Osage > LINGUIST List Language Search
Name:
Osage
Type:
Language
Alternate Name:
Wazhazhe
Spoken in:
USA
Number of speakers:
5 (1992 M. Krauss). Ethnic population: 15,000 (1997 C. Quintero); 249 (2000 US census)
(Ethnologue)
Number of speakers:
10
(UNESCO)
Number of speakers:
5
(World Oral Literature Project)
Code:
osa
Code Standard:
ISO 639-3
Documentation:
SIL
Families:
Siouan-Catawban (Siouan)
Parent Subgroup:
Dhegiha; Dhegihan; Cegiha (dheg)
Brief Description:
"Osage is a Siouan language of the Dhegiha subgroup, spoken in the eighteenth century by people living along the Osage River in Missouri. Since the 1870s the Osage Tribe has been settled in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma, around Pawhuska. Osage land has proved to be rich in oil, and a number of Osage families are quite wealthy. There are ten or fewer fluent speakers of Osage, all over 65, in a total tribal membership of 11,000, although there are a number of semi-speakers and second language speakers." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 20
UNESCO Status: Critically endangered Ethnologue Status: Nearly Extinct Sutherland's Red List: Critically Endangered
Endangerment Status
UNESCO Status: Critically endangered Ethnologue Status: Nearly Extinct Sutherland's Red List: Critically Endangered
Map of Osage
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