| Kickapoo | |
|---|---|
| Metotheeneniaatoweeheni[1] | |
| Native to | United States,Mexico |
| Ethnicity | Kickapoo people |
Native speakers | (1200 cited 1978)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kic |
| Glottolog | kick1244 |
| ELP | Kickapoo |
Kickapoo (Kickapoo:Metotheeneniaatoweeheni)[1] is either a dialect of theFox language or a closely related language, closely related to, andmutually intelligible with, the dialects spoken by theSauk people andMeskwaki people. Their language is included in theCentral Algonquian languages subgroup of theAlgonquian languages family, itself a member of theAlgic languages family.
In 1985, theKickapoo Nation's School inHorton, Kansas, began a language-immersion program for elementary school grades to revive teaching and use of the Kickapoo language in kindergarten through grade 6.[2] Efforts in language education continue at most Kickapoo sites.
In 2010, the Head Start Program at the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas reservation, which teaches the Kickapoo language, became "the first Native American school to earn Texas School Ready! (TSR) Project certification."[3] Despite these efforts, there are no children who are first-language users of Kickapoo, as they choose to speak English instead.[1]
Also in 2010, Mexico'sInstituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia participated in the elaboration of a Kickapoo alphabet.[4] TheKickapoo in Mexico are known for theirwhistled speech.
Texts,[5] recordings,[6] and a vocabulary[7] of the language are available.
The Kickapoo language and members of the Kickapoo tribe were featured in the movieThe Only Good Indian (2009), directed by Greg Wilmott and starringWes Studi. This was a fictionalized account of Native American children forced to attend anIndian boarding school, where they were forced to speak English and give up their cultural practices.[8]
Elevenconsonantphonemes are used in Kickapoo:
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar/ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | tʃ | k | ||
| Fricative | θ | s | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Approximant | j | w |
The eightvowel sounds in Kickapoo are: short/a,ɛ,i,o/ and long/aː,ɛː,iː,oː/.[10]
A Kickapoo alphabet was developed by Paul Voorhis in 1974 and was revised in 1981.[11] A new orthography is used by the Kickapoo Language Development Program in Oklahoma.[12]
| Letter | a | aa | ch | e | ee | h | i | ii | k | m | n | o | oo | p | s | t | th | w | y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | ə | ɑ | tʃ | e | æ | h | ɪ | i | k | m | n | o | ɔ | p | s | t | θ | w | j |
