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Algonquian languages
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Also spelled:
Algonkian
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John Eliot
Horatio Hale
Leonard Bloomfield
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Algonquian languages

language family
Also known as: Algonkian languages
Written and fact-checked by
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History

Algonquian languages, North American Indian language family whose member languages are or were spoken in Canada, New England, the Atlantic coastal region southward to North Carolina, and the Great Lakes region and surrounding areas westward to the Rocky Mountains. Among the numerous Algonquian languages are Cree, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Mi’kmaq (Micmac), Arapaho, and Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo. The term Algonquin (often spelled this way to differentiate it from the family) refers to a dialect of Ojibwa. Algonquian languages have been classified by some scholars as belonging to a larger language group, the Macro-Algonquian phylum. See also Macro-Algonquian languages.

The video thumbnail image shows a graphic of the Great Lakes with the text Anishinaabemowin.
“One Word Changed My Life”: Reviving Indigenous LanguageToday, many Indigenous people are bringing back the languages of their ancestors.
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Meg Matthias.