Chiwere (also called Iowa-Otoe-Missouria) is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Ioway peoples in Northeast Kansas and parts of Missouri and Nebraska. The language is closely related to Ho Chunk (Winnebago). Today, Chiwere is only spoken by a very few elder people within the tribal communities of the Otoe-Ioway in Oklahoma. The only dialect spoken today is the Ioway dialect. The last fluent speaker of the Otoe-Missouria variety was Truman W. Dailey (Eagle clan name: Mashi Manyi, man name: Sunge Hka) who died in 1996. Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (fBlack Mesa Mountain]][2] km)  - % water 1. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Siouan-Catawban is a language family of North America. ... Pre-contact distribution of the Siouan languages The Siouan (a. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Pre-contact distribution of the Siouan languages The Siouan (a. ... The Missouri were an aboriginal tribe that inhabited parts of the midwestern United States before the American settlers arrived. ... The Otoe or Oto are a Native American people. ... The Iowa (also spelled Ioway) are a Native American people. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Official language(s) English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Area  Ranked 16th  - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 0. ... The Ho-Chunk or Winnebago (as they are commonly called) are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what are now Wisconsin and Illinois. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (fBlack Mesa Mountain]][2] km)  - % water 1. ...

Christian missionaries first documented Chiwere in the 1830s, though since then there has been virtually nothing published about the language. Chiwere suffered a steady decline after European colonization in the 1850s, and by 1940 the language had almost totally ceased to be spoken.

Currently, Chiwere is highly endangered. With the last two fluent speakers dying in the Winter of 1996, only a handful of semi-fluent speakers remain, all of whom are elderly. Although the Otoe-Ioway people themselves have no Chiwere learning programs, a few external sources are working to preserve the language into the next decade. In spite of these efforts, it is likely that Chiwere will become extinct in the very near future. An endangered language is a language with so few surviving speakers that it is in danger of falling out of use. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ...

External links

• Ioway-Otoe-Missouria Language Website
• A paper on the disappearance of Chiwere
• A brief grammar
• The Lord's Prayer in Chiwere.