Comanche language
| Comanche | |
|---|---|
| Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ̲ | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈnɨmɨ ˈtekʷapɨ̥] |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Oklahoma (formerly, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma) |
| Ethnicity | Comanche |
Native speakers | <9 (2022) |
Uto-Aztecan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | com |
| Glottolog | coma1245 |
| ELP | Comanche |
| Linguasphere | 65-AAB-bh |
Former distribution of the Comanche language. | |
Comanche is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Comanche (English: /kəˈmæntʃi/, endonym Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ̲) is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche, who split from the Shoshone soon after the Comanche had acquired horses around 1705. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are quite similar, but certain consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility.
The name Comanche comes from the Ute word kɨmantsi "enemy, stranger". Their own name for the language is nʉmʉ tekwapʉ, which means "language of the people".