The Kiowa language is only one of many Native American languages in danger of disappearing simply because the young are not learning this aspect of their culture in any great numbers. This makes the language only one of the many language in the world that is in danger of becoming extinct either because of a reduction in the population, a stronger linguistic influence that is overpowering the old language, the failure of the young to learn the language, or some other force that makes the language less vital in a given culture. As a language like English grows in importance and in the number of speakers using it, a language such as that of the Kiowa slowly disappears unless an effort is made to record and preserve it, as scholars are doing with as many languages as they can.
The Kiowa are a southern plains people who originated in the mountains of western Montana. They migrated to the southwest and arrived at the Arkansas and Red Rivers by the beginning of the last century. They numbered about 2,000 at that time, and by the late 1970s there were about 3,500 Kiowa, primarily in southwestern Oklahoma. "Kiowa" means "principal people" and was derived from Gaigwu or Kaigwu, the name the people call themselves. The Kiowa language was still spoken in the 1970s and has long been a problem for linguists trying to classify it. It is believed to be related to the Tanoan family. The Kiowa had seven divisions or bands, including the Kiowa Apache, and the latter spoke an Athapaskan language while having essentially the same culture and history as the Kiowa. Each of the bands was fairly autonomous and had its own peace and war chiefs, but at various times there was a tribal chief over all the bands (Leitch, 1979, 217). By the 1970s, most of the remaining 3,500 Kiowa lived in and around Anadarko, Fort Cobb, Mountain View, and Carthage in southwestern Oklahoma. The Kiowa language was still spoken, but the old ceremonial dialect was not (L...