Western Apache language
The Western Apache language is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken among the 14,000 Western Apaches in Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua and in east-central Arizona. There are approximately 6,000 speakers living on the San Carlos Reservation and 7,000 living on the Fort Apache Reservation. In Mexico they mainly live in Hermosillo, Sonora, and other native communities in Chihuahua. Goodwin (1938) claims that Western Apache can be divided into five dialect groupings:
- Cibecue
- Northern Tonto
- Southern Tonto
- San Carlos
- White Mountain
| Western Apache | |
|---|---|
| Ndee biyáti' / Nnee biyáti' | |
| Native to | Mexico and United States |
| Region | Sonora, Chihuahua and south-east Arizona |
| Ethnicity | Western Apache |
Native speakers | 13,445 (65% of pop.) (2013) |
Dené–Yeniseian
| |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Mexico |
Recognised minority language in | San Carlos Apache Nation, Arizona |
| Regulated by | Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | apw |
| Glottolog | west2615 |
| ELP | Western Apache |
Other researchers do not find any linguistic evidence for five groups but rather three main varieties with several subgroupings:
Western Apache is most closely related to other Southern Athabaskan languages like Navajo, Chiricahua Apache, Mescalero Apache, Lipan Apache, Plains Apache, and Jicarilla Apache.
In 2011, the San Carlos Apache Tribe's Language Preservation Program in Peridot, Arizona, began its outreach to the "14,000 tribal members residing within the districts of Bylas, Gilson Wash, Peridot and Seven Mile Wash," only 20% of whom still speak the language fluently.