| Western Delaware is a variation of a Southern Unami | | | | like caribou, moose, chipmunk, raccoon, muskrat, and |
| Native American dialect, taught by the Delaware Tribe | | | | skunk from the Algonquian relatives. |
| of Indians. It is labeled Western because the language | | | | Plants such as hickory, pecan, persimmon, and squash |
| was used in the Western region of Oklahoma. | | | | and food meals including hominy and succotash are |
| The Unami language in its original form - also known as | | | | also examples. The prime Algonquian influence |
| Lenape 'is now an extinct language formerly hailing | | | | occurred in naming cities and states like Manhattan, |
| from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Delaware | | | | Chesapeake, Connecticut, Mississippi, Missouri, and |
| Tribe has struggled to create tapes of natives and | | | | Wyoming. Some rivers may also reflect the influence. |
| make up lessons in order to save the Western | | | | "N-" is a very simple prefix that shows possession in |
| Delaware element of the original Unami speech, as | | | | the Western Delaware language. When it comes to |
| most residents in Oklahoma have shifted to speaking | | | | forming adjectives, however, the spellings change |
| English in the present day. Only elders aged ninety and | | | | based on if the subject at hand is animate or intimate. |
| above speak it on a day-to-day basis. | | | | The color yellow is translated as wisaw, but "the |
| Western Delaware comes from Lenape (pronounced | | | | yellow rock" is wisae, and "the yellow bird" is wisawsu. |
| Leh-nah-pay), and the tribal name gets adopted to | | | | One need not fret when learning the tongue and |
| mean "the real people" (the Delaware part comes | | | | speaking it back to a native, however, as they will still |
| from the Delaware River, which frequents Lenape | | | | probably understand you if you mix up the tenses a |
| lands and was traveled on via canoes). | | | | little, just as an English speaker could still |
| It is a language stemming from the Algonquian family. It | | | | comprehended "fighted" for "fought". |
| has been said that the Western Delaware homelands | | | | There are eleven thousand Lenape people in |
| are the original birthplace of the Algonquian language | | | | Oklahoma today, many of whom have been mistaken |
| family, even being dubbed the "grandfather" by other | | | | for Cherokee. They were significantly effected by the |
| tribes. | | | | various diseases Europeans brought over back in the |
| You may find it surprising to know that English contains | | | | day, and were also forced west by American |
| roughly 150 Algonquian Indian words. This is interesting | | | | expansion. |
| compared to the number we've borrowed from the | | | | They only regained independent tribal status twelve |
| much more widely spoken tongue of Russian (a mere | | | | years ago, and their language is also trying to be |
| fifty or so). We mainly inherited various animal names | | | | preserved by the Boy Scouts of America. |