Adai language

Adai
Adaizan, Adaize
Tenánat Hadéyas
Native to	United States
Region	Louisiana
Ethnicity	Adai people
Extinct	late 19th century[1]
Revival	[2]
Language family	unclassified
Dialects	Eyeish?
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xad
Glottolog	adai1235
Linguasphere	64-BCA-a
Pre-contact distribution of Adai

Adai (also Adaizan, Adaizi, Adaise, Adahi, Adaes, Adees, Atayos) is an extinct Native American language that was spoken in northwestern Louisiana.

Classification

It was once proposed that there may be a connection between Adai and the nearby Caddoan languages, but this now seems unlikely.^[3]

Vocabulary

Adai is known only from a list of 275 words from 1804 by John Sibley.^[4]

References

1. Adai at MultiTree on the Linguist List
2. "Our Language – ADAI CADDO INDIAN NATION". Retrieved 2025-03-22.
3. Grant, Anthony P. 1995. John Sibley's Adai vocabulary: a contribution to Caddoan Lexicography? Paper presented at 1995 Siouan-Caddoan Conference, Albuquerque. 15pp. (Contains the entire vocabulary of Adai from MS in American Philosophical Soc.)
4. Sibley, John. 1804. A vocabulary of the Adaye or Adaize Indians. Manuscript. (See also Mithridates Vol. 3, part 3., p. 278.)

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509427-5
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.

External links

• OLAC resources in and about the Adai language