Mitchigamea language

{{Short description|Extinct indigenous language of North America}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Michigamea

| nativename = {{lang|cmm|Mihshikamiia}}

| states = United States

| region = Arkansas

| ethnicity = Mitchigamea

| extinct = 18th century?

| familycolor = American

| fam1 = Siouan

| fam2 = Western Siouan

| fam3 = Mississippi Valley Siouan

| fam4 = (unclassified)

| iso3 = cmm

| linglist = cmm

| glotto = none

| altname = Mitchigamea

}}

Mitchigamea or Michigamea is an extinct language formerly spoken by the Mitchigamea people in Arkansas.

In 1673, Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet used a Mitchigamea man, who only spoke Illinois poorly, as a translator between the Illinois-speaking French, and the Siouan-speaking Quapaw.{{cite web|url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_59.html|title=Front Page|date=11 August 2014|website=puffin.creighton.edu|accessdate=18 May 2017}} Jean Bernard Bossu provided two sentences from the mid-18th century which, according to John Koontz, indicate that Michigamea was a Siouan language of the Mississippi Valley branch.Koontz, John E. 1995. Michigamea as a Siouan language. Paper presented at the 15th annual Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque.