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Caddo is a Caddoan language originating in the Southern Plains region. It is the only Southern language from this particular Native American family of languages and unfortunately is spoken by very few among the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Efforts are being made to incorporate the language into the newest generations, however.

The main Caddo homeland was positioned to the south of the Arkansas River, with valleys and tributaries of rivers. Caddo speakers resided there until the Trail of Tears. It's been called the "Southern Caddoan Area" due in large part to the great evidence that Caddo-informed people lived there for up to 4,000 years or longe.

Back then, the Caddo were a single people with a language called Proto-Caddoan. It has evolved into various forms of Caddo, yet remained fairly close to the Iroquoian languages, such as that of the Iroquois or Cherokee. Caddo is close to the Sioux languages of Dakota and Crow as well. The language involved a lot of splitting over the years.

The Caddo were farmers who lived in a land that was good for being so. They lived in places that had adequate rainfall, temperate temperatures, and plenty of spaces to park plots for beans, squash, and corn.

There were multiple sources for water. They had sturdy trees that produced yummy nuts and made flexible weapons. They often used bows and arrows for hunting and war, and made lots of other beautiful things out of their wood.

The speech is a tone language that contains six vowels, like English. Three are short and three are long; the long ones are indicated by a colon.

The language has three tones: mid, high, and falling, and pitches are used for nearly every word, making it a very lively tongue. Like with the Chickasaw Native Americans, Caddo words that have double letters must be said with a break in them.

Caddo is pronounced "cad-oh" and it comes from Kadohadacho, the tribe's name for themselves meaning "true chiefs". A Caddo word that is familiar to most people is Texas, which is translated as tayshah or "friend."

In addition to everyday speech, the Caddo have a ceremonial tongue, preserved in lots of song and prayer.

Caddo is an endangered language because most kids aren't being taught it anymore. Some Caddo people are working to keep the tongue around, though. Overall, the people are prospering and doing well.

They have nice schools, and their living conditions could be compared to that of middle-class Americans. They participate in many of the same activities as any other average American, with traditional twists thrown in.

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Jacob Lumbroso is an enthusiast for foreign languages, history, and foreign cultures. He writes articles on history and languages and has used Pimsleur foreign language courses to learn various languages.

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