Shoshoni language
| Shoshoni | |
|---|---|
| Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe, Neme ta̲i̲kwappeh | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho |
| Ethnicity | Shoshones |
Native speakers | ~1,000 (2007) 1,000 additional non-fluent speakers (2007) |
Uto-Aztecan
| |
Early form | Proto-Numic
|
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | shh |
| Glottolog | shos1248 |
| ELP | Shoshone |
Map of the Shoshoni (and Timbisha) languages prior to European contact | |
Shoshoni is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (/ʃoʊˈʃoʊni/ shoh-SHOH-nee; Shoshoni: soni' ta̲i̲kwappe, newe ta̲i̲kwappe or neme ta̲i̲kwappeh), is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone people. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin, in areas of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.: 1
The consonant inventory of Shoshoni is rather small, but a much wider range of surface forms of these phonemes appear in the spoken language. The language has six vowels, distinguished by length.: 3 Shoshoni is a strongly suffixing language, and it inflects for nominal number and case and for verbal aspect and tense using suffixes. Word order is relatively free but shows a preference toward subject-object-verb (SOV) order.
The endonyms newe ta̲i̲kwappe and Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe mean "the people's language" and "the Shoshoni language," respectively.: 5, 176 Shoshoni is classified as threatened, although attempts at revitalization are underway.