MultiTree:

Name: Alabama Type: Language Alternate Name: Alibamu Spoken in: USA Number of speakers: 100 (1997 T. Montler), decreasing. Ethnic population: 460 (2000 US census) (Ethnologue) Number of speakers: 275 (UNESCO) Number of speakers: 100 (World Oral Literature Project) Code: akz Code Standard: ISO 639-3 Documentation: SIL Families: Muskogean (Muskhogean) Parent Subgroup: Eastern Muskogean; Eastern (emsk) Brief Description: "Alabama is an Eastern Muskogean language whose speakers were in north-eastern Mississippi in the sixteenth century and later moved to east central Alabama, where they became politically allied with the Creek Confederacy. Most of them moved to Spanish Louisiana nad Florida with the British takeover in 1763, but some remained behind and were removed to Indian Territory in the 1830s. At present Alabama is spoken by 250 to 300 residents of the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation near Livingston, in the Big Thicket area of East Texas. Alabama speakers share the reservation with a smaller number of Koasati (Coushatta) speakers, and some individuals have learned to speak or understand both of these related languages. Until recently there were also a few elderly speakers of Alabama among the 900 enrolled members of the Alabama-Quassarte Tribe, an administrative subdivision of the Muskogee Creek Nation, in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. In Texas, Alabama is the language of choice among those 50 and above and is used at home and at the Senior Citizen Center. The youngest speakers are probably in their teens." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 10

Endangerment Status

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UNESCO Status: Definitely endangered Ethnologue Status: Not listed Sutherland's Red List: Endangered