It’s common knowledge that the American continent was once brimming with indigenous languages spoken vibrantly all across the land, but the arrival of European colonists saw the brutal takeover of European culture and languages, devastating the local vernaculars. What people may not realize is that hundreds of indigenous languages are still spoken today in the United States, some by thousands of people. One of the bigger indigenous languages in the US today is Shoshoni.
Shoshoni boasts roughly 1,000 native speakers, with an additional 1,000 or so non-fluent speakers. Like other indigenous languages in the US, Shoshoni is endangered, with the number of speakers steadily dwindling for decades. However, the Shoshone people are passionate about keeping their language alive, and language revitalization efforts have been helping increase the number of Shoshoni speakers. Making reliable translation resources accessible is one of the ways that can help support this important language, and we at TranslationServices.com are proud to do just that with our new Shoshoni translation services.
Reach out today with a message to inquire about a free quote for our Shoshoni translation services!
Discovering the details of the Shoshoni language
Shoshoni is native to the Great Basin region, encompassing parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. The language is broken up into four key dialects: Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho, Western Shoshoni in Nevada and northern Utah, and Gosiute in western Utah and eastern Nevada. Classified as a Numic language within the Uto–Aztecan family, Shoshoni constitutes the northernmost member of the family and is related to other major Amerindian languages such as Nahuatl, Hopi, and O’odham.
When it comes to grammar, Shoshoni is complicated, like most other U.S. indigenous languages. The language uses a default subject-object-verb word order, although word order is relatively free, able to be altered to create different nuances. The language features three cases and three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), with number marked obligatorily on human nouns and optionally on other animate nouns. Though Shoshoni is characterized by a strong preference for suffixes over prefixes, it does employ one notable use of prefixes—as verbal instrumental prefixes, which indicate the instrument used to perform an action, often a body part. In complex sentences with multiple actions, Shoshoni also uses special verbal suffixes to indicate whether the actions took place at the same time or whether one preceded the other, leading to a degree of nuance sometimes absent from English. But don’t worry—if you want to capture the precise nuances in your Shoshoni translation project, you can rely on our native-speaking translators.
Allow us to customize our Shoshoni translation services to fit your project
Whether you want translation services for Eastern Shoshoni, Northern Shoshoni, Western Shoshoni, or Gosiute, we can help you. Our search for the top Shoshoni translators has taken us across Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and beyond, and while our translators may be native speakers of different Shoshoni dialects, they all share the same passion for their precious language. They’re eager to help, whether you need translation services into Shoshoni or from Shoshoni.
There are many reasons why someone may require Shoshoni translation services—and we’re committed to serving you no matter what you need. Your Shoshoni translation needs may be academically oriented, such as translating educational materials into Shoshoni to help children acquire the language while learning about the world. Or you may require more business-oriented services so that your organization can tailor its messaging to the Shoshoni-speaking community. We also offer literary translation services in case you’d like to translate Shoshoni-language stories to share with other communities or translate media like books, stories, games, or apps into Shoshoni to increase the body of works available in the language, helping speakers and learners alike.
We’re ready to help you with your Shoshoni translation project—place an order today!