Native Languages of the Americas: Kickapoo (Kikapoo, Kikapu)
Language: Kickapoo is an Algonquian language closely related to
Mesquakie-Sauk (some linguists even consider it a dialect of Mesquakie-Sauk). Unlike
Mesquakie-Sauk, however, Kickapoo is a tone language--the pitch of a vowel can change a Kickapoo word's meaning. Kickapoo is spoken in three
distinct language areas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Mexico, by a combined 800 people. The language is most vigorous in Mexico, where
some children are still learning it at home; in America Kickapoo is in danger of dying out, though
revitalization efforts are ongoing. In the past, Kickapoo Indians also used a unique linguistic
code called "whistle speech" to convey simple utterances, but today it is a lost art.
People: The Kickapoo tribe was originally an offshoot of the Shawnee tribe
("Kickapoo" is thought to be a corruption of a Shawnee word for "wanderers,") but their language and customs had more in common with the
neighboring Fox and Sauk. Fiercely resistant to European cultures, the
Kickapoo Indians never assimilated, preferring to continue relocating further south from their original Michigan-Wisconsin-Illinois homeland.
Today, 3000 Kickapoo people live in three groups in the US--the Kickapoo tribes of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas--and one community in
Coahuila, Mexico.
History: Native American tribes are frequently defined by their historical reaction to European colonists.
The Cherokee tried to fit
into the new civilization; the Apache fought them tooth and nail.
The Kickapoo tribe primarily withdrew. Wanting neither to fight the powerful invaders nor surrender to them, most Kickapoos left their native lands and
moved southward to get away from white Americans, a process they repeated several
times until the Kickapoos were living in Texas and Mexico--a far cry from their native Michigan, Wisconsin and
Illinois. Some of the Kickapoo Indians in Mexico did eventually return to the United States, but
their ancestors may have had a point--Kickapoo culture is most traditional and the Kickapoo language
most alive in the Mexican Kickapoo tribe, furthest from the reach of the United
States government and its programs.
Kickapoo Dictionaries, Audio Tapes and Language Resources
Kickapoo Vocabulary:
Kickapoo dictionary for sale.
Paul Voorhis:
Bibliography of scholarly papers by a prominent researcher of the Kickapoo Indian language.
American Indian Language Dictionaries:
Kickapoo and other Native American dictionaries and language materials for sale.
American Indian Cultures
Kickapoo Vocabulary:
La Lengua Kickapoo: 
