Crow language

The Crow language, also known by its native name Apsáalooke, is spoken by the Crow Tribe in southeastern Montana. The word Apsáalooke means "Children of the Large Beaked Bird," which was once thought to mean "Crow." It belongs to the Siouan language family and is part of the Missouri Valley language area.

Today, the Crow language has around 3,650 speakers, based on data from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey. It is one of the more widely spoken American Indian languages in the United States. Many people work hard to keep this language alive and strong for future generations.

Dialects

Crow is closely related to Hidatsa, which is spoken by the Hidatsa tribe in the Dakotas. These two languages are the only members of the Missouri Valley Siouan family, but they are not easy for speakers of one to understand the other.

In the past, the Crow people were mainly split into two groups: the River Crow and the Mountain Crow. Most writers say that the differences in how these two groups spoke were very small.

Status

The Crow language, also called Apsáalooke, is spoken by many people in the Crow Tribe. Most speakers are 30 years old or older, but some younger people are learning it too. There is a special school on the Crow Reservation in Montana where children can learn Crow as their first language. Many people in the Crow community work hard to keep their language alive through special events and teaching programs.

There are also books and parts of the Bible written in Crow to help people learn. While most Crow speakers also speak English, many families and communities continue to use their language in everyday life and ceremonies.

Classification

Crow is closely related to Hidatsa spoken by the Hidatsa tribe. Both languages belong to the Missouri Valley Siouan family. Although Crow and Hidatsa are not understood by each other, they share many sounds, words, and grammar rules. These two languages likely separated from each other between 300 and 800 years ago.

Phonology

Vowels

The Crow language has eight different vowel sounds, with three short vowels and five long vowels, plus two vowel combinations called diphthongs. Some vowel sounds can change slightly depending on what comes after them in a word.

There is also a special vowel combination that only appears in two Crow words: déaxa meaning 'clear' and béaxa meaning 'intermittent'.

Consonants

Crow uses fewer consonant sounds than many other languages, similar to languages spoken on the Great Plains.

Consonant sounds can change depending on their position in a word and what sounds are around them. For example, some consonant sounds are pronounced with a strong puff of air at the start or end of a word.

Structure

In Crow, vowels can appear in many different sequences, but short vowels cannot stand alone. Words can start with either a vowel or a single consonant sound, but not with a group of consonants. Most words end with a vowel sound.

Accent

Crow has a system where certain syllables in a word are pronounced with higher pitch than others. This pitch difference helps to distinguish between words that might otherwise sound similar.

The placement of this pitch accent follows certain rules when words are combined to form longer words.

Phonological processes

Crow has several rules that change how sounds are pronounced when words are put together, such as dropping short vowels at the end of a word under certain conditions, or changing sounds to match the sounds that follow them.

Morphology

Crow is a polysynthetic language, meaning its words can be very complex and carry a lot of meaning.

Nominal morphology

Basic words in Crow can have one to four parts and always end with a vowel. Most nouns are made by adding parts to basic words. These added parts can change the meaning in different ways, like making something seem small or real.

Suffixes

Some added parts at the end of words change their meaning:

• aachí/lichí – means "kind of" or "sort of"
• kaáshi – means "real" or "true"
• káata – means "small" or "dear"
• kíishi – means "like" or "imitates"
• táa(hi)li – means "real" or "genuine"
• ahi – means "here and there"
• ht(aa) – means "even" or "although"

Prefixes

Some added parts at the beginning of words can turn a sentence into a noun:

• ak – creates words for people who do things, like "singer"
• ala – creates words about where, when, or how something happens
• baa – creates general nouns from verbs
• ii – creates words about how something is done
• bale – allows certain nouns to be used without showing who owns them

Compounding

There are two main ways to combine words in Crow: noun-noun and noun-verb. For example, combining "mouth" and "water" makes the word for "saliva," and combining "arm" and "container" makes the word for "sleeve."

Possession

Nouns in Crow can be owned in two ways: naturally (like body parts or family members) or by being owned by someone. The way these nouns change depends on whether they are natural or owned.

Personal names

Personal names in Crow are a special kind of noun and end with the suffix sh.

Pronouns

Crow has three kinds of pronouns: ones that are attached to other words, ones that show emphasis, and ones that ask questions. The ones that are attached can show who is doing the action in a sentence.

Verbal morphology

Verbs in Crow can change in many ways using prefixes, suffixes, and other small changes. These changes can show if the verb is about doing something active or describing a state.

Active–stative verbs

Crow verbs are either active (like "run") or stative (like "know"). Active verbs and stative verbs change differently depending on who is doing the action.

Active verbs can have one, two, or three parts in a sentence.

Stative verbs can have zero, one, or two parts.

Verb chain

Crow verbs have a specific order for their parts. This order includes prefixes that come before the main word and suffixes that come after it. The order helps show details like who is doing what, how it is done, and when it happens.

Syntax

The Crow language follows a specific structure where the subject comes first, followed by the object, and then the verb. This is called a subject–object–verb language. Nouns in Crow can show who owns something by adding a small word at the end.

Crow also uses special words to connect smaller sentences into larger ones. These smaller sentences often end with a marker that shows they are part of the larger sentence. There are different ways to describe relationships between people or things in Crow, such as using phrases that come after the main words.

The language divides its verbs into two groups: active verbs, which show actions, and stative verbs, which describe conditions or states. This helps the language express many different ideas clearly.