Native Languages of the Americas: Mesquakie-Sauk (Sac and Fox)
Language: Mesquakie-Sauk is an Algonquian language spoken by
about 800 Indians, mostly Fox, in the American Midwest. The two dialects, Mesquakie (spoken by
the Meskwaki, or Fox) and Sauk (spoken by the Asakiwaki, or Sac), are mutually intelligible. Kickapoo
is considered by some linguists to be another dialect of Mesquakie-Sauk, but though it is certainly a closely related language, Kickapoo has developed tone distinctions
and Meskwaki and Sauk speakers cannot readily understand it. Mesquakie-Sauk is a seriously endangered language today, due to most of its speakers being older and
the Sac and Fox communities being so far-flung. Some teachers are trying to revitalize the language,
particularly the Meskwaki dialect, before it is too late.
People: The Fox and Sac have been such closely associated allies that they are usually considered as a
single tribe. They originally lived in Michigan (Saginaw Bay is named for the Sauk tribe), but
multiple forced relocations left their descendants in Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. There are
about 4500 Sac and Fox Indians today.
History: The Fox and Sauk Indians have gone down in history as "warlike" people because of the
Fox tribe's immediate hostility towards the French. This hostility was far from random, though--the
Huron, armed with French weapons, had just finished driving the Fox from their lands in
Michigan when the French themselves arrived, and the dispossessed Fox were not pleased with
the newcomers. Two Fox Wars ensued; the Fox Indians were no Iroquois Confederacy, though,
and could not hold their own against the larger and better-armed French. Usually the French were the least violent of
the European invaders, but on this occasion, they resolved to wipe out the conquered Fox Indians, and
pursued them across the country slaughtering any they could find. The only survivors were a
group of no more than 500 Fox people who were sheltered by their near relatives the Sauk, and, though
they had previously maintained good relations with the French, the Sauk tribe now found themselves
under assault as well. Luckily for the Fox and Sauk, the various Native Americans allied with the French
were starting to put more and more pressure on them to abandon their commitment to genocide,
and the French eventually gave in and made reluctant peace with the Sac and Fox tribes. After the
French departed North America, the Fox and Sauk Indians were relocated to Iowa, Kansas, and finally
Oklahoma; one group of Sauk, under the warrior Black Hawk, refused to leave and fought the pyrrhic
Black Hawk War, which ended with American soldiers wiping out the entire company as Black Hawk
brought them in for surrender. Another group, mostly Fox, returned to Iowa, where the state
government was willing to sell them land. This turned out to be good farmland, unlike anything
available in Oklahoma, and the Meskwaki tribe in Iowa is a prosperous one today. The rest of
the Fox and Sac Indians remained in Oklahoma, where they live together to this day.
Meskwaki-Sauk Language Lessons and Linguistic Descriptions
Fox Language
Fox language sample
Mesquakie Language
Scanned-in language information including phonology and excerpts from a collection of Fox texts.
Mesquakie
Demographic information about Fox-Sauk from the Ethnologue of Languages
Native American Nations
Mesquakie-Sauk Vocabulary:
Contacts and FAQ page
