, with about 1 million apiece; and perhaps one or two additional Quechuan languages in Peru and Ecuador. In the United States, 372,000 people reported speaking an Indigenous language at home in the 2010 census, and similarly in Canada, 133,000 people reported speaking an Indigenous language at home in the 2011 census. In Greenland, about 90% of the population speaks Greenlandic, the most widely spoken Eskimo–Aleut language.

Background

Over a thousand known languages were spoken by various peoples in North and South America prior to their first contact with Europeans. These encounters occurred between the beginning of the 11th century (with the Nordic settlement of Greenland and failed efforts in Newfoundland and Labrador) and the end of the 15th century (the voyages of Christopher Columbus). Several Indigenous cultures of the Americas had also developed their own writing systems, the best known being the Maya script. The Indigenous languages of the Americas had widely varying demographics, from the

Quechuan languages Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely ...

, Aymara, Guarani, and

, which had millions of active speakers, to many languages with only several hundred speakers. After pre-Columbian times, several Indigenous creole languages developed in the Americas, based on European, Indigenous and African languages. The European colonizers and their successor states had widely varying attitudes towards Native American languages. In Brazil, friars learned and promoted the Tupi language. In many Spanish colonies, Spanish missionaries often learned local languages and culture in order to preach to the natives in their own tongue and relate the Christian message to their Indigenous religions. In the British American colonies, John Eliot of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

translated the Bible into the Massachusett language, also called Wampanoag, or Natick (1661–1663); he published the first Bible printed in North America, the '' Eliot Indian Bible''. The Europeans also suppressed use of Indigenous languages, establishing their own languages for official communications, destroying texts in other languages, and insisting that Indigenous people learn European languages in schools. As a result, Indigenous languages suffered from cultural suppression and loss of speakers. By the 18th and 19th centuries, Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and Dutch, brought to the Americas by European settlers and administrators, had become the official or national languages of modern nation-states of the Americas. Many Indigenous languages have become critically endangered, but others are vigorous and part of daily life for millions of people. Several Indigenous languages have been given official status in the countries where they occur, such as Guaraní in Paraguay. In other cases official status is limited to certain regions where the languages are most spoken. Although sometimes enshrined in constitutions as official, the languages may be used infrequently in ''de facto'' official use. Examples are Quechua in Peru and Aymara in Bolivia, where in practice, Spanish is dominant in all formal contexts. In the North American Arctic region, Greenland in 2009 adopted Kalaallisut as its sole official language. In the United States, the Navajo language is the most spoken Native American language, with more than 200,000 speakers in the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

. The US Marine Corps recruited Navajo men, who were established as code talkers during World War II.

Origins

In ''American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America'' (1997), Lyle Campbell lists several hypotheses for the historical origins of Amerindian languages. * A single, one-language migration (not widely accepted) * A few linguistically distinct migrations (favored by Edward Sapir) * Multiple migrations * Multilingual migrations (single migration with multiple languages) * The influx of already diversified but related languages from the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

* Extinction of

linguistic relatives (while the New World ones survived) * Migration along the Pacific coast instead of by the Bering Strait Roger Blench (2008) has advocated the theory of multiple migrations along the Pacific coast of peoples from northeastern Asia, who already spoke diverse languages. These proliferated in the New World.

Numbers of speakers and political recognition

Countries like Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Guyana recognize all or most Indigenous languages native to their respective countries, with Bolivia and Venezuela elevating all Indigenous languages to official language status according to their constitutions. Colombia delegates local Indigenous language recognition to the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

level according to the Colombian Constitution of 1991. Countries like Canada, Argentina, and the United States allow their respective provinces and states to determine their own language recognition policies. Indigenous language recognition in Brazil is limited to their localities. * Bullet points represent minority language status. Political entities with official language status are highlighted in bold.

Language families and unclassified languages

Notes: * Extinct languages or families are indicated by: ''†''. * The number of family members is indicated in parentheses (for example, Arauan (9) means the Arauan family consists of nine languages). * For convenience, the following list of language families is divided into three sections based on political boundaries of countries. These sections correspond roughly with the geographic regions (North, Central, and South America) but are not equivalent. This division cannot fully delineate Indigenous culture areas.

Northern America

There are approximately 296 spoken (or formerly spoken) Indigenous languages north of Mexico, 269 of which are grouped into 29 families (the remaining 27 languages are either isolates or unclassified). The Na-Dené, Algic, and

Uto-Aztecan Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...

families are the largest in terms of number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95 million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of

); Na-Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

and Ojibwe). Na-Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions: Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico (due to later migrations of the

Kickapoo Kickapoo may refer to: People * Kickapoo people, a Native American nation ** Kickapoo language, spoken by that people ** Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, a federally recognized tribe of Kickapoo people ** Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, a federally recog ...

) with two outliers in California ( Yurok and Wiyot); Na-Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington, Oregon, and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico (with one outlier in the Plains). Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages. Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America. Two large (super-) family proposals, Penutian and Hokan, look particularly promising. However, even after decades of research, a large number of families remain. North America is notable for its linguistic diversity, especially in California. This area has 18 language families comprising 74 languages (compared to four families in Europe: Indo-European,

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian ...

Turkic Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

, and Afroasiatic and one isolate, Basque). Another area of considerable diversity appears to have been the Southeastern Woodlands; however, many of these languages became extinct from European contact and as a result they are, for the most part, absent from the historical record. This diversity has influenced the development of linguistic theories and practice in the US. Due to the diversity of languages in North America, it is difficult to make generalizations for the region. Most North American languages have a relatively small number of vowels (i.e. three to five vowels). Languages of the western half of North America often have relatively large consonant inventories. The languages of the Pacific Northwest are notable for their complex phonotactics (for example, some languages have words that lack vowels entirely). The languages of the Plateau area have relatively rare pharyngeals and epiglottals (they are otherwise restricted to Afroasiatic languages and the languages of the Caucasus).

Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some l ...

s are also common in western North America, although they are rare elsewhere (except, again, for the Caucasus region, parts of Africa, and the Mayan family). Head-marking is found in many languages of North America (as well as in Central and South America), but outside of the Americas it is rare. Many languages throughout North America are polysynthetic (

Eskimo–Aleut languages The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...

are extreme examples), although this is not characteristic of all North American languages (contrary to what was believed by 19th-century linguists). Several families have unique traits, such as the inverse number marking of the Tanoan languages, the lexical

affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...

es of the

Wakashan Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington (state), Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As is ...

, Salishan and Chimakuan languages, and the unusual verb structure of Na-Dené. The classification below is a composite of Goddard (1996), Campbell (1997), and Mithun (1999). * Adai ''†'' * Algic (30) * Alsea (2) ''†'' *

Atakapa The Atakapa Sturtevant, 659 or Atacapa were an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct band ...

''†'' * Beothuk ''†'' * Caddoan (5) *

Cayuse Cayuse may refer to: *Cayuse people, a people native to Oregon, United States *Cayuse language, an extinct language of the Cayuse people *Cayuse, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the United States *Cayuse horse, an archaic term for a feral or ...

''†'' * Chimakuan (2) ''†'' * Chimariko ''†'' * Chinookan (3) ''†'' * Chitimacha ''†'' *

Chumashan Chumashan was a family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people, from the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu, neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and ca ...

(6) ''†'' *

Coahuilteco Coahuilteco was one of the Pakawan languages that was spoken in southern Texas (United States) and northeastern Coahuila (Mexico). It is now extinct. Classification Coahuilteco was grouped in an eponymous Coahuiltecan family by John Wesley P ...

''†'' * Comecrudan (United States & Mexico) (3) ''†'' * Coosan (2) ''†'' * Cotoname ''†'' * Eskimo–Aleut (7) *

Esselen The Esselen are a Native American people belonging to a linguistic group in the hypothetical Hokan language family, who are indigenous to the Santa Lucia Mountains of a region south of the Big Sur River in Big Sur, Monterey County, Californi ...

''†'' *

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a 1 ...

* Iroquoian (11) *

Kalapuyan Kalapuyan (also Kalapuya) is a small extinct language family that was spoken in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon, United States. It consists of three languages. The Kalapuya language is currently in a state of revival. Kalapuyan descenda ...

(3) ''†'' * Karankawa ''†'' * Karuk * Keresan (2) * Kutenai * Maiduan (4) * Muskogean (9) * Na-Dené (United States, Canada & Mexico) (39) * Natchez ''†'' * Palaihnihan (2) ''†'' * Plateau Penutian (4) *

Pomoan The Pomoan, or Pomo , languages are a small family of seven languages indigenous to northern California spoken by the Pomo people, whose ancestors lived in the valley of the Russian River and the Clear Lake basin. Four languages are extinct, an ...

(7) * Salinan ''†'' * Salishan (23) * Shastan (4) ''†'' * Siouan (19) * Siuslaw ''†'' * Solano ''†'' * Takelma ''†'' * Tanoan (7) * Timucua ''†'' * Tonkawa ''†'' * Tsimshianic (2) * Tunica ''†'' * Utian (15) *

(33) *

(7) * Wappo ''†'' * Washo * Wintuan (4) * Yana ''†'' *

Yokutsan Yokuts, formerly known as Mariposa, is an endangered language spoken in the interior of Northern and Central California in and around the San Joaquin Valley by the Yokuts people. The speakers of Yokuts were severely affected by disease, mission ...

(3) * Yuchi * Yuki ''†'' * Yuman–Cochimí (11) * Zuni

Central America and Mexico

In Central America the Mayan languages are among those used today. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million Indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes eight more. The Mayan language family is one of the best documented and most studied in the Americas. Modern Mayan languages descend from Proto-Mayan, a language thought to have been spoken at least 4,000 years ago; it has been partially reconstructed using the comparative method. * Alagüilac ''(Guatemala)'' ''†'' * Chibchan ( Central America & South America) (22) *

''†'' * Comecrudan ( Texas & Mexico) (3) ''†'' * Cotoname ''†'' * Cuitlatec ''(Mexico: Guerrero)'' ''†'' * Epi-Olmec ''(Mexico: language of undeciphered inscriptions)'' ''†'' * Guaicurian (8) ''†'' * Huave * Jicaquean (2) * Lencan (2) ''†'' * Maratino ''(northeastern Mexico)'' ''†'' * Mayan (31) * Misumalpan (5) * Mixe–Zoquean (19) * Naolan ''(Mexico: Tamaulipas)'' ''†'' * Oto-Manguean (27) * Pericú ''†'' *

Purépecha The Purépecha (endonym pua, P'urhepecha ) are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the pejorative "Tarascan ...

* Quinigua ''(northeast Mexico)'' ''†'' * Seri * Solano ''†'' * Tequistlatecan (3) *

Totonacan The Totonacan languages (also known as Totonac–Tepehua languages) are a Language families, family of closely related languages spoken by approximately 290,000 Totonac (approx. 280,000) and Tepehua people, Tepehua (approx. 10,000) people in the ...

(2) *

(United States & Mexico) (33) * Xincan (5) ''†'' * Yuman (United States & Mexico) (11)

South America and the Caribbean

Although both North and Central America are very diverse areas, South America has a linguistic diversity rivalled by only a few other places in the world with approximately 350 languages still spoken and several hundred more spoken at first contact but now extinct. The situation of language documentation and classification into genetic families is not as advanced as in North America (which is relatively well studied in many areas). Kaufman (1994: 46) gives the following appraisal:

Since the mid 1950s, the amount of published material on SA outh Americahas been gradually growing, but even so, the number of researchers is far smaller than the growing number of linguistic communities whose speech should be documented. Given the current employment opportunities, it is not likely that the number of specialists in SA Indian languages will increase fast enough to document most of the surviving SA languages before they go out of use, as most of them unavoidably will. More work languishes in personal files than is published, but this is a standard problem. It is fair to say that SA and New Guinea are linguistically the poorest documented parts of the world. However, in the early 1960s fairly systematic efforts were launched in Papua New Guinea, and that areamuch smaller than SA, to be sureis in general much better documented than any part of Indigenous SA of comparable size.

As a result, many relationships between languages and language families have not been determined and some of those relationships that have been proposed are on somewhat shaky ground. The list of language families, isolates, and unclassified languages below is a rather conservative one based on Campbell (1997). Many of the proposed (and often speculative) groupings of families can be seen in Campbell (1997), Gordon (2005), Kaufman (1990, 1994), Key (1979), Loukotka (1968), and in the Language stock proposals section below. *

Aguano The Aguano (also Awano, Ahuano, Hilaca, Uguano, Aguanu, Santacrucino, Tibilo) are a people of Peru. In 1959, they consisted of 40 families. They inhabit the lower Huallaga and upper Samiria Rivers, and the right bank tributary of the Marañon ...

''†'' * Aikaná ''(Brazil: Rondônia)'' * Andaquí ''†'' * Andoque ''(Colombia, Peru)'' * Andoquero ''†'' *

Arauan Arawan (also Arahuan, Arauan, Arawán, Arawa, Arauán) is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil ( Amazonas, Acre) and Peru ( Ucayali). Language contact Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Chapakura-Wañ ...

(9) *

Arawakan Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...

(South America & Caribbean) (64) * Arutani * Aymaran (3) * Baenan ''(Brazil: Bahia)'' ''†'' *

Barbacoan Barbacoan (also Barbakóan, Barbacoano, Barbacoana) is a language family spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. Genealogical relations The Barbacoan languages may be related to the Páez language. Barbacoan is often connected with the Paezan languages ...

(8) * Betoi ''(Colombia)'' ''†'' * Bororoan * Botocudoan (3) * Cahuapanan (2) * Camsá ''(Colombia)'' * Candoshi *

Canichana Canichana, or Canesi, Joaquiniano, is a possible language isolate of Bolivia (department of Beni). In 1991 there were 500 Canichana people, but only 20 spoke the Canichana language; by 2000 the ethnic population was 583, but the language had no L ...

''(Bolivia)'' * Carabayo *

Cariban The Cariban languages are a Language family, family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken ...

(29) * Catacaoan ''†'' *

Cayubaba Cayubaba (Cayuvava, Cayuwaba, Kayuvava) is a moribund language of the Bolivian Amazon. The Cayubaba people inhabit the Beni region to the west of the Mamoré River, North of the Santa Ana Yacuma, with a population of 794 inhabitants. Since ...

''(Bolivia)'' * Chapacuran (9) * Charruan ''†'' * Chibchan (Central America & South America) (22) * Chimuan (3) ''†'' * Chipaya–Uru * Chiquitano * Choco (10) * Chon (2) * Chono ''†'' * Coeruna ''(Brazil)'' ''†'' * Cofán ''(Colombia, Ecuador)'' * Cueva ''†'' * Culle ''(Peru)'' ''†'' *

Cunza Kunza is an extinct language isolate once spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Peru by the Atacama people, who have since shifted to Spanish. The last speaker was documented in 1949. Other names and spellings include ...

''(Chile, Bolivia, Argentina)'' ''†'' * Esmeraldeño ''†'' * Fulnió * Gamela ''(Brazil: Maranhão)'' ''†'' *

Gorgotoqui Gorgotoqui is a currently undocumented extinct language of the Chiquitania region of the eastern Bolivian lowlands. It may have been a Bororoan languages, Bororoan language. Spellings Alternate spellings include ''Borogotoqui, Brotoqui, Corocoqui ...

''(Bolivia)'' ''†'' *

Guaicuruan Guaicuruan (Guaykuruan, Waikurúan, Guaycuruano, Guaikurú, Guaicuru, Guaycuruana) is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul). The speakers of the languages are often collectively called ...

(7) * Guajiboan (4) * Guamo ''(Venezuela)'' ''†'' * Guató * Harakmbut (2) * Hibito–Cholon ''†'' *

Himarimã The Himarimã or Hi-Merimã are an indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous people of Brazil. They are largely uncontacted peoples, uncontacted by outside society, and live along the Pinhuã River, between the Juruá River, Juruá and Purus River ...

* Hodï ''(Venezuela)'' * Huamoé ''(Brazil: Pernambuco)'' ''†'' * Huaorani ''(Ecuador, Peru)'' * Huarpe ''†'' * Irantxe ''(Brazil: Mato Grosso)'' *

Itonama Itonama is a moribund language isolate spoken by the Itonama people in the Amazonian lowlands of north-eastern Bolivia. Greenberg’s (1987) classification of Itonama as Paezan, a sub-branch of Macro-Chibchan, remains unsupported and Itonama co ...

''(Bolivia)'' * Jabutian * Je (13) * Jeikó ''†'' * Jirajaran (3) ''†'' * Jivaroan (2) * Kaimbe *

Kaliana Kaliana ( gr, Καλλιάνα) is a village in the Nicosia District of Cyprus, located 3 km south of Temvria Temvria ( gr, Τεμβρια) is a village in the Nicosia District of Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Re ...

* Kamakanan ''†'' * Kapixaná ''(Brazil: Rondônia)'' * Karajá * Karirí ''(Brazil: Paraíba, Pernambuco, Ceará) ''†'' * Katembrí ''†'' * Katukinan (3) * Kawésqar ''(Chile)'' * Kwaza (Koayá) ''(Brazil: Rondônia) * Leco * Lule ''(Argentina)'' * Máku * Malibú *

Mapudungun Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...

''(Chile, Argentina)'' * Mascoyan (5) * Matacoan (4) * Matanawí ''†'' * Maxakalían (3) *

Mocana Mocana (founded 2002) is a San Jose-based company that focuses on and embedded system security for industrial control systems and the Internet of Things (IoT). One of its main products, the IoT Security Platform, is a high-performance, ultra-op ...

''(Colombia: Tubará)'' ''†'' *

Mosetenan Chimané (Tsimané) is a South American language isolate. Some dialects are known as Mosetén (Mosetén of Santa Ana, Mosetén of Covendo). Chimane is a language of the western Bolivian lowlands spoken by the Tsimane peoples along the Beni River ...

Movima Movima is a language that is spoken by about 1,400 (nearly half) of the Movima, a group of Native Americans that resides in the Llanos de Moxos region of the Bolivian Amazon, in northeastern Bolivia. It is considered a language isolate, as it h ...

''(Bolivia)'' * Munichi ''(Peru)'' * Muran (4) * Mutú *

Nadahup The Naduhup languages, also known as Makú (Macú) or ''Vaupés–Japurá'', form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name '' Makú'' is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan word meaning "without speech". ''N ...

(5) * Nambiquaran (5) * Natú ''(Brazil: Pernambuco)'' ''†'' *

Nonuya Nonuya (''Nononotá, Nyonuhu, Nonuña, Achiote)'' is a Witotoan language formerly spoken in Colombia and Peru that is now nearly extinct. Genocide, disease, and forced migration caused the Sparrowhawk and Backpacker tribes to form families with t ...

''(Peru, Colombia)'' * Ofayé * Old Catío–Nutabe ''(Colombia)'' ''†'' * Omurano ''(Peru)'' ''†'' * Otí ''(Brazil: São Paulo)'' ''†'' * Otomakoan (2) ''†'' * Paez (also known as Nasa Yuwe) * Palta ''†'' * Pankararú ''(Brazil: Pernambuco)'' ''†'' * Pano–Tacanan (33) * Panzaleo ''(Ecuador)'' ''†'' * Patagon ''†'' ''(Peru)'' * Peba–Yaguan (2) * Pijao† * Pre-Arawakan languages of the Greater Antilles ( Guanahatabey, Macorix, Ciguayo) ''†'' ''(Cuba, Hispaniola)'' * Puelche ''(Chile)'' ''†'' * Puinave *

Puquina Puquina (or Pukina) is a small, putative language family, often portrayed as a language isolate, which consists of the extinct Puquina language and Kallawaya, although it is assumed that the latter is just a remnant of the former mixed with ...

''(Bolivia)'' ''†'' * Purian (2) ''†'' *

Quechuan Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most w ...

(46) * Rikbaktsá * Saliban (2) * Sechura ''†'' * Tabancale ''†'' ''(Peru)'' * Tairona ''(Colombia)'' ''†'' * Tarairiú ''(Brazil: Rio Grande do Norte)'' ''†'' * Taruma ''†'' * Taushiro ''(Peru)'' * Tequiraca ''(Peru)'' ''†'' * Teushen ''†'' ''(Patagonia, Argentina)'' * Ticuna ''(Colombia, Peru, Brazil)'' * Timotean (2) ''†'' * Tiniguan (2) ''†'' * Trumai ''(Brazil: Xingu, Mato Grosso)'' * Tucanoan (15) * Tupian (70, including Guaraní) * Tuxá ''(Brazil: Bahia, Pernambuco)'' ''†'' * Urarina * Vilela * Wakona ''†'' * Warao ''(Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela)'' * Witotoan (6) * Xokó ''(Brazil: Alagoas, Pernambuco)'' ''†'' * Xukurú ''(Brazil: Pernambuco, Paraíba)'' ''†'' *

Yaghan Yaghan, Yagán or Yahgan may refer to: * Yahgan people, an ethnic group of Argentina and Chile * Yahgan language Yahgan or Yagán (also spelled Yaghan, Jagan, Iakan, and also known as Yámana, Háusi Kúta, or Yágankuta), is an extinct language ...

''(Chile)'' *

Yanomaman Yanomaman, also as Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, and Yanomamana (also Shamatari, Shirianan), is a family of languages spoken by about 20,000 Yanomami people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas). Subdivision Ferr ...

(4) * Yaruro * Yuracare ''(Bolivia)'' * Yuri ''(Colombia, Brazil)'' ''†'' * Yurumanguí ''(Colombia)'' ''†'' * Zamucoan (2) *

Zaparoan Zaparoan (also Sáparoan, Záparo, Zaparoano, Zaparoana) is an endangered language family of Peru and Ecuador with fewer than 100 speakers. Zaparoan speakers seem to have been very numerous before the arrival of the Europeans. However, their grou ...

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Language stock proposals

Hypothetical language-family proposals of American languages are often cited as uncontroversial in popular writing. However, many of these proposals have not been fully demonstrated, or even demonstrated at all. Some proposals are viewed by specialists in a favorable light, believing that genetic relationships are very likely to be established in the future (for example, the Penutian stock). Other proposals are more controversial with many linguists believing that some genetic relationships of a proposal may be demonstrated but much of it undemonstrated (for example,

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

, which, incidentally, Edward Sapir called his "wastepaper basket stock"). Still other proposals are almost unanimously rejected by specialists (for example, Amerind). Below is a (partial) list of some such proposals: * Algonquian–Wakashan *

Almosan–Keresiouan Amerind is a hypothetical higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1960 and elaborated by his student Merritt Ruhlen. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas belong to one of three language fam ...

* Amerind * Algonkian–Gulf * (macro-)

* Arutani–Sape * Aztec–Tanoan *

Chibchan–Paezan Amerind is a hypothetical higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1960 and elaborated by his student Merritt Ruhlen. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas belong to one of three language fam ...

Chikitano–Boróroan Amerind is a hypothetical higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1960 and elaborated by his student Merritt Ruhlen. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas belong to one of three language fam ...

* Chimu–Chipaya * Coahuiltecan *

Cunza–Kapixanan Macro-Paesan (also spelled Macro-Paezan) is a proposal linking several small families and language isolates of northwest South America. Kaufman (2007) proposes the structure at the right. Paez–Barbacoan is commonly proposed, though Curnow (1998 ...

* Dené–Caucasian * Dené–Yeniseian * Esmerelda–Yaruroan *

Ge–Pano–Carib Amerind is a hypothetical higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1960 and elaborated by his student Merritt Ruhlen. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas belong to one of three language fam ...

* Guamo–Chapacuran * Gulf * Macro-Kulyi–Cholónan * Hokan *

* Je–Tupi–Carib *

Jivaroan–Cahuapanan The Macro-Jibaro proposal, also known as ''(Macro-)Andean'', is a language proposal of Morris Swadesh and other historical linguists. The two families, Jivaroan and Cahuapanan are most frequently linked, the isolates less often. Documentation ...

* Kalianan * Kandoshi–Omurano–Taushiro * (Macro-)Katembri–Taruma * Kaweskar language area * Keresiouan * Lule–Vilelan * Macro-Andean *

Macro-Carib Amerind is a hypothetical higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1960 and elaborated by his student Merritt Ruhlen. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas belong to one of three language fam ...

* Macro-Chibchan * Macro-Gê * Macro-Jibaro * Macro-Lekoan * Macro-Mayan * Macro-Otomákoan * Macro-Paesan * Macro-Panoan * Macro-Puinavean *

Macro-Siouan The Macro-Siouan languages are a proposed language family that would include the Siouan languages, Siouan, Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian, and Caddoan languages, Caddoan families. Most linguists remain unconvinced that these languages share a gen ...

Macro-Tucanoan Amerind is a hypothetical higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1960 and elaborated by his student Merritt Ruhlen. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas belong to one of three language fam ...

* Macro-Tupí–Karibe * Macro-Waikurúan * Macro-Warpean * Mataco–Guaicuru * Mosan * Mosetén–Chonan * Mura–Matanawian * Sapir's Na-Dené including

* Nostratic–Amerind * Paezan * Paezan–Barbacoan * Penutian **California Penutian **

Oregon Penutian Oregon Penutian is a hypothetical language family in the Penutian language phylum comprising languages spoken at one time by several groups of Native Americans in present-day western Oregon and western Washington in the United States. Vari ...

**Mexican Penutian * Puinave–Maku *

Quechumaran Quechumaran or Kechumaran is a language-family proposal that unites Quechua and Aymara. Quechuan languages, especially those of the south, share a large amount of vocabulary with Aymara. Terrence Kaufman finds the proposal reasonably convincing, b ...

* Saparo–Yawan * Sechura–Catacao * Takelman * Tequiraca–Canichana * Ticuna–Yuri (Yuri–Ticunan) * Totozoque * Tunican * Yok–Utian * Yuki–Wappo Good discussions of past proposals can be found in Campbell (1997) and Campbell & Mithun (1979). Amerindian linguist Lyle Campbell also assigned different percentage values of probability and confidence for various proposals of macro-families and language relationships, depending on his views of the proposals' strengths. For example, the

Germanic language family The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...

would receive probability and confidence percentage values of +100% and 100%, respectively. However, if Turkish and Quechua were compared, the probability value might be −95%, while the confidence value might be 95%. 0% probability or confidence would mean complete uncertainty.

Pronouns

It has long been observed that a remarkable number of Native American languages have a pronominal pattern with first-person singular forms in ''n'' and second-person singular forms in ''m''. (Compare first-person singular ''m'' and second-person singular ''t'' across much of northern Eurasia, as in English ''me'' and ''thee'', Spanish ''me'' and ''te'', and Hungarian ''-m'' and ''-d''.) This pattern was first noted by Alfredo Trombetti in 1905. It caused Sapir to suggest that ultimately all Native American languages would turn out to be related. In a personal letter to

A. L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first ...

he wrote (Sapir 1918):See Sapir 1918 The supposed "n/m – I/you" pattern has attracted attention even from those linguists who are normally critical of such long-distance proposals. Johanna Nichols investigated the distribution of the languages that have an n/m pattern and found that they are mostly confined to the western coast of the Americas, and that similarly they exist in East Asia and northern New Guinea. She suggested that they had spread through diffusion. This notion was rejected by Lyle Campbell, who argued that the frequency of the n/m pattern was not statistically elevated in either area compared to the rest of the world. Campbell also showed that several of the languages that have the contrast today did not have it historically and stated that the pattern was largely consistent with chance resemblance, especially when taking into consideration the statistic prevalence of nasal consonants in all the pronominal systems of the world.Campbell 1997 Zamponi found that Nichols's findings were distorted by her small sample size, and that some ''n–m'' languages were recent developments (though also that some languages had lost an ancestral ''n–m'' pattern), but he did find a statistical excess of the ''n–m'' pattern in western North America only. Looking at families rather than individual languages, he found a rate of 30% of families/protolanguages in North America, all on the western flank, compared to 5% in South America and 7% of non-American languages – though the percentage in North America, and especially the even higher number in the Pacific Northwest, drops considerably if Hokan and Penutian, or parts of them, are accepted as language families. If all the proposed Penutian and Hokan languages in the table below are related, then the frequency drops to 9% of North American families, statistically indistinguishable from the world average.Raoul Zamponi (2017) 'First-person n and second-person m in Native America: a fresh look'. ''Italian Journal of Linguistics'', 29.2 Below is a list of families with both 1sg ''n'' and 2sg ''m'', though in some cases the evidence for one of the forms is weak. Other scattered families may have one or the other but not both. Besides Proto-Eskaleut and Proto-Na–Dene, the families in North America with neither 1sg ''n'' or 2sg ''m'' are Atakapan, Chitimacha, Cuitlatec, Haida, Kutenai, Proto-Caddoan, Proto-Chimakuan, Proto-Comecrudan, Proto-Iroquoian, Proto-Muskogean, Proto-Siouan-Catawba, Tonkawa, Waikuri, Yana, Yuchi, Zuni. There are also a number of neighboring families in South America that have a ''tʃ–k'' pattern (the Duho proposal, plus possibly Arutani–Sape), or an ''i–a'' pattern (the Macro-Jê proposal, including Fulnio and Chiquitano, plus Matacoan,

has 1sg ''i'' only Zamucoan and Payaguá).

Linguistic areas

Unattested languages

Several languages are only known by mention in historical documents or from only a few names or words. It cannot be determined that these languages actually existed or that the few recorded words are actually of known or unknown languages. Some may simply be from a historian's errors. Others are of known people with no linguistic record (sometimes due to lost records). A short list is below. * Ais * Akokisa * Aranama * Ausaima * Avoyel * Bayagoula * Bidai * Cacán ( Diaguita– Calchaquí) *

Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...

- Mayaimi - Tequesta * Cusabo *

Eyeish The Eyeish were a Native American tribe from present-day eastern Texas. History The Eyeish were part of the Caddo Confederacy,Sturtevant, 616 although their relationship to other Caddo tribes was ambiguous, and they were often hostile to the Hasi ...

* Grigra * Guale * Houma * Koroa * Mayaca (possibly related to Ais) *

Mobila Mabila (also spelled Mavila, Mavilla, Maubila, or Mauvilla, as influenced by Spanish or French transliterations) was a small fortress town known to the paramount chief Tuskaloosa in 1540, in a region of present-day central Alabama. The exact loca ...

* Okelousa *

Opelousa The Appalousa (also Opelousa) were an indigenous American people who occupied the area around present-day Opelousas, Louisiana, west of the lower Mississippi River, before European contact in the eighteenth century. At various times in their hist ...

* Pascagoula * Pensacola - Chatot (Muscogean languages, possibly related to Choctaw) * Pijao language * Pisabo (possibly the same language as Matsés) * Quinipissa * Taensa * Tiou * Yamacraw * Yamasee * Yazoo Loukotka (1968) reports the names of hundreds of South American languages which do not have any linguistic documentation.

Pidgins and mixed languages

Various miscellaneous languages such as

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

mixed language A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole language, creole or pidgin, pidgin language in that ...

s, trade languages, and sign languages are given below in alphabetical order. # American Indian Pidgin English # Algonquian-Basque pidgin #

Broken Oghibbeway During the fur trade era, a pidgin form of Ojibwe known as Broken Oghibbeway was used as a trade language in the Wisconsin and Mississippi River valleys. Data on the language was collected during the 1820s at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin by Edw ...

Broken Slavey Slavey Jargon (also ''Broken Slavey'', ''Broken Slavé, Broken Slave, Broken Slavee,'' and ''le Jargon esclave'') was a trade language used by Indigenous peoples and newcomers in the Yukon area (for example, in around Liard River and in the Macke ...

# Bungee # Callahuaya # Carib Pidgin #

Carib Pidgin–Arawak Mixed Language The Kalinago language, also known as Igneri (Iñeri, Inyeri, etc.), was an Arawakan language historically spoken by the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Kalinago proper became extinct by about 1920 due to population decline and ...

Catalangu Media Lengua, also known as ''Chaupi-lengua'', ''Chaupi-Quichua'', , or , is typically a derogatory term used by Kichwa-speakers to describe their language. However, it also appears to describe Media Lengua in the Imbabura Communities. It is ...

# Chinook Jargon # Delaware Jargon # Eskimo Trade Jargon # Greenlandic Pidgin (West Greenlandic Pidgin) #

Guajiro-Spanish Wayuu ( guc, Wayuunaiki ), or Guajiro, is a major Arawakan language spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula. There are 200,000 speakers of Wayuu in Venezuela and 1 ...

# Güegüence-Nicarao # Haida Jargon # Inuktitut-English Pidgin (Quebec) # Jargonized Powhatan # Keresan Sign Language #

Labrador Eskimo Pidgin Labrador Inuit Pidgin French, also called Belle Isle Pidgin, was a French-lexified pidgin spoken between Breton and Basque fishermen and the Inuit of Labrador from the late 17th century until about 1760. See also * Algonquian-Basque pidgin, u ...

# Lingua Franca Apalachee # Lingua Franca

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

# Lingua Geral Amazônica #

Lingua Geral do Sul Lingua (Latin, 'tongue') may refer to: * ''Lingua'' (journal), a peer-reviewed academic journal of general linguistics * ''Lingua'' (sculpture), by Jim Sanborn * ''Lingua'' (play), a 17th-century play attributed to Thomas Tomkis * Project Lingu ...

# Loucheux Jargon # Media Lengua # Mednyj Aleut # Michif # Mobilian Jargon # Montagnais Pidgin Basque # Nootka Jargon # Ocaneechi # Pidgin Massachusett # Plains Indian Sign Language

Writing systems

While most Indigenous languages have adopted the Latin script as the written form of their languages, a few languages have their own unique writing systems after encountering the Latin script (often through missionaries) that are still in use. All pre-Columbian Indigenous writing systems are no longer used.

Notes

Bibliography

* Bright, William. (1984). The classification of North American and Meso-American Indian languages. In W. Bright (Ed.), ''American Indian linguistics and literature'' (pp. 3–29). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. * Bright, William (Ed.). (1984). ''American Indian linguistics and literature''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. . * Brinton, Daniel G. (1891). ''The American race''. New York: D. C. Hodges. * Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . * Campbell, Lyle; & Mithun, Marianne (Eds.). (1979). ''The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment''. Austin: University of Texas Press.

North America

* Boas, Franz. (1911). ''Handbook of American Indian languages'' (Vol. 1). Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40. Washington: Government Print Office (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology).
on archive.org
* Boas, Franz. (1922). ''Handbook of American Indian languages'' (Vol. 2). Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40. Washington: Government Print Office (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology).
on archive.org
* Boas, Franz. (1929). Classification of American Indian languages. ''Language'', ''5'', 1–7. * Boas, Franz. (1933). ''Handbook of American Indian languages'' (Vol. 3). Native American legal materials collection, title 1227. Glückstadt: J.J. Augustin.
on archive.org
* Bright, William. (1973). North American Indian language contact. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), ''Linguistics in North America'' (part 1, pp. 713–726). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. * Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). ''Languages''. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. . * Goddard, Ives. (1999). ''Native languages and language families of North America'' (rev. and enlarged ed. with additions and corrections). ap Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press (Smithsonian Institution). (Updated version of the map in Goddard 1996). . * Goddard, Ives. (2005). The indigenous languages of the southeast. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''47'' (1), 1–60. * Mithun, Marianne. (1990)
Studies of North American Indian Languages
''Annual Review of Anthropology'', 19(1): 309–330. * Mithun, Marianne. (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); . * Nater, Hank F. (1984). The Bella Coola Language. Mercury Series; Canadian Ethnology Service (No. 92). Ottawa: National Museums of Canada. * Powell, John W. (1891). Indian linguistic families of America north of Mexico. Seventh annual report, Bureau of American Ethnology (pp. 1–142). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. (Reprinted in P. Holder (Ed.), 1966, ''Introduction to Handbook of American Indian languages by Franz Boas and Indian linguistic families of America, north of Mexico, by J. W. Powell'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska). * Powell, John W. (1915). ''Linguistic families of American Indians north of Mexico by J. W. Powell, revised by members of the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology''. (Map). Bureau of American Ethnology miscellaneous publication (No. 11). Baltimore: Hoen. * Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1973). ''Linguistics in North America'' (parts 1 & 2). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted as Sebeok 1976). * Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1976). ''Native languages of the Americas''. New York: Plenum. * Sherzer, Joel. (1973). Areal linguistics in North America. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), ''Linguistics in North America'' (part 2, pp. 749–795). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted in Sebeok 1976). * Sherzer, Joel. (1976). ''An areal-typological study of American Indian languages north of Mexico''. Amsterdam: North-Holland. * Sletcher, Michael, 'North American Indians', in Will Kaufman and Heidi Macpherson, eds., ''Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History'', (2 vols., Oxford, 2005). * Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). ''Handbook of North American Indians'' (Vol. 1–20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1–3, 16, 18–20 not yet published). * Vaas, Rüdiger: 'Die Sprachen der Ureinwohner'. In: Stoll, Günter, Vaas, Rüdiger: ''Spurensuche im Indianerland.'' Hirzel. Stuttgart 2001, chapter 7. * Voegelin, Carl F.; & Voegelin, Florence M. (1965). Classification of American Indian languages. ''Languages of the world'', Native American fasc. 2, sec. 1.6). ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''7'' (7): 121–150. * Zepeda, Ofelia; Hill, Jane H. (1991). The condition of Native American Languages in the United States. In R. H. Robins & E. M. Uhlenbeck (Eds.), ''Endangered languages'' (pp. 135–155). Oxford: Berg.

South America

* Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). ''The languages of the Andes''. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. * Fabre, Alain. (1998). "Manual de las lenguas indígenas sudamericanas, I-II". München: Lincom Europa. * Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), ''Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages'' (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. . * Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), ''Atlas of the world's languages'' (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge. * Key, Mary R. (1979). ''The grouping of South American languages''. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. * Loukotka, Čestmír. (1968). ''Classification of South American Indian languages''. Los Angeles: Latin American Studies Center, University of California. * Mason, J. Alden. (1950). The languages of South America. In J. Steward (Ed.), ''Handbook of South American Indians'' (Vol. 6, pp. 157–317). Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 143). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. * Migliazza, Ernest C.; & Campbell, Lyle. (1988). ''Panorama general de las lenguas indígenas en América''. Historia general de América (Vol. 10). Caracas: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia. * Rodrigues, Aryon. (1986). ''Linguas brasileiras: Para o conhecimento das linguas indígenas''. São Paulo: Edições Loyola. * Rowe, John H. (1954). Linguistics classification problems in South America. In M. B. Emeneau (Ed.), ''Papers from the symposium on American Indian linguistics'' (pp. 10–26). University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 10). Berkeley: University of California Press. * Sapir, Edward. (1929). Central and North American languages. In ''The encyclopædia britannica: A new survey of universal knowledge'' (14 ed.) (Vol. 5, pp. 138–141). London: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, Ltd. * Voegelin, Carl F.; & Voegelin, Florence M. (1977). ''Classification and index of the world's languages''. Amsterdam: Elsevier. .
Debian North American Indigenous Languages Project

External links

Catálogo de línguas indígenas sul-americanas

Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20180929134719/http://www.athenapub.com/salang1.htm South American Languages
Indigenous Peoples Languages: Articles, News, Videos

Documentation Center of the Linguistic Minorities of Panama

The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America

Indigenous Language Institute

The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
(SSILA)

(collection of ethnographic, linguistic, & historical material)

* ttp://www.albany.edu/anthro/maldp/ Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica
Programa de Formación en Educación Intercultural Bilingüe para los Países Andinos

(University of California at Davis)
Native Languages of the Americas

(Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)

Alaska Native Language Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indigenous Languages Of The Americas

Languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...