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. | |
| Neme / Newe "People" | |
|---|---|
| People | Neme Newe |
| Language | Neme Ta̲i̲kwappeh Newe Ta̲i̲kwappe |
| Country | Neme Segobia Newe Segobia |
Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (/ʃoʊˈʃoʊni/, shoh-SHOH-nee; Shoshoni orthography: Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe, newe ta̲i̲kwappe or neme ta̲i̲kwappeh), is a Uto-Aztecan language from the Numic branch spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin in areas of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.
The phonemes of Shoshoni are few, but a wide range of allophones appear in the spoken language. The language has six vowels distinctions (including one that is underlyingly a diphthong), which are each also distinguished by length. Shoshoni is strongly suffixing, inflecting nouns for number and case, and distinguishes verbs for aspect and tense. Word order is relatively free, but shows a preference toward subject–object–verb word order order.
The endonyms newe ta̲i̲kwappe and Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe mean "the people's language" and "the Shoshoni language", respectively. Shoshoni is classified as threatened, although attempts at language revitalization are underway.