Crow: Names, Voices, and a Montana Language

Who speaks Crow, and what do they call it?

Crow, or Apsáalooke, is a Siouan language spoken on and near the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana. The name refers to children or descendants of a large-beaked bird, whose exact identity is uncertain.

How many people speak Crow worldwide?

A study published in 2008 estimated 3,000–4,000 speakers on and near the Crow Reservation. Almost all spoke both Crow and English. It gives no worldwide total or separate first-language count.

Where did Crow come from, and who spoke it in the past?

Crow oral history traces westward journeys from the upper Great Lakes to Montana's Big Horn country. Early written records include George P. Belden's 1868 multilingual dictionary and A. G. Brackett's Crow vocabulary, collected at Fort Laramie in 1879.

In 1883, parents were threatened with lost rations if they withheld children from the government boarding school at Crow Agency. That year, the first three Crow children were sent to Carlisle Industrial School in Pennsylvania.

Which Crow words might an English speaker already recognise?

Crow uses Káannee for Conrad, Awuúchiin for Eugene, and Kénnaa for Kenneth. The borrowing bálee, “money,” also comes from English money.

How does Crow vary from region to region?

Teacher Rose Chesarek described small local and generational differences in vocabulary and pronunciation in a 2005 study. She recalled Hank Old Coyote accepting younger speakers' pronunciations.

What is Standard Crow, and where is it used?

Teachers have used closely related practical spellings. The Crow Language Consortium's 2013 school standards set learning goals for conversation, reading, writing and cultural understanding.

Which alphabet does Crow use, and what might surprise an English speaker?

The 1990 Kates–Matthews orthography has 27 entries: 15 consonants and 12 vowel spellings. Combinations such as ch, sh and aa count as single entries; the sign ? is also included. Doubled vowels mark length, while accent placement can distinguish falling from rising pitch.

Does Crow have grammatical gender?

Crow has no masculine/feminine or animacy-based noun classes. Its personal pronouns do not distinguish he, she and it; context identifies who is meant.

How do you say hello, thank you and goodbye in Crow?

• kahée — hello, a men's greeting.
• ahóoh — thank you.
• diiawakaawik — I'll see you later.

At St. Charles Mission School in Pryor, Shoódachii itchik daalóm welcomes people with “Hello, it's good you came.”

What are some memorable Crow sayings?

Three early twentieth-century sayings, in English translation:

• Like the porcupine-taker: persisting in a hopeless undertaking, like the girl chasing a porcupine up a tree that keeps growing.
• When cottontails have long tails: something will never happen.
• Like the turtle thrown into the water: pretending to dislike what one wants.

What everyday customs might surprise a visitor?

At Little Big Horn College's Chickadee Lodge Immersion School, children used their Crow names in the classroom. Janine Pease explained in 2019 that they learned their names' meanings, who had named them, and their clan connections.

Which Crow-language song and film offer a cultural introduction?

In Apsáalooke Praise Song, Sarah Bullchief sings her grandmother Xáxxeáakinnee's praise song in Crow. Supaman shared it in 2021.

Kieth Merrill's film Windwalker uses Crow and Cheyenne dialogue in a story about a Cheyenne family and conflict with Crow characters. The US Apple TV edition offers English closed captions.

What is available for someone curious about the language now?

The Crow Language Consortium offers an online dictionary, an offline mobile dictionary with speaker recordings, and Ammiláau (“Our Language”), an online learning platform. Its illustrated stories include Káale Ashbiléelihuuk (Grandma Comes to Visit). Speakers have helped expand the dictionary with words remembered from childhood and conversations with grandparents.

Crow Texts (1978) preserves Henrietta Pretty On Top's Crow narration, collected by Dorothea Kaschube in work beginning in 1953. Sections including Food Quest and Animal Husbandry pair English questions with Crow answers and translations.

Fun Facts

• Nine o'clock can “arrive.” hawátahpe híik means “it is nine o'clock,” combining “nine” with “arrive.”
• heelitdeeleek means both “lie” and “pretend to say.”