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Western Apache Language (Western Apaches)

"Western Apache" is one of the two major Apache languages. It consists of the Tonto Apache, San Carlos Apache, and White Mountain Apache dialects, and is sometimes also considered to include Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache. (Other linguists find Chiricahua-Mescalero different enough from other Western Apache tongues to be considered a distinct language.) Mescalero Apache is spoken in New Mexico, and Chiricahua Apache in New Mexico and Oklahoma. Tonto, White Mountain, and San Carlos Apache are spoken in Arizona.

Culturally, the term "Western Apache" is often used to refer to the four modern Apache Indian tribes of Arizona: the Tonto, San Carlos, White Mountain, and Yavapai Apache tribes. Although there were also Chiricahua Apache people who historically lived in Arizona as well, few Chiricahuas remain there today, and the term "Western Apache" is not usually intended to include Chiricahua people.

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Here are links to our webpages about the Western Apache tribe and language:

Western Apache language
Apache culture
Apache Indians
Athabascan languages
Southwestern Native Americans

Here are links to other Internet resources about the Western Apaches:

People of the Colorado Plateau: Western Apache history
Western Apache language
Western Apache culture
Wikipedia: Western Apache

And here are a few good books about the Western Apaches:
Wisdom Sits In Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache
Western Apache Material Culture
Western Apache Language and Culture
Western Apache-English Dictionary

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