Assiniboine language

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A' M̆oqazh
Native to Canada, United States
Region Southern Saskatchewan in Canada and Montana in the United States
Ethnicity Nakota: Assiniboine
Native speakers
150  (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 asb

The Assiniboine language (also Assiniboin, Hohe, or Nakota, Nakoda or Nakona[2]) is a Nakotan Siouan language of the Northern Plains, spoken by around 200 Assiniboine people, most of them elderly.[citation needed] The name Asiniibwaan is an Ojibwe term meaning "Stone Siouans". Along with the closely related Stoney, Assiniboine is an n variety of the Dakotan languages, meaning its autonym is pronounced with an initial n (thus: Nakʰóta as opposed to Dakʰóta or Lakʰóta, and Nakʰóda or Nakʰóna as opposed to Dakʰód or Lakʰól). The Assiniboine language is also closely related to the Sioux language and to the Stoney language (likewise called Nakoda or Nakota), although they are hardly mutually intelligible.


Labial Alveolar Palatal or
Velar Glottal
Stop Aspirated tʃʰ
Ejective tʃʼ ʔ
Voiced b d ɡ
Fricative Voiceless s ʃ x h
Ejective ʃʼ
Voiced z ʒ ɣ
Nasal m n
Approximant w j



  1. ^ Assiniboine reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  2. ^ for the usage of the term “nakona” by Fort Peck's Assiniboine, cf. and

External links[edit]