View source for Kickapoo language

{{Short description|Dialect of the Fox language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Kickapoo
| familycolor      = Algic
| fam1             = [[Algic languages|Algic]]
| fam2             = [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]
| fam3             = [[Central Algonquian languages|Central Algonquian]]
| fam4             = [[fox language|Fox]]
| iso3             = kic
| glotto           = kick1244
| glottorefname    = Kickapoo
| ethnicity        = [[Kickapoo people]]
| script           = [[Latin script]]
| states           = [[United States]], [[Mexico]]
| nativename       = ''Metotheeneniaatoweeheni''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bluecloud |first=Mosiah Salazar |url=https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/648609/azu_etd_18275_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1 |title=A Sketch Grammar of the Kickapoo Language |publisher=The University of Arizona |year=2020}}</ref>
| speakers         = 1,043 Kickapoo in the US

| date             = 2017&ndash;2021
| ref              = <ref>{{cite web |title=Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2017-2021 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/language-use/2017-2021-lang-tables.html |website=Census.gov |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=6 June 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
| dia1             = monolingual dialect (''Peekaatowaakani'')<ref name=":0" />
| dia2             = Oklahoma dialect
| dia3             = Mexican/Texan dialect
| speakers2        = {{sigfig|63|1}} Kickapoo in Mexico (2020 census)<ref name=inegi2020>[http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/hipertexto/todas_lenguas.htm Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165419/http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/hipertexto/todas_lenguas.htm |date=2016-03-03 }} INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.</ref>
}}
[[File:Grupo_Kikapú_en_Coahuila_México.jpg|thumb|Kickapoo people building a winter house in the town of Nacimiento Coahuila, Mexico, 2008]]
'''Kickapoo''' (Kickapoo: {{Lang|kic|Metotheeneniaatoweeheni}})<ref name=":0" /> is either a dialect of the [[Fox language]] or a closely related language, closely related to, and [[Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] with, the dialects spoken by the [[Sauk people]] and [[Meskwaki|Meskwaki people]]. Their language is included in the [[Central Algonquian languages]] subgroup of the [[Algonquian languages]] family, itself a member of the [[Algic languages]] family.

In 1985, the [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]] Nation's School in [[Horton, Kansas]], began a language-immersion program for elementary school grades to revive teaching and use of the Kickapoo language in kindergarten through grade 6.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reaves |first=Michell Reaves |date=2001-08-11 |title=Canku Ota - Aug. 11, 2001 - Indians Value Their Language |url=http://www.turtletrack.org/IssueHistory/Issues01/Co08112001/CO_08112001_Kickapoo_Language.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029030902/http://www.turtletrack.org/IssueHistory/Issues01/Co08112001/CO_08112001_Kickapoo_Language.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 29, 2018 |journal=Canku Ota (Many Paths), an Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America, Medill News Service |issue=42 |access-date=2012-07-19}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-01-26 |title=Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas First Native American Tribe to Achieve Texas School Ready! Certification |url=http://www.newswise.com/articles/kickapoo-first-native-american-tribe-to-achieve-texas-school-ready-certification |access-date=2012-07-19 |work=Newswise, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston}}</ref> Despite these efforts, there are no children who are first-language users of Kickapoo, as they choose to speak English instead.<ref name=":0" />

Also in 2010, Mexico's [[Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia]] participated in the elaboration of a Kickapoo alphabet.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-04-12 |title=Kickapoo Language Prepared to be Written |url=http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=37399 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316153149/http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=37399 |archive-date=16 March 2012 |access-date=2012-07-19 |work=Art Daily}}</ref> The [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]] in Mexico are known for their [[Kickapoo whistled speech|whistled speech]].

Texts,<ref>{{Cite web |title=OLAC resources in and about the Kickapoo language |url=http://www.language-archives.org/language/kic |access-date=2012-07-19}}</ref> recordings,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Recordings for study of the Shawnee, Kickapoo, Ojibwa, and Sauk-and-Fox :: American Philosophical Society |url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.Rec.14-ead.xml;query=;brand=default |access-date=2012-07-19}}</ref> and a vocabulary<ref>{{Cite web |year=1988 |title=OLAC Record: Kickapoo vocabulary |url=http://www.language-archives.org/item/oai:gial.edu:10032 |access-date=2012-07-19}}</ref> of the language are available.

The Kickapoo language and members of the Kickapoo tribe were featured in the movie ''[[The Only Good Indian]]'' (2009), directed by Greg Wilmott and starring [[Wes Studi]]. This was a fictionalized account of Native American children forced to attend an [[Indian boarding school]], where they were forced to speak English and give up their cultural practices.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-09-12 |title=Kickapoo Language, Culture to be Featured in Film |url=http://www.hiawathaworldonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=21&ArticleID=486&TM=50946.93 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810013342/http://www.hiawathaworldonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=21&ArticleID=486&TM=50946.93 |archive-date=2012-08-10 |access-date=2012-07-19 |work=Hiawatha World Online}}</ref>

== Sounds ==

=== Consonants ===
Eleven [[consonant]] [[phoneme]]s are used in Kickapoo:
{| class="wikitable"
!
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants|Dental]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]/<br>[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| align="center" |{{IPA link|p}}
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|t}}
| align="center" |{{IPA link|tʃ}}
| align="center" |{{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|θ}}
| align="center" |{{IPA link|s}}
| align="center" |
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|h}}
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| align="center" |{{IPA link|m}}
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|-
![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|j}}
| align="center" |{{IPA link|w}}
|
|}

* The voiceless sounds can sometimes be voiced as [{{IPA link|b}}, {{IPA link|d}}, {{IPA link|dʒ}}, {{IPA link|ɡ}}, {{IPA link|ð}}, {{IPA link|z}}].
* {{IPAslink|p}} in word-initial position can also be aspirated as {{IPAblink|pʰ}}.
* {{IPAslink|tʃ}} can also be pronounced as {{IPAblink|ts}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Voorhis |first=Paul H. |title=Introduction to the Kickapoo Language |publisher=Indiana University Publications |year=1974}}</ref>
* Glides /{{IPA link|w}}, {{IPA link|j}}/ may also be heard as non-syllabic vowels [{{IPA|o̯, i̯}}].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Voorhis |first=Paul H. |title=Kickapoo Grammar |publisher=Ann Arbor |year=1967}}</ref>
* {{IPAslink|w}} can be pronounced as {{IPAblink|ʔ}} in fast speech.<ref name=":0" />

=== Vowels ===

The eight [[vowel]] sounds in Kickapoo are: short {{IPA|/a, ɛ, i, o/}} and long {{IPA|/aː, ɛː, iː, oː/}}.<ref name=":1" />

* Sounds {{IPA|/a, ɛ, i, o/}}, can also be phonetically heard as [[allophone]]s {{IPA|[ə, ɛ~e, ɪ, ʊ~o]}} and {{IPA|/aː, ɛː, iː, oː/}} can be heard as {{IPA|[äː, æː, iː, ɔː]}}.<ref name=":0" />

== Writing system ==
A Kickapoo alphabet was developed by Paul Voorhis in 1974 and was revised in 1981.<ref name="Voorhis_1981">{{cite book |last=Cowan |first=William |url=https://ocul-gue.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OCUL_GUE/mrqn4e/alma9917538843505154 |title=Papers of the Thirteenth Algonquian Conference |date=1981 |publisher=[[Carleton University]] |isbn=9780770901233 |location=Ottawa, Canada |pages=81–89}}</ref> A new orthography is used by the Kickapoo Language Development Program in Oklahoma.{{sfn|Bluecloud|2020|p=17-24}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Kickapoo alphabet (Kickapoo Language Development Program){{sfn|Bluecloud|2020|p=17-24}}
!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
|}

*

== References ==
<references />

{{Algic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kickapoo language}}
[[Category:Kickapoo language| ]]
[[Category:Central Algonquian languages]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Plains]]


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