Image Credit: Facebook- Caddo Nation of Oklahoma
On July 14, 2025, Edmond Johnson, the last fluent speaker of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, passed away at age 95.
According to their website, MyCaddoNation.com, the Caddo language was once spoken by the Caddo Nation, whose ancestral homelands spanned parts of present-day Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. It is a deeply significant piece of Native American heritage.
The Caddo language is a member of the Caddoan language family, which includes Pawnee-Kitsai (Keechi), Arikara, Kitsai, Pawnee, and Wichita. Both Kitsai and Wichita are dormant.
For years, the Caddo Nation has been working endlessly to save the language. It’s one of many languages that have been lost. Johnson worked with linguists, tribal members, and cultural preservationists to document the language, ensuring that recordings, written materials, and teaching resources would be preserved.
Like many of the languages that were lost, the language faced decline under forced relocation of the tribes and the English language becoming the dominant language.
The Caddo language, once spoken by the Caddo Nation Belonging to the Caddoan language family—which also includes Wichita, Kitsai, Pawnee, and Arikara—Caddo served as the primary means of communication, storytelling, and cultural transmission for generations. By the time the 20th century arrived, only a handful of fluent speakers remained.
Though dormant, it’s not extinct. There’s still a chance to revive the language. Many languages and their speakers have gone extinct. Some were documented, some weren’t, and sadly, no one today knows of their existence.
If we worked on preserving the languages of Native American languages, we can keep them from fading away. We can save those who were here before us. There are many Native American languages still being spoken today, such as Navajo, Cherokee, Sioux, Keresan, and many more. Some are at risk of going extinct; however, we can still save them.
The story of Caddo and of Edmond Johnson’s life reflects both a painful loss and an enduring hope. It’s a reminder that a language is more than words—it’s the memory, worldview, and identity of a people. While Caddo may be dormant today, the seeds of its revival have already been planted.
This was written by our contributing writer, Gigi Grindley.
Leave a Reply