Adai (also Adaizan, Adaizi, Adaise, Adahi, Adaes, Adees, Atayos) is an extinct Native American language that was spoken in northwestern Louisiana.
Classification It was once proposed that there may be a connection between Adai and the nearby Caddoan languages, but this now seems unlikely.Grant, Anthony P. 1995. John Sibley's Adai vocabulary: a contribution to Caddoan Lexicography? Paper presented at 1995 Siouan-Caddoan Conference, Albuquerque. 15pp. (Contains the entire vocabulary of Adai from MS in American Philosophical Soc.)
Vocabulary Adai is known only from a list of 275 words from 1804 by John Sibley.Sibley, John. 1804. A vocabulary of the Adaye or Adaize Indians. Manuscript. (See also Mithridates Vol. 3, part 3., p. 278.)
References
Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
External links
OLAC resources in and about the Adai language