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Native Languages of the Americas:
Gros Ventre (A'aninin, Aane, Ahe, Atsina)

Language: Gros Ventre--A'ananin or Aaniiih to its own speakers--is an Algonkian language spoken today by only a handful of elders in Montana. Most linguists consider Gros Ventre a dialect of Arapaho, though the two tribes have distinct political and cultural identities. Gros Ventre is an agglutinating language with primarily SOV word order. It had the unusual trait of being pronounced differently by male and female speakers--women used the sound "k" where men used "ty" or "ch." (Both genders, of course, could easily understand each other.) Gender dialects have not been preserved among the young Gros Ventre learning to speak their language again, so even if the language is successfully revived, this feature does not seem likely to survive outside of a linguistics book.

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Names: Gros Ventre was the French name for these Plains Indians (meaning "big bellies," supposedly because of their hearty appetites.) They were also often known as Atsina, which was the name their kinsmen the Arapaho called them. Although Gros Ventre people accept both of these names and do often use them themselves, in their own language they call themselves A'aninin, which means "White Clay People" (the singular form is A'ane.) Since the Gros Ventre language was traditionally unwritten, these names have been spelled many different ways, such as Aaninin, Ahahnelin, Ananin, Aninin, Haananin; Aane, A'ani, Aani, Aaniiih, Aaniih, Aanii, Aáni, Aahni, and Ahe. Early Europeans sometimes confused the Gros Ventre tribe with the unrelated Hidatsa, apparently because the symbols for the two tribes in Plains Indian Sign Language are similar. Because of this confusion the Gros Ventre are sometimes referred to as Minitarees in older texts (a Siouan name for the Hidatsas.) English-speaking Americans sometimes called them the Rapid, Waterfall, or Fall Indians and the Gros Ventre of the Prairie.

People: The Gros Ventre tribe began as a splinter group of Arapaho Indians who left their kinsmen to journey north. Conflict with the powerful Blackfoot Nation left the Gros Ventres weakened just as the western smallpox epidemic struck, a calamity their population still has not recovered from. However, the Gros Ventre and their Assiniboine allies did avoid being forced to move to Oklahoma by the Americans--instead they accepted the Fort Belknap reservation in Montana where most of them live today. Other Gros Ventre people rejoined the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming or settled in small communities in Canada. All told there are about 4000 Gros Ventre Indians today.



Gros Ventre Language Resources
Gros Ventre language samples, articles, and indexed links.

Gros Ventre Culture and History Directory
Related links about the Gros Ventre Indians past and present.

Gros Ventre Indians Fact Sheet
Our answers to frequently asked questions about the Gros Ventres, their language and culture.

Gros Ventre Legends
Introduction to Gros Ventre Indian mythology and folklore.



Gros Ventre Language Resources

Our Online Gros Ventre Language Materials

Gros Ventre Vocabulary:
    List of words in the Gros Ventre language, with comparison to the same words in other Algonquian languages.
Gros Ventre Pronunciation Guide:
    How to pronounce Gros Ventre words.
Gros Ventre Animals:
    Illustrated glossary of animal words in Gros Ventre.
Gros Ventre Colors:
    Worksheet showing color words in the Gros Ventre language.
Gros Ventre Animate Nouns:
    Lesson on Gros Ventre animate and inanimate nouns.

Gros Ventre Dictionaries and Language Books for Sale
Our organization earns a commission from any book bought through these links

Aaniiih and Nakoda Speeches:
    Interesting book about Gros Ventre and Assiniboine oratory and ceremonial language.
American Indian Language Dictionaries:
    Crow and other Native American dictionaries and language materials for sale.

Language Lessons and Linguistic Descriptions

Native Langiages of Montana:
    Language map showing the main area where the Gros Ventre language was spoken.
Fort Belknap Gros Ventre Welcome:
    Audio greetings in male and female Nakota and Gros Ventre.
Aaniiih Nakoda College Language Resources:
    Gros Ventre dictionary, grammar and language learning materials from the tribal college.
White Clay People:
    Bilingual coloring book in Gros Ventre and English, aimed at children.
Language Museum: Gros Venture:
    Gros Ventre language samples.
Gros Ventre Language Page:
    Gros Ventre word lists and a Gros Ventre translation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Gros Ventre Word Sets:
    Audio clips of Gros Ventre words.
Gros Ventre Language Tree:
    Theories about Gros Ventre's language relationships compiled by Linguist List.
*Plains Indian Vocabularies:
    Early 20th-century wordlists of Mandan, Arikara and Atsina.
Gros Ventre Words of Life:
    Recordings of Bible stories in Gros Ventre.
*Wikipedia: Gros Ventre:
    Encyclopedia articles on the Gros Ventre language.

Gros Ventre Language Preservation and Usage

GrosVentre Documentation Project:
    Developing a dictionary of the Gros Ventre language.
Ethnologue: Gros Ventre:
    Demographic information about the Atsina Indian language.
Firing up White Clay: * Preserving a Native language:
    Articles about the White Clay Immersion School and Aani language revival program.

Gros Ventre Proper Names

Gros Ventre Place Names:
    Compilation of Gros Ventre placenames in Montana, Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Wyoming.
Native American Dog Names:
    Our new fundraiser offering names for dogs and other animals in American Indian languages (including Gros Ventre).

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Additional Resources, Links, and References

  Endangered Languages Project: Gros Ventre:
  Bibliography of Gros Ventre language resources.
  OLAC: Gros Ventre:
  Reference list of Gros Ventre language materials.
  La Lengua Grosventre:
  Article on the Gros Ventre language in Spanish. With a language map.
  La Langue Atsina * Les Gros Ventres ou Atsina * Le Gros Ventre:
  Information on the Gros Ventres and their language in French.
  Gros Ventre Language:
  Gros Ventre links.



Learn more about the Gros Ventre/Atsina Indians
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