Plains Apache language

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Plains Apache
Spoken in: United States 
Region: Primarily Oklahoma
Total speakers: 18
Language family: Dené-Yeniseian
 Na-Dene
  Athabaskan-Eyak
   Athabaskan
    Southern Athabaskan
     Plains Apache
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: nai
ISO 639-3: apk

The Plains Apache language (or Kiowa Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Plains Apache peoples living primarily in central Oklahoma.

Plains Apache is most closely related to other Southern Athabaskan languages like Navajo, Chiricahua Apache, Mescalero Apache, Lipan Apache, Western Apache, and Jicarilla Apache. Plains Apache is the most divergent member of the subfamily. These speakers probably left their northern homeland later than the other Southern Athabaskan peoples. The language is extremely endangered with perhaps only one native speaking elder.


[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

  • Bittle, William E. (n.d.). Plains Apache field notes. (Unpublished manuscript).
  • Bittle, William E. (1956). The position of Kiowa-Apache in the Apachean group. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles).
  • Bittle, William E. (1963). Kiowa-Apache. In H. Hoijer (Ed.), Studies in Athabaskan languages (pp. 76-101). University of California publications in linguistics (No. 29). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Languages