Shawnee language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Shawnee |
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| Sawanwa, Savannah, Sewanee, Shawano | ||||
| Native to | United States | |||
| Region | Central and Northeast Oklahoma | |||
| Ethnicity | Shawnee | |||
| Native speakers | 260 and decreasing (2015)e18 | |||
| Language family |
Algic
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| Writing system | Latin script | |||
Distribution of the Shawnee language around 1650
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The Shawnee language is a Central Algonquian language spoken in parts of central and northeastern Oklahoma by the Shawnee people. It was originally spoken by these people in a broad territory throughout the Eastern United States, mostly north of the Ohio River. They occupied territory in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Shawnee is closely related to other Algonquian languages, such as Mesquakie-Sauk (Sac and Fox) and Kickapoo. It has 260 speakers, according to a 2015 census, although the number is decreasing. It is a polysynthetic language with rather free word ordering.
Status
Shawnee is severely threatened, as many speakers have shifted to English. The approximately 200 remaining speakers are older adults. Some of the decline in usage of Shawnee is the result of the assimilation program carried out by Indian boarding schools, which starved and beat children who spoke their native language. This treatment often extended to the family of those children as well.
Of the 2,000 members of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe around the city of Shawnee, more than 100 are speakers; of the 1,500 members of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe in Ottawa County, only a few elders are speakers; of the 8,000 members of the Loyal Shawnee in the Cherokee region of Oklahoma around Whiteoak, there are fewer than 12 speakers. Because of such low figures and the percentage of elderly speakers, Shawnee is classified as an endangered language. Additionally, development outside of the home has been limited. Apart from a dictionary and portions of the Bible translated from 1842 to 1929, there is little literature or technology support for Shawnee.
Language revitalization
Absentee-Shawnee Elder George Blanchard, Sr, former governor of his tribe, teaches classes to Headstart and elementary school children, as well as evening classes for adults, at the Cultural Preservation Center in Seneca, Missouri. His work was profiled on the PBS show The American Experience in 2009. The classes are intended to encourage use of Shawnee among families at home. The Eastern Shawnee have also taught language classes.
Conversational Shawnee booklets and CDs, and a Learn Shawnee Language website are available.
