MultiTree:

Name: Central Numic Type: Dialect Group Alternate Names: Shoshoni; Shoshone; Shoshoni-Goshiute; Shonshoni; Shoshonean Spoken in: USA Number of speakers: 2,910 (2000 census). Ethnic population: 7,000 (1977 SIL) (Ethnologue) Number of speakers: 6000 (UNESCO) Number of speakers: 2284 (World Oral Literature Project) Code: shh Code Standard: ISO 639-3 Documentation: SIL Families: Uto-Aztecan (Yuta-Nawan) Parent Subgroup: Numic; Central Numic; Shoshonish Group (cnum) Child Dialects: Washakie; Fort Hall (shh-for) Reese River; Ruby Valley (shh-rub) Austin; Shoshone (Wind River); Wind River (shh-win) Gosiute; Owyhee of Duck Valley (shh-owy) Ruby Valley; Austin (shh-aus) Shoshone; Reese River (shh-ree) Elko; Duck Valley; Duckwater (shh-duc) Fort Hall; Gosiute; Goshute; Gosha-Ute (shh-gos) Fort Hall; Gosiute; Skull Valley (shh-sku) Battle Mountain; Elko (shh-elk) Wind River; Battle Mountain (shh-bat) Duck Valley; Washakie (shh-was) Brief Description: "Shoshone (Shoshoni) is a Central Numic language, formerly spoken in a wide band stretching from Lida, Nevada northeast through Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming as far north as Lemhi, Idaho and as far east as Wind River, Wyoming. Although there are a few large reservations which are exclusively (or at least half) Shoshone, there are dozens of smaller reservations and communities scattered throughout the region. Shoshone was a dialect continuum without rigid isoglosses to separate the dialects, but several major clusters of varieties can be identified. Western Shoshone includes the communities throughout Nevada except for the Gosiute and Duck Valley communities. Northern Shoshone includes the Duck Valley and Fort Hall communities as well as the smaller communities of northern Utah and southern Idaho. Eastern Shoshone includes the Wind River community in Wyoming. Gosiute includes the Gosiute and Skull Valley communities in Utah. The largest speech community is at Fort Hall. Altogether, there are around 1,000 actively fluent speakers of Shoshone, and perhaps another 1,000 with more restricted competence. While a few children still learn Shoshone as a first language in the Duck Valley and Gosiute communities, the majority of speakers are over 50." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 22

Endangerment Status

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