Editing Mandan language (section)

==Classification==
Mandan was initially thought to be closely related to [[Hidatsa language|Hidatsa]] and [[Crow language|Crow]]. However, since Mandan has had [[language contact]] with Hidatsa and Crow for many years, the exact relationship between Mandan and other Siouan languages (including Hidatsa and Crow) has been obscured and is currently undetermined. Thus, Mandan is most often considered to be a separate branch of the Siouan family.

Mandan has two main [[dialect]]s: Nuptare and Nuetare.

Only the Nuptare variety survived into the 20th century, and all speakers were bilingual in Hidatsa. In 1999, there were only six fluent speakers of Mandan still alive.<ref name="speakers">Personal communication from Mauricio Mixco in 1999, reported in Parks & Rankin. 2001. p. 112.</ref> [[Edwin Benson]], the last surviving fluent Mandan speaker, died in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Edwin-Benson-last-known-fluent-speaker-of-Mandan-passes-away-at-85-405723515.html |title=Edwin Benson, last-known fluent speaker of Mandan, passes away at 85|last=Skurzewski|first=Joe|publisher=kfyrtv.com|date=9 December 2016|accessdate=13 December 2016}}</ref>

The language received much attention from White Americans because of the supposedly lighter skin color of the Mandan people, which they speculated was due to an ultimate European origin. In the 1830s [[Prince Maximilian of Wied]] spent more time recording Mandan over all other Siouan languages and prepared a comparison list of Mandan and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] words (he thought that the Mandan might be displaced Welsh).<ref name="maximilian">Chafe. 1976b. pp. 37–38.</ref> The idea of a Mandan/Welsh connection was also supported by [[George Catlin]].<ref>[[George Catlin|Catlin, G.]] ''Die Indianer Nordamerikas'' Verlag Lothar Borowsky</ref>

Will and Spinden (p.&nbsp;188) report that the [[medicine men]] had their own secret language.