Indigenous languages of Arizona

Arizona, a state in the southwestern region of the United States of America, is known for its high population of Native Americans. Arizona has the third highest number (and the sixth highest percentage) of Native Americans of any state in the Union (See Demographics of Arizona). Out of the entire US population of 2.9 million Native Americans,[1] roughly 286,680 live in Arizona, representing 10% of the country's total Native American population. Only California and Oklahoma have more Native Americans than Arizona by number. Arizona also has the highest proportion of land allocated to Native American reservations, at 28%.[2] Arizona has five of the twelve largest Indian reservations in the United States, including the largest, the Navajo Nation, and the third-largest, the Tohono O'odham Nation. Also, Arizona has the largest number of Native American language speakers in the United States.[3]

## Distribution

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There are twelve Native American languages spoken in Arizona, in addition to three other languages that are primarily spoken outside the state and one language with a disputed existence.

Population estimates are based on figures from Ethnologue and U.S. Census data, as given in sub-pages below. The twelve languages are shown in the table below:

Language | Classification | Number of speakers | Total ethnic population | Tribe(s) included | Location(s) in Arizona | Significant external populations

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Navajo | Na-Dene: Southern Athabaskan | 170,000 | 300,000 | Navajo | Navajo Nation | New Mexico
Western Apache | Na-Dene: Southern Athabaskan | 13,000 | 20,000 | White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, Tonto Apache | Fort Apache Indian Reservation, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Tonto Apache Tribecall/Tonto Apache Indian Reservation |
Yavapai | Yuman: Pai | 163 | 1,420 | Yavapai | Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Yavapai-Prescott Tribe |
Havasupai-Hualapai | Yuman: Pai | 1,530 | 2,437 | Havasupai, Hualapai | Havasupai Indian Reservation, Hualapai Indian Reservation |
Quechan/Yuma | Yuman: River | 250 | 1,200 | Quechan | Fort Yuma Indian Reservation | California
Mojave | Yuman: River | 100 | 750 | Mohave | Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, Colorado River Indian Reservation | California
Maricopa | Yuman: River | 160 | 400 | Maricopa | Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Gila River Indian Reservation (Maricopa Colony) |
Cocopah | Yuman: Delta | 400 | 1,000 | Cocopah | Cocopah Indian Reservation | Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
Hopi | Uto-Aztecan: Northern: Hopi | 5,000 | 18,000 | Hopi | Hopi Indian Reservation |
Colorado River Numic | Uto-Aztecan: Northern: Numic | 2,000 | 5,000 | Chemehuevi, Southern Paiute, Ute | San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona, Kaibab Indian Reservation, Colorado River Indian Reservation | Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California
O'odham | Uto-Aztecan: Southern: Piman | 10,000 | 20,000 | Akimel O'odham/Pima, Tohono O'odham/Papago | Tohono O'odham Nation, Ak-Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community | Sonora
Yaqui | Uto-Aztecan: Southern: Taracahitic | 15,000 | 25,000 | Yaqui people | Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation, Guadalupe | Sonora (Yaqui River Valley)
Halchidhoma | Yuman | ? |  | Halchidhoma

## Other minority Native American languages

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In addition to the languages listed in the table above, there are three other Native American languages spoken in Arizona that are primarily found in New Mexico, located immediately to the east:

* Zuni is a language isolate spoken primarily in the Zuni Pueblo, which is located in northern New Mexico. Out of the approximately 10,000 people that form the Zuni tribe, only 538 live in Arizona, located on trust lands in Apache County. Unlike many other Native American languages, a vast majority of Zuni are able to speak their language, and Zuni is at a comparatively lower risk of extinction.[4]
* Tewa is a Tanoan language spoken by the Tewa people of New Mexico. The Arizona Tewa are a group of Tewa that currently reside on the Hopi reservation of northeastern Arizona, primarily in two villages around First Mesa: Hano and Polacca. The Tewa language is considered endangered.
* Mescalero-Chiricahua is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Chiricahua people and Mescalero people, two Apachean tribes that currently reside on the Fort Sill Apache Tribe lands in Oklahoma and the Mescalero Indian Reservation in southwestern New Mexico. A few Chiricahua also live on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in southeastern Arizona, but this language is a minority language on the reservation.

## See also

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* Native Americans in the United States
* Indigenous peoples of Arizona
* Indigenous languages of the Americas
* Uto-Aztecan languages
* Yuman languages
* Southern Athabaskan languages

## References

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1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2014-05-07.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) 2010 Census Bureau
2. ^ State DOTs and Native American Nations
3. ^ Language Magazine » Census Shows Native Languages Count
4. ^ Newman, Stanley. (1996). Sketch of the Zuni language. In I. Goddard (Ed.) Handbook of North American Indians: Languages (Vol. 17, pp. 483–506). Washington: Smithsonian Institution.

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Languages of Arizona

Indigenous|

| Athabaskan|

* Navajo
* Western Apache

|

Tanoan|

* Tewa

Uto-Aztecan|

* Hopi
* Oʼodham
* Southern Paiute
* Yaqui

Yuman-Cochimí|

* Cocopah
* Havasupai
* Hualapai
* Maricopa
* Mojave
* Quechan
* Yavapai

Language isolates|

* Zuni

Non-Indigenous|

| Indo-European|

* English
* Spanish

|

* Category

* v
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* e

Languages of the United States

Languages in italics are extinct.

English|

Dialects of American English

* African-American English
* Vernacular
* American Indian English
* Appalachian English
* Baltimore English
* Boston English
* Cajun English
* California English
* Chicano English
* General American English
* High Tider English
* Inland Northern American English
* Miami English
* Maine English
* Midland American English
* New England Englishes
* Eastern
* Western
* New Mexican Englishes
* New Orleans English
* New York City English
* New York Latino English
* Northern American English
* North-Central American / Upper Midwestern English
* Pacific Northwest English
* Pennsylvania Dutch
* Philadelphia English
* Puerto Rican Englishes
* Southern American English
* Older
* Texan English
* Transatlantic English
* Upper Michigan English
* Utah Mormon English
* Western American English
* Western Pennsylvania English
* Yeshiva English

Oral Indigenous
languages|

| Families|

| Algic|

* Abenaki
* Arapaho
* Blackfoot
* Cheyenne
* Cree
* Fox
* Malecite-Passamaquoddy
* Massachusett
* Menominee
* Mi'kmaq
* Munsee
* Ojibwe
* Potawatomi
* Shawnee
* Yurok

* Etchemin
* Gros Ventre
* Loup
* Nawathinehena
* Mahican
* Miami-Illinois
* Mohegan-Pequot
* Nanticoke
* Narragansett
* Pamlico
* Powhatan
* Quiripi
* Unami
* Wiyot

|

Austronesian|

* Chamorro
* Hawaiian
* Refaluwasch
* Samoan
* Tokelauan

Caddoan|

* Arikara
* Caddo
* Wichita

* Kitsai

Chinookan|

* Kathlamet
* Tsinúk
* Upper Chinook

Chumashan|

* Barbareño
* Cruzeño
* Obispeño
* Purisimeño
* Ventureño

Dené(–
Yeniseian?)|

* Ahtna
* Deg Xinag
* Dena'ina
* Gwich’in
* Hän
* Hupa
* Jicarilla
* Koyukon
* Lower Tanana
* Mescalero-Chiricahua
* Navajo
* Tanacross
* Tolowa
* Upper Kuskokwim
* Upper Tanana
* Western Apache

* Cahto
* Eyak
* Holikachuk
* Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie
* Lipan
* Mattole
* Plains Apache
* Tsetsaut
* Tututni
* Upper Umpqua
* Wailaki

Eskaleut|

* Inuit
* Inupiat
* Aleut
* Alutiiq
* Central Alaskan Yup'ik
* Central Siberian Yupik
* Chevak Cup’ik

Iroquoian|

* Cayuga
* Cherokee
* Mohawk
* Oneida
* Onondaga
* Osage
* Seneca
* Tuscarora
* Wyandot

* Erie
* Neutral Huron
* Nottoway
* Susquehannock
* Wenrohronon

Kalapuyan|

* Central Kalapuya
* Northern Kalapuya
* Yoncalla

Keresan|

* Cochiti Pueblo
* San Felipe–Santo Domingo
* Zia–Santa Ana Pueblos
* Western Keres
* Acoma Pueblo
* Laguna Pueblo

Maiduan|

* Konkow
* Maidu
* Nisenan

* Chico

Muskogean|

* Alabama
* Chickasaw
* Choctaw
* Koasati
* Mikasuki
* Muscogee

* Apalachee

Palaihnihan|

* Achumawi

* Atsugewi

Plateau Penutian|

* Nez Perce
* Sahaptin

* Klamath
* Molala

Pomoan|

* Central Pomo
* Eastern Pomo
* Kashaya
* Southeastern Pomo
* Southern Pomo

* Northeastern Pomo
* Northern Pomo

Salishan|

* Coeur d'Alene
* Columbia-Moses
* Halkomelem
* Klallam
* Lushootseed
* Nooksack
* North Straits Salish
* Okanagan
* Salish
* Thompson
* Twana

* Cowlitz
* Lower Chehalis
* Quinault
* Tillamook
* Upper Chehalis

Siouan|

* Assiniboine
* Crow
* Dakota
* Hidatsa
* Kansa
* Lakota
* Mandan
* Omaha–Ponca
* Quapaw
* Stoney
* Winnebago

* Biloxi
* Catawba
* Chiwere
* Mitchigamea
* Moneton
* Ofo
* Tutelo-Saponi
* Woccon

Tanoan|

* Jemez
* Kiowa
* Picuris
* Southern Tiwa
* Taos
* Tewa

* Piro Pueblo

Tsimshianic|

* Coast Tsimshian

Uto-Aztecan|

* Comanche
* Hopi
* Ivilyuat
* Kawaiisu
* Kitanemuk
* Luiseño
* Mono
* Northern Paiute
* O'odham
* Serrano
* Shoshoni
* Timbisha
* Tübatulabal
* Ute-Chemehuevi
* Yaqui

* Cupeño
* Tongva

Wakashan|

* Makah

Wintuan|

* Nomlaki
* Patwin
* Wintu

Yuk-Utian|

* Central Sierra Miwok
* Southern Sierra Miwok
* Tule-Kaweah Yokuts
* Valley Yokuts

* Bay Miwok
* Buena Vista Yokuts
* Coast Miwok
* Gashowu Yokuts
* Kings River Yokuts
* Lake Miwok
* Northern Sierra Miwok
* Palewyami
* Plains Miwok

Yuman–
Cochimí|

* Cocopah
* Havasupai–Hualapai
* Ipai
* Kumeyaay
* Maricopa
* Mojave
* Quechan
* Tiipai
* Yavapai

Others|

| Isolates|

* Haida
* Karuk
* Kutenai
* Siuslaw
* Washo
* Yuchi
* Zuni

* Chitimacha
* Tonkawa

|

Mixed or trade
Languages|

* Afro-Seminole Creole
* Chinook Jargon
* Michif

* Mohawk Dutch

Manual Indigenous
languages|

| Hand Talk|

* Anishinaabe Sign Language
* Blackfoot Sign Language
* Cheyenne Sign Language
* Cree Sign Language
* Navajo Sign Language

* Plateau Sign Language
* Ktunaxa Sign Language

|

Isolates|

* Hawai'i Sign Language
* Creole Hawai'i Sign Language
* Inuit Sign Language
* Keresan Pueblo
* Navajo Family Sign Language

Oral settler
languages|

| French|

* Louisiana
* Métis
* Missouri
* Muskrat
* New England

|

German|

* Pennsylvania Dutch
* Hutterite
* Plautdietsch
* Bernese
* Alsatian
* Texas

Spanish|

* Caló (Chicano)
* Isleño
* New Mexican
* Puerto Rican
* Sabine River

Creole and mixed languages|

* Gullah
* Louisiana Creole
* Spanglish
* Angloromani

Manual settler
languages|

| Francosign|

* American Sign Language
* Black American Sign Language
* Protactile
* Puerto Rican Sign Language

|

BANZSL|

* Samoan Sign Language

Kentish|

* Martha's Vineyard Sign Language

Isolates|

* Sandy River Valley Sign Language
* Henniker Sign Language

Immigrant languages
(number of speakers
in 2021 in millions)|

* Spanish (41.3)
* Chinese (3.4)
* Tagalog (1.7)
* Vietnamese (1.5)
* Arabic (1.4)
* French (1.2)
* Korean (1.1)
* Russian (1.0)
* Portuguese (0.9)
* Haitian (0.9)
* Hindi (0.9)
* German (0.9)
* Polish (0.5)
* Italian (0.5)
* Urdu (0.5)
* Persian (0.5)
* Telugu (0.5)
* Japanese (0.5)
* Gujarati (0.4)
* Bengali (0.4)
* Tamil (0.3)
* Punjabi (0.3)
* Serbo-Croatian (0.3)
* Armenian (0.3)
* Greek (0.3)
* Hmong (0.2)
* Hebrew (0.2)
* Khmer (0.2)

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