ISO 639-3 apw | Ethnicity Western Apache | |
 | ||
Native speakers 14,000 (65% of pop.) (2007) Language family Dené–YeniseianNa-DenéAthabaskan–EyakAthabaskanSouthernSouthwesternWestern Apache | ||
The month names in the western apache language
The Western Apache language is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken among the 14,000 Western Apaches living primarily in east central Arizona. There are approximately 6,000 speakers living on the San Carlos Reservation and 7,000 living on the Ft. Apache Reservation. Goodwin (1938) claims that Western Apache can be divided into five dialect groupings:
Contents
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.
Introduction in the western apache language
