Cheyenne language

Cheyenne
Tsėhesenėstsestȯtse
Pronunciation[tse̥hésene̥stsesto̥tse]
Native toUnited States
RegionMontana and Oklahoma
EthnicityCheyenne
Native speakers
789 (2021)
Dialects
  • Cheyenne
  • Sutaio
Hand Talk
Language codes
ISO 639-2chy
ISO 639-3chy
Glottologchey1247
ELPCheyenne
Cheyenne is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Cheyenne (Tsėhésenėstsestȯtse, pronounced [tse̥hésene̥stsesto̥tse], informal spelling Tsisinstsistots) is an indigenous language of North America, spoken mainly in present-day Montana and Oklahoma, in the United States. It is a member of the Algonquian language family, and named for the Cheyenne peoples, who are native to the Great Plains of the United States.

Cheyenne is an endangered language. The endangerment is primarily a result of the English being the most spoken language in the world, due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations) and the United States.

Like all other Algonquian languages, it has a complex agglutination and polysynthetic morphology. Cheyenne is either the first language, or the second language, for approximately 789 individuals in the United States.