Mescalero-Chiricahua language
Chiricahua (also known as Chiricahua Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Chiricahua people in Chihuahua and Sonora, México and in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is related to Navajo and Western Apache and has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts, including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.
| Chiricahua | |
|---|---|
| Ndee bizaa | |
| Native to | Mexico and USA |
| Region | Sonora, Chihuahua, Oklahoma, New Mexico |
| Ethnicity | Chiricahua, Mescalero |
Native speakers | 1,500 (2007) |
Dené–Yeniseian?
| |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | apm |
| Glottolog | mesc1238 |
| ELP | Mescalero-Chiricahua |
Mescalero-Chiricahua is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Virginia Klinekole, the first female president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, was known for her efforts to preserve the language.
There is at least one language-immersion school for children in Mescalero.