<P> There are approximately 296 spoken ( or formerly spoken ) indigenous languages north of Mexico , 269 of which are grouped into 29 families ( the remaining 27 languages are either isolates or unclassified ) . The Na - Dené , Algic , and Uto - Aztecan families are the largest in terms of number of languages . Uto - Aztecan has the most speakers ( 1.95 million ) if the languages in Mexico are considered ( mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl ) ; Na - Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers ( nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo ) , and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers ( mainly Cree and Ojibwe ) . Na - Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions : Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico ( due to later migrations of the Kickapoo ) with two outliers in California ( Yurok and Wiyot ) ; Na - Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington , Oregon , and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico ( with one outlier in the Plains ) . Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages . Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America . Two large ( super - ) family proposals , Penutian and Hokan , look particularly promising . However , even after decades of research , a large number of families remain . </P>
<P> There are approximately 296 spoken ( or formerly spoken ) indigenous languages north of Mexico , 269 of which are grouped into 29 families ( the remaining 27 languages are either isolates or unclassified ) . The Na - Dené , Algic , and Uto - Aztecan families are the largest in terms of number of languages . Uto - Aztecan has the most speakers ( 1.95 million ) if the languages in Mexico are considered ( mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl ) ; Na - Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers ( nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo ) , and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers ( mainly Cree and Ojibwe ) . Na - Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions : Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico ( due to later migrations of the Kickapoo ) with two outliers in California ( Yurok and Wiyot ) ; Na - Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington , Oregon , and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico ( with one outlier in the Plains ) . Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages . Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America . Two large ( super - ) family proposals , Penutian and Hokan , look particularly promising . However , even after decades of research , a large number of families remain . </P>
the largest common language group among north american natives belong to the
the largest common language group among north american natives belong to the
Uto - Aztecan
Uto - Aztecan