The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. They are spoken across the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota to Oklahoma. Arikara is spoken on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota; Caddo, Wichita, and Pawnee are presently spoken in Oklahoma; Kitsai is extinct. Some of the languages were formerly more widespread; the Caddo, for example, used to live in northeastern Texas, southwestern Arkansas, and northwestern Louisiana as well as southeastern Oklahoma. The Pawnee formerly lived along the Platte River in what is now Nebraska.
Caddoan languages
North Caddoan
- Arikara (a.k.a. Ree)
- Kitsai (a.k.a. Kichai) (extinct)
- Pawnee (dialects: South Bend, Skiri (a.k.a. Skidi or Wolf Band))
- Wichita (dialects: Wichita proper, Waco, Towakoni)
South Caddoan
- Caddo (dialects: Kadohadacho, Hasinai, Natchitoches)
Bibilography
- Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
