Indigenous languages of the Americas

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The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while many more are now extinct. The Indigenous languages of the Americas are not all related to each other; instead, they are classified into a hundred or so language families and isolates, as well as a number of extinct languages that are unclassified due to the lack of information on them.

Many proposals have been made to relate some or all of these languages to each other, with varying degrees of success. The most widely reported is Joseph Greenberg's Amerind hypothesis,^[1] which, however, nearly all specialists reject because of severe methodological flaws; spurious data; and a failure to distinguish cognation, contact, and coincidence.^[2]

According to UNESCO, most of the Indigenous languages of the Americas are critically endangered, and many are dormant (without native speakers but with a community of heritage-language users) or entirely extinct.^[3][4] The most widely spoken Indigenous languages are Southern Quechua (spoken primarily in southern Peru and Bolivia) and Guarani (centered in Paraguay, where it shares national language status with Spanish), with perhaps six or seven million speakers apiece (including many of European descent in the case of Guarani). Only half a dozen others have more than a million speakers; these are Aymara of Bolivia and Nahuatl of Mexico, with almost two million each; the Mayan languages Kekchi, Quiché, and Yucatec of Guatemala and Mexico, with about 1 million apiece; and perhaps one or two additional Quechuan languages in Peru and Ecuador. In the United States, 372,000 people reported speaking an Indigenous language at home in the 2010 census.^[5] In Canada, 133,000 people reported speaking an Indigenous language at home in the 2011 census.^[6] In Greenland, about 90% of the population speaks Greenlandic, the most widely spoken Eskaleut language.

Over a thousand known languages were spoken by various peoples in North and South America prior to their first contact with Europeans. These encounters occurred between the beginning of the 11th century (with the Nordic settlement of Greenland and failed efforts in Newfoundland and Labrador) and the end of the 15th century (the voyages of Christopher Columbus). Several Indigenous cultures of the Americas had also developed their own writing systems,^[7] the best known being the Maya script.^[8] The Indigenous languages of the Americas had widely varying demographics, from the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guarani, and Nahuatl, which had millions of active speakers, to many languages with only several hundred speakers. After pre-Columbian times, several Indigenous creole languages developed in the Americas, based on European, Indigenous and African languages.

The European colonizing nations and their successor states had widely varying attitudes towards Native American languages. In Brazil, friars learned and promoted the Tupi language.^[9] In many Spanish colonies, Spanish missionaries often learned local languages and culture in order to preach to the natives in their own tongue and relate the Christian message to their Indigenous religions. In the British American colonies, John Eliot of the Massachusetts Bay Colony translated the Bible into the Massachusett language, also called Wampanoag, or Natick (1661–1663); he published the first Bible printed in North America, the Eliot Indian Bible.

The Europeans also suppressed use of Indigenous languages, establishing their own languages for official communications, destroying texts in other languages, and insisted that Indigenous people learn European languages in schools. As a result, Indigenous languages suffered from cultural suppression and loss of speakers. By the 18th and 19th centuries, Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and Dutch, brought to the Americas by European settlers and administrators, had become the official or national languages of modern nation-states of the Americas.

Many Indigenous languages have become critically endangered, but others are vigorous and part of daily life for millions of people. Several Indigenous languages have been given official status in the countries where they occur, such as Guaraní in Paraguay. In other cases official status is limited to certain regions where the languages are most spoken. Although sometimes enshrined in constitutions as official, the languages may be used infrequently in de facto official use. Examples are Quechua in Peru and Aymara in Bolivia, where in practice, Spanish is dominant in all formal contexts.

In the North American Arctic region, Greenland in 2009 elected Kalaallisut^[10] as its sole official language. In the United States, the Navajo language is the most spoken Native American language, with more than 200,000 speakers in the Southwestern United States. The US Marine Corps recruited Navajo men, who were established as code talkers during World War II.

In American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America (1997), Lyle Campbell lists several hypotheses for the historical origins of Amerindian languages.^[11]

• A single, one-language migration (not widely accepted)
• A few linguistically distinct migrations (favored by Edward Sapir)
• Multiple migrations
• Multilingual migrations (single migration with multiple languages)
• The influx of already diversified but related languages from the Old World
• Extinction of Old World linguistic relatives (while the New World ones survived)
• Migration along the Pacific coast instead of by the Bering Strait

Roger Blench (2008) has advocated the theory of multiple migrations along the Pacific coast of peoples from northeastern Asia, who already spoke diverse languages. These proliferated in the New World.^[12]

Countries like Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Guyana recognize most Indigenous languages. Bolivia and Venezuela give all Indigenous languages official status. Canada, Argentina, and the U.S. allow provinces and states to decide. Brazil limits recognition to localities.

• Bolivia: Official status for all Indigenous languages.
• Venezuela: Official status for all Indigenous languages.
• Mexico: Recognizes all Indigenous languages.
• Guatemala: Recognizes all Indigenous languages.
• Guyana: Recognizes most Indigenous languages.
• Colombia: Local recognition at the department level.
• Canada: Bill C-91 Indigenous Languages Act and Indigenous languages recognition in Parliament.
• Argentina: Provincial determination of language policies.
• United States: State determination of language policies.
• Brazil: Local recognition of Indigenous languages.

Canada

Bill C-91, passed in 2019, supports Indigenous languages through sustainable funding and the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. The first Commissioner of Indigenous languages in Canada is Ronald E. Ignace. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]}

Colombia

Colombia delegates local Indigenous language recognition to the department level according to the Colombian Constitution of 1991.

• Bullet points represent minority language status. Political entities with official language status are highlighted in bold.

List of Widely Spoken and Officially Recognized Languages

Language	Number of speakers	Official Recognition	Area(s) Language is spoken	Source
Guaraní	6,500,000	Paraguay (Official Language) Bolivia Corrientes, Argentina Tacuru, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil Mercosur	Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil	[20]
Southern Quechua	5,000,000 (outdated figure)	Bolivia (Official Language) Peru (Official Language) Jujuy, Argentina Chile Comunidad Andina	Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Chile	[20]
Nahuatl	1,700,000	Mexico	Mexico	[21]
Aymara	1,700,000	Bolivia (Official Language) Peru (Official Language) Chile Comunidad Andina	Bolivia, Peru, Chile	[20]
Qʼeqchiʼ	1,100,000	Guatemala Belize Mexico	Guatemala, Belize, Mexico	[20]
Kʼicheʼ	1,100,000	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico	[20]
Yucatec Maya	890,000	Mexico Belize	Mexico & Belize	[22]
Ancash Quechua	700,000 (outdated figure)		Peru	[20]
Mam	600,000	Guatemala Mexico Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (De facto), Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico
Tzeltal	560,000	Mexico Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (De facto), Mexico	Mexico	[22]
Mixtec	520,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Tzotzil	490,000	Mexico Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (De facto), Mexico	Mexico	[22]
Zapotec	480,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Kichwa	450,000	Ecuador Colombia (Cauca, Nariño, Putumayo)	Ecuador & Colombia (Cauca, Nariño, Putumayo)	[20]
Wayuu (Guajiro)	420,000	Venezuela La Guajira, Colombia	Venezuela & Colombia
Kaqchikel	410,000	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico	[20]
Otomi	310,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Totonac	270,000	Mexico	Mexico	[24]
Mapuche	260,000	Cautín Province, La Araucanía, Chile (Galvarino, Padre Las Casas)	Cautín Province, La Araucanía, Chile (Galvarino, Padre Las Casas)	[20]
Ch'ol	250,000	Mexico Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (De facto), Mexico	Mexico	[22]
Mazateco	240,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Qʼanjobʼal	170,000	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico
Huasteco	170,000	Mexico	Mexico	[22]
Navajo	170,000	Navajo Nation, United States	Southwestern United States	[20]
Mazahua	150,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Miskito	140,000 (outdated figure)	North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Nicaragua Honduras (Gracias a Dios)	Nicaragua, Honduras
Chinanteco	140,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Mixe	130,000	Mexico	Mexico	[25]
Tlapaneco	130,000	Mexico	Mexico	[23]
Poqomchiʼ	130,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Purepecha/Tarasco	120,000	Mexico	Mexico	[26]
Achí	120,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Ixil	120,000	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico
Yaru Quechua	100,000 (circa; outdated figure)		Peru	[20]
Cree	96,000 [incl. Naskapi, Montagnais]	Northwest Territories, Canada Alberta Manitoba Ontario Quebec Saskatchewan	Canada	[27]
Tarahumara	74,000	Mexico	Mexico
Tz'utujil	72,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Kuna	61,000	Colombia (Chocó & Antioquia)	Colombia (Chocó & Antioquia)
Paez	60,000	Colombia (Cauca, Huila, Valle del Cauca)	Colombia (Cauca, Huila, Valle del Cauca)
Chuj	59,000	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico
Kalaallisut (Greenlandic)	57,000	Greenland	Greenland	[28]
Amuzgo	55,588	Mexico	Mexico
Tojolabʼal	51,733	Mexico Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (De facto), Mexico	Mexico
Garífuna	50,000 (circa; outdated figure)	Guatemala Belize North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Nicaragua Honduras (Atlántida, Colón, Gracias a Dios)	Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras	[20]
Ojibwe	48,000	Canada United States	Canada & United States	[20]
Tikuna	47,000	Colombia (Leticia, Puerto Nariño, Amazonas)	Amazonas regions of Brazil and Colombia	[29]
Chatino	45,000	Mexico	Mexico
Huichol	44,800	Mexico	Mexico
Mayo	39,600	Mexico	Mexico
Inuktitut	39,475	Nunavut, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavik, Quebec Nunatsiavut, Newfoundland and Labrador Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Yukon	Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Quebec and Labrador, Canada	[30]
Chontal Maya	37,072	Mexico	Mexico
Wichi	36,135	Chaco, Argentina	Chaco, Argentina
Tepehuán	36,000	Mexico	Mexico
Soteapanec	35,050	Mexico	Mexico
Shuar	35,000	Ecuador	Ecuador	[31]
Blackfoot	34,394		Alberta, Canada & Montana, United States	[32]
Sikuani	34,000	Colombia (Meta, Vichada, Arauca, Guainía, Guaviare)	Colombia (Meta, Vichada, Arauca, Guainía, Guaviare)
Jakaltek	33,000	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala & Mexico
Kom	31,580	Chaco, Argentina	Chaco, Argentina
Poqomam	30,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Ch'orti'	30,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Kaiwá	26,500		Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil	[29]
Sioux	25,000	South Dakota, United States	US	[33]
Oʼodham	23,313	Tohono Oʼodham Nation, United States Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community, United States Mexico	Arizona, United States
Kaigang	22,000		Brazil	[29]
Guambiano	21,000	Cauca Department, Colombia	Cauca Department, Colombia
Cora	20,100	Mexico	Mexico
Yanomamö	20,000	Venezuela	Brazil & Venezuela	[29]
Nheengatu	19,000	São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil Venezuela	Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela	[33]
Yup'ik (Central Alaskan) & (Siberian)	18,626	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Huave	17,900	Mexico	Mexico	[34]
Yaqui	17,546	Mexico	Mexico
Piaroa	17,000	Vichada, Colombia	Vichada, Colombia
Sakapultek	15,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Western Apache	14,012	San Carlos Apache Nation, United States Fort Apache Indian Reservation, United States	Arizona, United States
Xavante	13,300		Mato Grosso, Brazil	[29]
Keresan	13,073		New Mexico, United States
Cuicatec	13,000	Mexico	Mexico
Awa Pit	13,000	Nariño Department, Colombia	Nariño Department, Colombia
Karu	12,000	Venezuela Guaviare Department, Colombia São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil, (Baníwa language)	Guaviare, Colombia & Amazonas, Brazil, (Baníwa language)
Awakatek	11,607	Guatemala Mexico	Guatemala Mexico
Chipewyan	11,325	Northwest Territories, Canada	Northwest Territories, Canada	[35]
Pame	11,000	Mexico	Mexico
Wounaan	10,800	Colombia (Chocó, Cauca, Valle del Cauca)	Colombia (Chocó, Cauca, Valle del Cauca)
Choctaw	9,600	Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, United States	Oklahoma & Mississippi, United States	[36]
Moxo	10,000	Bolivia	Bolivia
Kogi	9,900	Magdalena, Colombia	Magdalena, Colombia
Zuni	9,620		New Mexico, United States	[37]
Guajajara	9,500		Maranhão, Brazil	[29]
Sumo	9,000	North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Nicaragua	North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Nicaragua
Mopán	9,000–12,000	Guatemala Belize	Guatemala & Belize	[38]
Tepehua	8,900	Mexico	Mexico
Mawé	8,900		Brazil (Para & Amazonas)	[29]
Terêna	8,200		Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil	[29]
Sipakapense	8,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Ika	8,000	Colombia (Cesar & Magdalena)	Colombia (Cesar & Magdalena)
Mi'kmaq	7,140		Canada and United States
Tukano	7,100	São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia	Amazonas, Brazil & Vaupés, Colombia	[32]
Minica Huitoto	6,800	Amazonas, Colombia	Amazonas, Colombia
Hopi	6,780		Arizona, United States	[33]
Piapoco	6,400	Colombia (Guainía, Vichada, Meta)	Colombia (Guainía, Vichada, Meta)
Cubeo	6,300	Vaupés, Colombia	Vaupés, Colombia
Kayapo	6,200		Brazil (Pará & Mato Grosso)	[32]
Yukpa	6,000	Venezuela Cesar, Colombia	Venezuela, Colombia
Chiquitano	5,900	Bolivia	Brazil & Bolivia
Guarayu	5,900	Bolivia	Bolivia
Macushi	5,800	Venezuela Guyana	Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana	[32]
Chimané	5,300	Bolivia	Bolivia
Tewa	5,123		New Mexico, United States
Timbira	5,100		Brazil (Maranhão, Tocantins, Pará)	[39]
Sanumá	5,100	Venezuela	Brazil & Venezuela	[40]
Muscogee	5,072	Muscogee (Creek) Nation, OK, United States	United States (Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida)	[36]
Chontal of Oaxaca	5,039	Mexico	Mexico	[41]
Tektitek	5,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Barí	5,000	Colombia (Cesar & Norte de Santander)	Colombia (Cesar & Norte de Santander)
Camsá	4,000	Putumayo, Colombia	Putumayo, Colombia
Kulina	3,900		Brazil (Amazonas) & Peru	[40]
Crow	3,862		Montana, United States
Mohawk	3,875	Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne, Canada	Canada (Ontario & Quebec) and United States (New York)	[42][43]
Kashinawa	3,588		Brazil & Peru
Munduruku	3,563		Pará & Amazonas, Brazil	[40]
Tunebo/Uwa	3,550	Boyacá, Colombia	Boyacá, Colombia
Ayoreo	3,160	Bolivia	Bolivia
Desano	3,160	Bolivia	Bolivia
Wapishana	3,154	Bonfim, Roraima, Brazil Guyana	Bonfim, Roraima, Brazil Guyana	[44][40]
Yaminawa	3,129	Bolivia	Bolivia
Mocoví	3,000	Chaco, Argentina	Chaco, Argentina
Iñupiaq	3,000	Alaska, United States Northwest Territories, Canada	Alaska, United States & Northwest Territories, Canada
Puinave	3,000	Guainía, Colombia Venezuela	Guainía, Colombia & Venezuela
Cuiba	2,900	Colombia (Casanare, Vichada, Arauca)	Colombia (Casanare, Vichada, Arauca)
Tupi-Mondé	2,886		Rondônia, Brazil	[40]
Yuracaré	2,700	Bolivia	Bolivia
Wanano	2,600	Vaupés, Colombia	Vaupés, Colombia
Shoshoni	2,512		US
Bora	2,400	Amazonas, Colombia	Amazonas, Colombia
Cofán	2,400	Colombia (Nariño, Putumayo)	Colombia (Nariño, Putumayo)
Kanamari	2,298		Amazonas, Brazil	[40]
Fox (Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo)	2,288	Sac and Fox Nation, United States Mexico	US & Mexico
Cherokee	2,320	Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina, United States Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, United States	US (Oklahoma & North Carolina)
Waiwai	2,217	Guyana	Brazil, Guyana
Karajá	2,137		Brazil	[40]
Huarijio	2,136	Mexico	Mexico
Slavey	2,120	Northwest Territories, Canada	Northwest Territories, Canada
Chichimeca	2,100	Mexico	Mexico
Koreguaje	2,100	Caquetá, Colombia	Caquetá, Colombia
Tiriyó	2,100		Brazil, Suriname
Xerente	2,051		Tocantins, Brazil	[40]
Uspanteko	2,000	Guatemala	Guatemala
Fulniô	1,871		Pernambuco, Brazil	[40]
Pakaásnovos (wari)	1,854		Rondônia, Brazil	[40]
Wiwa	1,850	Cesar, Colombia	Cesar, Colombia
Weenhayek	1,810	Bolivia	Bolivia
Matlatzinca	1,800	Mexico	Mexico
Tacana	1,800	Bolivia	Bolivia
Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì	1,735	Northwest Territories, Canada	Northwest Territories, Canada
Cavineña	1,700	Bolivia	Bolivia
Jupda	1,700	Amazonas, Colombia	Amazonas, Colombia
Zacatepec Mixtec	1,500	Mexico	Mexico
Seneca	1,453	Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, Ontario, Canada	Ontario, Canada	[33]
Movima	1,400	Bolivia	Bolivia
Tlingit	1,360	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Inuinnaqtun	1,310	Nunavut, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada	Alaska, United States & Northwest Territories& Nunavut, Canada
Kiowa	1,274		Oklahoma, United States
Ka'apor	1,241		Maranhão, Brazil	[40]
Aleut	1,236	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Gwichʼin	1,217	Alaska, United States Northwest Territories, Canada	Alaska, United States & Northwest Territories, Canada
Inuvialuktun	1,150	Nunavut, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada	Nunavut, Canada & Northwest Territories, Canada
Arapaho	1,087		US
Macuna	1,032	Vaupés, Colombia	Vaupés, Colombia
Guayabero	1,000	Colombia (Meta, Guaviare)	Colombia (Meta, Guaviare)
Chocho	810	Mexico	Mexico
Maricopa/Piipaash	800	Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community, AZ, United States	Arizona, United States
Rama	740	North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Nicaragua	North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Nicaragua
Seri	729	Mexico	Mexico	[45]
Ese Ejja	700	Bolivia	Bolivia
Nukak	700	Guaviare, Colombia	Guaviare, Colombia
Pima Bajo	650	Mexico	Mexico
Cayuvava	650	Bolivia	Bolivia
Chácobo-Pakawara	600	Bolivia	Bolivia
Lacandon	600	Mexico	Mexico
Oneida	574	Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, Ontario, Canada Oneida Nation of the Thames, Ontario, Canada	Ontario, Canada	[46][47][48]
Cocopah	515	Mexico	Mexico	[49]
Sirionó	500	Bolivia	Bolivia
Siona	500	Putumayo, Colombia	Putumayo, Colombia
Havasupai–Hualapai	445	Havasupai Indian Reservation, AZ, United States	Arizona, United States	[50]
Kumeyaay	427 (525 including Ipai and Tiipai languages)	Mexico Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, CA, United States (Ballot Recognition)	Baja California, Mexico & California, United States	[51][52]
Tembé	420		Maranhão, Brazil	[40]
Yurok	414		California, United States
Alutiiq/Sugpiaq	400	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Tatuyo	400	Vaupés, Colombia	Vaupés, Colombia
Andoque	370	Caquetá, Colombia	Caquetá, Colombia
Guajá	365		Maranhão, Brazil
Chimila	350	Magdalena, Colombia	Magdalena, Colombia
Koyukon	300	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Hitnü	300	Arauca, Colombia	Arauca, Colombia
Mikasuki	290		United States (Florida, Georgia (Historical), Alabama (Historical), Oklahoma (Historical)	[36]
Quechan	290	Imperial County, CA, United States (Ballot Recognition) Yuma County, AZ, United States (Ballot Recognition)	California & Arizona, United States	[53]
Cabiyari	270	Colombia (Mirití-Paraná & Amazonas)	Colombia (Mirití-Paraná & Amazonas)
Reyesano	250	Bolivia	Bolivia
Achagua	250	Meta, Colombia	Meta, Colombia
Kakwa	250	Vaupés, Colombia	Vaupés, Colombia
Yavapai	245		Arizona, United States	[54]
Siriano	220	Vaupés, Colombia	Vaupés, Colombia
Mojave	200		Arizona, United States	[55]
Paipai	200	Mexico	Mexico	[51]
Toromono	200	Bolivia	Bolivia
Ixcatec	190	Mexico	Mexico
Ocaina	190	Amazonas, Colombia	Amazonas, Colombia
Haida	168	Alaska, United States Council of the Haida Nation, Canada	Alaska, United States and British Columbia, Canada
Muinane	150	Amazonas, Colombia	Amazonas, Colombia
Deg Xinag	127	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Warázu	125	Bolivia	Bolivia
Araona	110	Bolivia	Bolivia
Upper Tanana	100	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Itene	90	Bolivia	Bolivia
Ahtna	80	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Tsimshian	70	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Tanacross	65	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Cayuga	61	Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, Ontario, Canada Cattaraugus Reservation, New York, United States	Ontario, Canada, and New York, United States	[56]
Denaʼina	50	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Onondaga	50	Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, ON, Canada	Ontario, Canada	[33]
Bauré	40	Bolivia	Bolivia
Upper Kuskokwim	40	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Tanana	30	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Ayapaneco	24	Mexico	Mexico	[25]
Leco	20	Bolivia	Bolivia
Xincan	16	Guatemala	Guatemala
Hän	12	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Holikachuk	12	Alaska, United States	Alaska, United States
Comanche	9		US
Carijona	6	Colombia (Amazonas, Guaviare)	Colombia (Amazonas, Guaviare)
Itonama	5	Bolivia	Bolivia
Kiliwa	4	Mexico	Mexico
Selk'nam	1		Tierra del Fuego, Chile/Argentina (Extinct)	[57]
Nonuya	0	Amazonas, Colombia	Colombia, Peru
Yahgan	0		Tierra del Fuego, Chile/Argentina (Extinct)
Taíno languages	0		Formerly all of the Caribbean
Cochimí	0	Mexico (Extinct, but retains recognition)
Kallawaya	0	Bolivia (Extinct, but retains recognition)
Eyak	0	Alaska, United States (Extinct, but retains recognition)
Tuscarora	0	Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, Ontario, Canada Tuscarora Reservation, New York, United States	Ontario, Canada, and New York, United States	[58]

Notes:

• Extinct languages or families are indicated by: †.
• The number of family members is indicated in parentheses (for example, Arauan (9) means the Arauan family consists of nine languages).
• For convenience, the following list of language families is divided into three sections based on political boundaries of countries. These sections correspond roughly with the geographic regions (North, Central, and South America) but are not equivalent. This division cannot fully delineate Indigenous culture areas.

There are approximately 296 spoken (or formerly spoken) Indigenous languages north of Mexico, 269 of which are grouped into 29 families (the remaining 27 languages are either isolates or unclassified).^{[citation needed]} The Na-Dené, Algic, and Uto-Aztecan families are the largest in terms of number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95 million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl); Na-Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly Cree and Ojibwe). Na-Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions: Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico (due to later migrations of the Kickapoo) with two outliers in California (Yurok and Wiyot); Na-Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington, Oregon, and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico (with one outlier in the Plains). Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages. Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America. Two large (super-) family proposals, Penutian and Hokan, look particularly promising. However, even after decades of research, a large number of families remain.

North America is notable for its linguistic diversity, especially in California. This area has 18 language families comprising 74 languages (compared to five families in Europe: Indo-European, Uralic, Turkic, Kartvelian, and Afroasiatic and one isolate, Basque).^[59]

Another area of considerable diversity appears to have been the Southeastern Woodlands;^{[citation needed]} however, many of these languages became extinct from European contact and as a result they are, for the most part, absent from the historical record.^{[citation needed]} This diversity has influenced the development of linguistic theories and practice in the US.

Due to the diversity of languages in North America, it is difficult to make generalizations for the region. Most North American languages have a relatively small number of vowels (i.e. three to five vowels). Languages of the western half of North America often have relatively large consonant inventories. The languages of the Pacific Northwest are notable for their complex phonotactics (for example, some languages have words that lack vowels entirely).^[60] The languages of the Plateau area have relatively rare pharyngeals and epiglottals (they are otherwise restricted to Afroasiatic languages and the languages of the Caucasus). Ejective consonants are also common in western North America, although they are rare elsewhere (except, again, for the Caucasus region, parts of Africa, and the Mayan family).

Head-marking is found in many languages of North America (as well as in Central and South America), but outside of the Americas it is rare. Many languages throughout North America are polysynthetic (Eskaleut languages are extreme examples), although this is not characteristic of all North American languages (contrary to what was believed by 19th-century linguists). Several families have unique traits, such as the inverse number marking of the Tanoan languages, the lexical affixes of the Wakashan, Salishan and Chimakuan languages, and the unusual verb structure of Na-Dené.

The classification below is a composite of Goddard (1996), Campbell (1997), and Mithun (1999).

In Central America the Mayan languages are among those used today. Mayan languages are spoken by at least six million Indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes eight more. The Mayan language family is one of the best documented and most studied in the Americas. Modern Mayan languages descend from Proto-Mayan, a language thought to have been spoken at least 4,000 years ago; it has been partially reconstructed using the comparative method.

Although both North and Central America are very diverse areas, South America has a linguistic diversity rivalled by only a few other places in the world with approximately 350 languages still spoken and several hundred more spoken at first contact but now extinct. The situation of language documentation and classification into genetic families is not as advanced as in North America (which is relatively well studied in many areas). Kaufman (1994: 46) gives the following appraisal:

Since the mid 1950s, the amount of published material on SA [South America] has been gradually growing, but even so, the number of researchers is far smaller than the growing number of linguistic communities whose speech should be documented. Given the current employment opportunities, it is not likely that the number of specialists in SA Indian languages will increase fast enough to document most of the surviving SA languages before they go out of use, as most of them unavoidably will. More work languishes in personal files than is published, but this is a standard problem.

It is fair to say that SA and New Guinea are linguistically the poorest documented parts of the world. However, in the early 1960s fairly systematic efforts were launched in Papua New Guinea, and that area – much smaller than SA, to be sure – is in general much better documented than any part of Indigenous SA of comparable size.

As a result, many relationships between languages and language families have not been determined and some of those relationships that have been proposed are on somewhat shaky ground.

The list of language families, isolates, and unclassified languages below is a rather conservative one based on Campbell (1997). Many of the proposed (and often speculative) groupings of families can be seen in Campbell (1997), Gordon (2005), Kaufman (1990, 1994), Key (1979), Loukotka (1968), and in the Language stock proposals section below.

Hypothetical language-family proposals of American languages are often cited as uncontroversial in popular writing. However, many of these proposals have not been fully demonstrated, or even demonstrated at all. Some proposals are viewed by specialists in a favorable light, believing that genetic relationships are very likely to be established in the future (for example, the Penutian stock). Other proposals are more controversial with many linguists believing that some genetic relationships of a proposal may be demonstrated but much of it undemonstrated (for example, Hokan–Siouan, which, incidentally, Edward Sapir called his "wastepaper basket stock").^[61] Still other proposals are almost unanimously rejected by specialists (for example, Amerind). Below is a (partial) list of some such proposals:

Good discussions of past proposals can be found in Campbell (1997) and Campbell & Mithun (1979).

Amerindian linguist Lyle Campbell also assigned different percentage values of probability and confidence for various proposals of macro-families and language relationships, depending on his views of the proposals' strengths.^[62] For example, the Germanic language family would receive probability and confidence percentage values of +100% and 100%, respectively. However, if Turkish and Quechua were compared, the probability value might be −95%, while the confidence value might be 95%.^{[clarification needed]} 0% probability or confidence would mean complete uncertainty.

Language Family	Probability	Confidence
Algonkian–Gulf	−50%	50%
Almosan (and beyond)	−75%	50%
Atakapa–Chitimacha	−50%	60%
Aztec–Tanoan	0%	50%
Coahuiltecan	−85%	80%
Eskaleut, Chukotan[63]	−25%	20%
Guaicurian–Hokan	0%	10%
Gulf	−25%	40%
Hokan–Subtiaba	−90%	75%
Jicaque–Hokan	−30%	25%
Jicaque–Subtiaba	−60%	80%
Jicaque–Tequistlatecan	+65%	50%
Keresan and Uto-Aztecan	0%	60%
Keresan and Zuni	−40%	40%
Macro-Mayan[64]	+30%	25%
Macro-Siouan[65]	−20%	75%
Maya–Chipaya	−80%	95%
Maya–Chipaya–Yunga	−90%	95%
Mexican Penutian	−40%	60%
Misumalpan–Chibchan	+20%	50%
Mosan	−60%	65%
Na-Dene	0%	25%
Natchez–Muskogean	+40%	20%
Nostratic–Amerind	−90%	75%
Otomanguean–Huave	+25%	25%
Purépecha–Quechua	−90%	80%
Quechua as Hokan	−85%	80%
Quechumaran	+50%	50%
Sahaptian–Klamath–(Molala)	+75%	50%
Sahaptian–Klamath–Tsimshian	+10%	10%
Takelman[66]	+80%	60%
Tlapanec–Subtiaba as Otomanguean	+95%	90%
Tlingit–Eyak–Athabaskan	+75%	40%
Tunican	0%	20%
Wakashan and Chimakuan	0%	25%
Yukian–Gulf	−85%	70%
Yukian–Siouan	−60%	75%
Zuni–Penutian	−80%	50%

It has long been observed that a remarkable number of Native American languages have a pronominal pattern with first-person singular forms in n and second-person singular forms in m. (Compare first-person singular m and second-person singular t across much of northern Eurasia, as in English me and thee, Spanish me and te, and Hungarian -m and -d.) This pattern was first noted by Alfredo Trombetti in 1905. It caused Sapir to suggest that ultimately all Native American languages would turn out to be related. Johanna Nichols suggests that the pattern had spread through diffusion.^[67] This notion was rejected by Lyle Campbell, who argued that the frequency of the n/m pattern was not statistically elevated in either area compared to the rest of the world.^[68] Zamponi found that Nichols's findings were distorted by her small sample size. Looking at families rather than individual languages, he found a rate of 30% of families/protolanguages in North America, all on the western flank, compared to 5% in South America and 7% of non-American languages – though the percentage in North America, and especially the even higher number in the Pacific Northwest, drops considerably if Hokan and Penutian, or parts of them, are accepted as language families. If all the proposed Penutian and Hokan languages in the table below are related, then the frequency drops to 9% of North American families, statistically indistinguishable from the world average.^[69]

Several languages are only known by mention in historical documents or from only a few names or words. It cannot be determined that these languages actually existed or that the few recorded words are actually of known or unknown languages. Some may simply be from a historian's errors. Others are of known people with no linguistic record (sometimes due to lost records). A short list is below.

Loukotka (1968) reports the names of hundreds of South American languages which do not have any linguistic documentation.

Various miscellaneous languages such as pidgins, mixed languages, trade languages, and sign languages are given below in alphabetical order.

While most Indigenous languages have adopted the Latin script as the written form of their languages, a few languages have their own unique writing systems after encountering the Latin script (often through missionaries) that are still in use. All pre-Columbian Indigenous writing systems are no longer used.

Indigenous Writing Systems of the Americas

Writing System	Type	Language(s)	Region(s)	Date in usage	Status	Inventor
Quipu	N/A (string) Possibly Logogram and Syllabogram	Aymara, Quechua, Puquina, Mapuche and other Andean languages	Andean civilizations (Western South America)	3rd millennium BCE – 17th century	Extinct
Olmec hieroglyphs	Logogram Syllabogram	Mixe–Zoque languages	Isthmus of Tehuantepec	1500 BCE – 400 BCE	Extinct
Zapotec script	Logogram Syllabogram	Zapotecan languages	Oaxaca	500 BCE – 700 CE	Extinct
Epi-Olmec script	Logogram Syllabogram	Zoque languages	Isthmus of Tehuantepec	400 BCE – 500 CE	Extinct
Izapan scripts	Logogram Syllabogram	unknown Mixe–Zoquean language, Highland Mayan languages	Southern Guatemala	Late Preclassic	Extinct
Maya script	Logogram Syllabogram	Yucatecan, Ch'olan and Tzeltalan languages	Maya civilization: Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Guatemala, & Belize	3rd century BCE – 17th century CE	Extinct
Teotihua script	Logogram Syllabogram	Nahuatl, other	Central Mexico	100 BCE – 750 CE	Extinct
Mixtec script (Mixteca-Puebla script)	Logogram Syllabogram	Mixtecan languages	Oaxaca, Puebla, Guerrero	13th century – 17th century CE	Extinct
Aztec script (Mixteca-Puebla script)	Logogram Syllabogram	Nahuatl	Central Mexico	14th century – 17th century CE	Extinct
Komqwejwi'kasikl (Miꞌkmaw Hieroglyphs)	Logogram Syllabogram	Mi'kmaq	Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, & New Brunswick	17th–19th century	Extinct	Father Le Clercq
Cherokee syllabary	Syllabary	Cherokee	Cherokee Nation, United States	1820s–present	Active	Sequoyah ᏍᏏᏉᏯ
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics	Abugida	Algonquian languages (Cree, Naskapi, Ojibwe/Chippewa, & Blackfoot (Siksika)) Eskaleut languages (Inuktitut & Inuinnaqtun) Athabaskan languages (Dane-zaa, Slavey, Chipewyan (Denesuline)/Sayisi, Carrier (Dakelh), & Sekani)	Canada	1840s–present	Active	James Evans ᒉᐃᒻᔅ ᐁᕙᓐᔅ
Yugtun script	Syllabary	Central Alaskan Yup'ik	Alaska	1900–present	Endangered	Uyaquq
Afaka syllabary	Syllabary	Ndyuka	Suriname, French Guiana	1910–present	Endangered	Afáka Atumisi
Osage script	Alphabet	Osage	Osage Nation, United States	2006–present	Active	Herman Mongrain Lookout

• Amerind languages
• Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America
• Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas
• Haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA)
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Language families and languages
• Languages of Peru
• List of endangered languages in Canada
• List of endangered languages in Mexico
• List of endangered languages in the United States
• List of endangered languages with mobile apps
• List of indigenous languages of South America
• List of indigenous languages in Argentina
• Mesoamerican languages
• Native American Languages Act of 1990

• Catálogo de línguas indígenas sul-americanas
• Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos
• Towards a general typology of South American indigenous languages. A bibliographical database
• South American Languages
• Indigenous Peoples Languages: Articles, News, Videos
• Documentation Center of the Linguistic Minorities of Panama
• The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America
• Indigenous Language Institute
• The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA)
• Southern Oregon Digital Archives First Nations Tribal Collection Archived 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine (collection of ethnographic, linguistic, & historical material)
• Center for the Study of the Native Languages of the Plains and Southwest
• Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine
• Programa de Formación en Educación Intercultural Bilingüe para los Países Andinos
• Native American Language Center (University of California at Davis)
• Native Languages of the Americas
• International Journal of American Linguistics Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine
• Our Languages (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
• Swadesh Lists of Brazilian Native Languages
• Alaska Native Language Center