Siouan languages
Siouan languages, family of languages in North America spread primarily across the Great Plains, extending from Canada to Mississippi to North Carolina. The languages belonging to this family are classified as follows. The Catawban branch (formerly spoken in North and South Carolina) is the most divergent—i.e., the first to break off. Several of the languages are extinct (marked in the classification below with an asterisk [*]), and the rest are endangered.
Siouan (Siouan-Catawban)- Siouan
- Missouri River
- Hidatsa
- Crow
- Mandan
- Mandan
- Dakotan
- Sioux (Dakota-Lakota)
- Assiniboine
- Stoney
- Dhegihan
- Omaha-Ponca
- Osage
- *Kansa
- *Quapaw
- Chiwere-Winnebago
- Chiwere
- Winnebago (Ho-Chunk, Hochank)
- Southeastern
- *Ofo
- *Biloxi
- *Tutelo
- Catawban
- *Catawba
- *Woccon
The Macro-Siouan hypothesis that proposed grouping Siouan, Caddoan, Iroquoian, and Yuchi in a large superfamily (or phylum) is now essentially abandoned.
Citation Information
Article Title:
Siouan languages
Website Name:
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published:
08 June 2016
Access Date:
February 22, 2025