Algonquian

Major group of American Indian languages originating from the northeast region of North America, south and east of Hudson Bay and along the northeast coast, and now spoken from Canada, across the USA, to Mexico. Algonquian includes over 30 languages, mostly divided into three classifications: Central, including dialects spoken by the Cree, Kickapoo, Chippewa, and Shawnee; Eastern, including the languages of the Micmac and Passamaquoddy; and Plains, containing the Arapaho, Blackfeet, and Cheyenne languages. The extinct languages of the Lumbee and Wiyot, and the almost extinct Yurok dialects, are separate branches of the Algonquian family.

The Central and Eastern branches form the largest language groups, although most of the Eastern languages are now extinct or near extinction. The Central group contains the related languages of the Cree, Montagnais, Neskapi, and Atikamekw; the Kickapoo and Shawnee languages; the Mesquakie dialects of the Sac and Fox peoples; the related Chippewa, Algonquin, and Ottawa languages; the extinct dialects of the Miami and Illinois, and the nearly extinct languages of the Menominee and Potawatomi.

The Eastern branch contains the languages of the Micmac, still spoken by many; the Maliseet-Passamaquoddy dialects; the almost extinct Abnaki-Penobscot, Delaware, Unami, and Munsee languages; and the extinct languages of the Mohegan, Mohican, Montauk, Narragansett (or Niantic), Pequot, Nanticoke, Powhatan, Wampanoag, Saukiog, Paugusset, Wappinger, Quinnipiac, Tunxis, and Wangunk.

The Bannock speak an Algonquian-Uto-Aztecan mix, particular to the Great Basin region.