The Arapaho language or Arapaho proper (also spelled "Arapahoe"; in Arapaho: Hinóno’eitíít ) is a one of the Plains Algonquian languages, closely related to Gros Ventre and other Arapahoan languages. It is spoken by under 300 people over age 50 in Wyoming, and in Oklahoma by "only a handful of people . . . all near eighty or older". As such, it is in danger of becoming extinct. As of 1996, there were approximately 1,000 speakers among the Northern Arapaho. As of 2008, the authors of a newly published grammar estimated there were slightly over 250 fluent speakers, plus "quite a few near-fluent passive understanders". In 2008, it was reported that a school had been opened to teach the language to children.
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)