Kansa language

People	Kaáⁿze
Language	Kaáⁿze Íe
Country	Mozhóⁿ Kaáⁿze

Kansa
Kansa
Kaáⁿze Íe
Native to	United States
Region	Kansas, Oklahoma
Ethnicity	Kaw people
Extinct	1983, with the death of Walter Kekahbah
Revival	c. 12 L2 speakers (2007)
Language family	Siouan-Catawban Siouan Mississippi Valley Dhegiha Kansa–Osage Kansa; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ksk
Glottolog	kans1243
ELP	Kanza
	Kansa is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Kansa (native name: Kaáⁿze Íe),^[4] sometimes known as Kaw or Kanza, is a Siouan-Catawban language of the Dhegihan group once spoken by the Kaw people of Oklahoma. Vice President Charles Curtis spoke Kansa as a child. The last mother-tongue speaker, Walter Kekahbah, died in 1983.^[2]

Classification

Kansa is a Dhegihan language, a broader category containing other languages such as Quapaw, Omaha–Ponca, and Osage. This group of languages is a subset of the Mississippi Valley Siouan languages, which is further of a subset of the Siouan-Catawban languages.^[5]

History

The speakers of Kansa, known as the Kaw people, lived together with the Dhegihan language-speakers in a larger nation known as the Dhegihan. This group was originally situated north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River and then moved west down the Ohio River. Following their westward migration, the Dhegihan branched into five indigenous tribes known as Ponca, Osage, Omaha, Quapaw and Kaw people. Later on, many Kaw people migrated west of Missouri river and were called "People of the Southwind."^[6] The languages of the five tribes originating from the single Dhegiha group are quite similar, and have been regarded as dialects of each other.^[5]

Geographic distribution

The Kansa Sioux language was mostly spoken in the U.S. state of Kansas.

Scholarship and resources

Pioneering anthropologist and linguist James Owen Dorsey collected 604 Kansa words in the 1880s and also made about 25,000 entries in a Kansa-English dictionary which has never been published.^[7] Dorsey also collected 24 narratives, historical accounts, and personal letters from nine Kansa speakers.^[8]

In 1974, linguist Robert L. Rankin met Walter Kekahbah (d. 1983), Ralph Pepper (d. 1982), and Maud McCauley Rowe (d. 1978), the last surviving native speakers of Kansa. Rankin made extensive recordings of all three, especially Rowe, and his work over the next 31 years documented the language and helped the Kaw Nation to develop language learning materials.^[2]

Language revitalization

Kansa has no native speakers. Members of the tribe now use English, while some still understand certain Kansa phrases and words.^[6] As part of a broader trend toward Native language revitalization efforts, the Kaw Nation offers online language learning for Kansa second language speakers (as of 2012).^[2]

The 2nd Annual Dhegiha Gathering in 2012 brought Kansa, Quapaw, Osage, Omaha and Ponca speakers together to share best practices in language revitalization.^[9]

Phonology

Kansa has 29 consonants and 8 vowels.^[10]

Consonants
		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	b	d		dʒ		ɡ
	tense	pː	tː		tʃː		kː
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		tʃʰ		kʰ
	glottalized	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ			kʼ	ʔ
Fricative	voiceless			s	ʃ		x	h
Fricative	voiced			z	ʒ		ɣ
Nasal		m		n
Approximant		w		l		j

Vowels
	Front		Back
Close	i ĩ	y
Mid	ɛ		o õ
Open	a ã

/ɛ/ is phonetically open-mid, whereas /o/ is phonetically close-mid. Additionally, /a/ and /o/ can also be pronounced as [ə] and [u] respectively.^[11]

Orthography

Kansa alphabet^[11]
Upper case	Lower case	Pronunciation	Example
Upper case	Lower case	Pronunciation	Kansa	English translation
A	a	/a/	a	arm
Aⁿ^[12]	aⁿ	/ã/	aⁿhá	yes (female speaker)
B	b	/b/	ble	I go
Č^[13]	č	/tʃː/	česká	cow
Čh^{[note 1]}	čh	/tʃʰ/	čhiⁿ	strike
D	d	/d/	dómbe	look at
E	e	/ɛ/	égo	like, as
G	g	/g/	gáxe	make
H	h	/h/	ho	fish
I	i	/i/	itá	egg
Iⁿ^{[note 2]}	iⁿ	/ĩ/	ìⁿtánga	gravel
J	j	/dʒ/	je	lake
K	k	/kː/	ke	turtle
Kh	kh	/kʰ/	khága	third son
K'	k'	/kʼ/	k’óse	dice
L	l	/l/	léze	striped
M	m	/m/	miⁿ	blanket
N	n	/n/	ni	water
O	o	/o/	obáhaⁿ	wear
Oⁿ^{[note 2]}	oⁿ	/õ/	oⁿháⁿ	boiling
P	p	/pː/	pa	nose
Ph	ph	/pʰ/	phóke	thud
P'	p'	/pʼ/	yup’íⁿze	blink
S	s	/s/	sábe	black
Sh	sh	/ʃ/	shábe	brown
T	t	/tː/	ta	deer
T'	t'	/tʼ/	t’óxa	bent
Ts'	ts'	/tsʼ/	ts'e	dead
U	u	/y/	úbe	bird's tail
W	w	/w/	wahú	bone
X	x	/x/	xlexlé	tattoo
Y	y	/j/	yéba	jaw
Z	z	/z/	zíhi	yellow
Zh	zh	/ʒ/	zhúje	red
Ɣ^[14]	ɣ	/ɣ/	ɣagé	cry
’	’	/ʔ/	’oⁿ	use

↑ ⟨Č⟩ may be written as ⟨C⟩ when ⟨Č⟩ cannot be written easily.
1 2 ⟨ⁿ⟩ is written as ⟨n⟩ before ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨kh⟩ or ⟨k’⟩, and ⟨m⟩ before ⟨b⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨ph⟩ or ⟨p’⟩. In written communications where ⟨ⁿ⟩ cannot be written ⟨~⟩ or ⟨N⟩ are used instead.

Grammar

Nouns

Kansa does not mark nouns for number^[5]^[11] or gender.^[11] The number of a particular noun can be determined from the verb, an article or from context. For example, the word sínga could be translated to English as "squirrel" or "squirrels" depending on context,^[5] in the sentence Sínga miⁿ aⁿdómbabe, (transl. We looked at a squirrel), it must be a single squirrel because of the article miⁿ.

Verbs

Kansa is a SOV language^[11] and the verbs are inflected based on the person and number of their subjects and objects.^[11] For example, in the sentence ni kóⁿbla (transl. I want water), the object ni, (transl. water), comes before the verb kóⁿbla (transl. I want).

Kansa does not have verb tenses.^[5]^{[dubious – discuss]}

Vocabulary

Kansa has a great deal of vocabulary in common with the other languages of the Dhegiha Siouan group.^[5] The following table compares cognates in Kansa and Osage:

English	Osage	Kansa
house	hcí	či
man	níhka	níka
woman	wak'ó	wak'ó

References

1 2 3 Kansa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
1 2 3 4 Ranney, Dave. “Researchers try to preserve Indian languages.”, accessed 12 Apr 2011
↑ Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.
↑ "Kaáⁿze Íe – Kanza Language". Kaw Nation – People of the South Wind. Kaw Nation. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "WebKanza - KANZA". www.kawnation.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-07. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
1 2 "Kaws (or Kanzas, Kansas) - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
↑ Unrau, William E. The Kansa Indians: A History of the Wind People, 1673-1873. Norman: U of OK Press, 1971, p. 12
↑ Kaanze Weyaje: Kanza Reader. Kanza Language Project, Kaw City, OK: Kaw Nation, 2010, p. xiii
↑ "Dhegiha Gathering Agenda, 2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
↑ McBride, Justin T. "Orthography and Ideology: Examining the Development of Kaw Writing" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-23.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Kanza Language for Families & Communities Volume 1 Online Edition (PDF). Kaw Nation of Oklahoma. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
↑ ⟨ⁿ⟩ is written as ⟨n⟩ before ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨kh⟩ or ⟨k’⟩, and ⟨m⟩ before ⟨b⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨ph⟩ or ⟨p’⟩. In written communications where ⟨ⁿ⟩ cannot be written ⟨~⟩ or ⟨N⟩ are used instead.
↑ ⟨Č⟩ may be written as ⟨C⟩ when ⟨Č⟩ cannot be written easily.
↑ ⟨Ɣ⟩ may be written as ⟨Gh⟩ in contexts where ⟨Ɣ⟩ cannot be written

External links

Kansa language at the Kaw Nation Archived 2014-05-22 at the Wayback Machine (extensive online language study resources and texts)
Kaw Indian Language (Kansa, Kanza)
OLAC resources in and about the Kansa language
English to Kansa Dictionary Archived 2016-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
Kansa Talking Dictionary Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
Kanza Language for Families and Communities Archived 2015-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
Examining the Development of Kaw Writing

[c-14] ⟨Č⟩ may be written as ⟨C⟩ when ⟨Č⟩ cannot be written easily.

[nasal-15] 1 2 ⟨ⁿ⟩ is written as ⟨n⟩ before ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨kh⟩ or ⟨k’⟩, and ⟨m⟩ before ⟨b⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨ph⟩ or ⟨p’⟩. In written communications where ⟨ⁿ⟩ cannot be written ⟨~⟩ or ⟨N⟩ are used instead.

[e18-1] 1 2 3 Kansa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[Ranney-2] 1 2 3 4 Ranney, Dave. “Researchers try to preserve Indian languages.”, accessed 12 Apr 2011

[3] Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.

[4] "Kaáⁿze Íe – Kanza Language". Kaw Nation – People of the South Wind. Kaw Nation. Retrieved 17 October 2025.

[:1-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "WebKanza - KANZA". www.kawnation.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-07. Retrieved 2017-05-01.

[:0-6] 1 2 "Kaws (or Kanzas, Kansas) - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved 2017-05-01.

[7] Unrau, William E. The Kansa Indians: A History of the Wind People, 1673-1873. Norman: U of OK Press, 1971, p. 12

[8] Kaanze Weyaje: Kanza Reader. Kanza Language Project, Kaw City, OK: Kaw Nation, 2010, p. xiii

[9] "Dhegiha Gathering Agenda, 2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2012-09-22.

[10] McBride, Justin T. "Orthography and Ideology: Examining the Development of Kaw Writing" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-23.

[:9-11] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kanza Language for Families & Communities Volume 1 Online Edition (PDF). Kaw Nation of Oklahoma. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2016-12-31.

[nasal-12] ⟨ⁿ⟩ is written as ⟨n⟩ before ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨kh⟩ or ⟨k’⟩, and ⟨m⟩ before ⟨b⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨ph⟩ or ⟨p’⟩. In written communications where ⟨ⁿ⟩ cannot be written ⟨~⟩ or ⟨N⟩ are used instead.

[c-13] ⟨Č⟩ may be written as ⟨C⟩ when ⟨Č⟩ cannot be written easily.

[gh-16] ⟨Ɣ⟩ may be written as ⟨Gh⟩ in contexts where ⟨Ɣ⟩ cannot be written

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