Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni (
i/ʃoʊˈʃoʊniː/ or i/ʃəˈʃoʊniː/) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
They traditionally speak the Shoshoni language, part of the Numic languages branch of the large Uto-Aztecan language family. The Shoshone were sometimes called the Snake Indians by neighboring tribes and early European-Americans.
Name origin
The name "Shoshone" comes from Sosoni, a Shoshone word for high-growing grasses. Some neighboring tribes call the Shoshone "Grass House People," based on their traditional homes made from soshoni'. Shoshones called themselves Newe, meaning "People."
Meriwether Lewis recorded the tribe as the "Sosonees or snake Indians" in 1805.
Language
The Shoshoni language is spoken by approximately 1,000 people today. It belongs to the Central Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Speakers are scattered from central Nevada to central Wyoming with the largest numbers of speakers (including children) on the Duck Valley and Goshute Reservations. The Idaho State University has Shoshoni language classes.
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