Geographic
distribution central North America Glottolog core1249 | Linguistic classification Siouan
Western Siouan | |
 | ||
Subdivisions Missouri River (Crow–Hidatsa)
Mandan
Mississippi Valley (Central)
Ohio Valley (Southeastern) | ||
The Western Siouan languages, also called Siouan proper or simply Siouan, are a large language family native to North America. They are closely related to the Catawban languages, sometimes called Eastern Siouan, and together with them constitute the Siouan (Siouan–Catawban) language family.
Linguistic and historical records indicate a possible southern origin of the Siouan people, with migrations over a thousand years ago from North Carolina and Virginia to Ohio. Some continued down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and up to the Missouri. Others went down the Mississippi, settling in what is now Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Others traveled across Ohio to what is now Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, home of the Dakota.
Family division
The Siouan family proper consists of some 18 languages and various dialects:
I. Missouri River Siouan (a.k.a. Crow–Hidatsa)
1. Crow (a.k.a. Absaroka, Apsaroka, Apsaalooke, Upsaroka) 2. Hidatsa (a.k.a. Gros Ventre, Minitari, Minnetaree)II. Mandan Siouan (†)
3. Mandan (†) a. Nuptare b. NuetareIII. Mississippi Valley Siouan (a.k.a. Central Siouan)
? Michigamea (†) A. Dakotan (a.k.a. Sioux–Assiniboine–Stoney) B. Chiwere–Winnebago (a.k.a. Chiwere) C. DhegihaIV. Ohio Valley Siouan (a.k.a. Southeastern Siouan) (†)
A. Virginia Siouan (a.k.a. Tutelo) (†) 12. Tutelo-Saponi, Monacan (†) 13. Moneton (†) B. Mississippi Siouan (a.k.a. Ofo–Biloxi) (†) 14. Biloxi (†) 15. Ofo (a.k.a. Ofogoula) (†)(†) – Extinct language
Another view of both the Dakotan and Mississippi Valley branches is to represent them as dialect continuums.
All the Virginia Siouan dialects listed here are thought to have been closely related to one another; the term Tutelo language is also used in reference to their common tongue.