Native American languages of Idaho


, a state in the western region of the United States of America, hosts a large number of Native Americans who have traditionally lived in the northern expanses of the Great Basin and the Rocky Mountains. There are five Native American languages that are spoken by recognized tribes of Idaho, two of which fall under the Uto-Aztecan languages classification, while the other three fall under three other language families that are associated with linguistic regions to the west and east of Idaho.

Distribution

There are five Native American languages currently spoken in Idaho. Population estimates are based on figures from Ethnologue and U.S. Census data, as given in sub-pages below. The five languages are shown in the table below:
LanguageClassificationNumber of SpeakersTotal Ethnic PopulationTribe IncludedLocation in IdahoSignificant External Populations
Coeur d'AleneSalishan: Interior: Southern52,000Coeur d'AleneCoeur d'Alene Reservation
Northern PaiuteUto-Aztecan: Numic: Western Numic7005,000Northern Paiute, BannockDuck Valley Indian Reservation, Fort Hall Indian ReservationNevada
ShoshoneUto-Aztecan: Numic: Central Numic2,00012,300Western Shoshone, Northern ShoshoneDuck Valley Indian Reservation, Fort Hall Indian ReservationNevada, Wyoming, Utah
Nez PercePlateau Penutian: Sahaptian1003,000Nez PerceNez Perce Indian ReservationWashington
KootenaiLanguage Isolate1002,000Ktunaxa: Lower KootenayKootenai Indian ReservationBritish Columbia, Montana, Washington