Oʼodham is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in southern Arizona in
the USA and in northern Sonora in Mexico. In 2007 there were
about 15,000 speakers of Oʼodham, which is also known as
Papago-Pima. There are two main Oʼodham dialects: Tohono Oʼodham
(Papago), and Akimel Oʼodham (Pima), which are
largely mutually intelligilble. Each has a number of sub-dialects.
There is also a Hia C-ed Oʼodham dialect.
Oʼodham is officially recognised as a national language
in Mexico.
Written Oʼodham
There are two main ways to write Oʼodham: the Alvarez-Hale
orthography and the Saxton orthography, both were developed in the
1960s and 1970s. The former is used officially by the Tohono Oʼodham
Nation and the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community. The latter
is used officially by the Gila River Indian Community.
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