Sahaptian languages

Sahaptian
Sħaptian
Geographic
distribution:
Pacific Northwest
Linguistic classification:

Plateau Penutian

  • Sahaptian
Subdivisions:
Glottolog: saha1239[1]

Sahaptian (also Sahaptianic, Sahaptin, Shahaptian) is a two-language branch of the Plateau Penutian family spoken by Native American peoples in the Columbia Plateau region of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in the northwestern United States.

Family division

Sahaptian includes 2 languages:

1. Nez Perce (AKA Nez Percé, Nezperce)
  • Upper Nez Perce
  • Lower Nez Perce
2. Sahaptin (Sħáptənəxw)
  • Northern Sahaptin group
  • Northwest Sahaptin dialect cluster
  • Northeast Sahaptin dialect cluster
  • Southern Sahaptin group (AKA Columbia River cluster)

Nez Perce has two main varieties (Upper and Lower). Sahaptin has considerably greater internal diversity with several different varieties.

Note that the terms Sahaptian (the family) and Sahaptin (the language) have often been confused and used interchangeably in the literature.

Tribes

References

  1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Sahaptian". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Bibliography


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