Siouan

Siouan, branch of Native American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family, or stock, of North and Central America (including Mexico). See Native American languages.

Siouan-Catawban (also Catawban-Siouan, Siouan) is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains of North America with a few outlier languages in the east.

Some authors call this family simply Siouan. Other writers favor the name Siouan-Catawaban so that Catawban is clearly indicated as a separate branch of the family and not under "Siouan Proper".

Family division

Siouan-Catawban consists of 19 languages with 2 main branches:

I. Siouan (a.k.a. Siouan proper, Western Siouan)

1. Mandan

A. Missouri River (a.k.a. Crow-Hidatsa)

2. Crow

3. Hidatsa

B. Mississippi Valley (a.k.a. Central Siouan)

4. Sioux

5. Assiniboine

6. Stoney

7. Chiwere (a.k.a. Iowa-Oto-Missouri)

8. Winnebago

9. Omaha-Ponca

10. Kansa-Osage

11. Quapaw (†)

C. Ohio Valley (a.k.a. Southeastern Siouan)

12. Tutelo (†)

13. Saponi (†)

14. Moniton (†)

15. Occaneechi (†)

16. Biloxi (†)

17. Ofo language (†)

II. Catawban (a.k.a. Eastern Siouan) (†)

18. Woccon (†)

19. Catawba (†)

Quapaw, Saponi, Biloxi, Ofo, Woccon, and Catawba are now extinct.

External relations

The Yuchi language may be the closest relative of Sioux-Catawban, but this has not been verified. Numerous attempts to link these languages with the Caddoan and Iroquoian languages in a Macro-Siouan language family are suggestive but remain hypothetical.

See also

• Siouan languages
• Catawban languages

External links

• Siouan languages mailing list archive

Bibliography

• Parks, Douglas R.; & Rankin, Robert L. (2001). The Siouan languages. In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 1, pp. 94-114). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-7.