The Tonto Apache (Apache Dilzh???é) (also Dilzhe'e, Dilzhe?eh Apache) is a one of the groups of Western Apaches and also refers to one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language (a Southern Athabaskan language).

Goodwin (1942) divided Tonto into two groups:

1. Northern Tonto
2. Southern Tonto

Many Western Apache reject this categorization and prefer groupings based on bands and clans.

Ethnonym

The name Dilzh???é is a Western Apache name that may mean 'people with high-pitched voices', but the analysis is unclear.

The Dilzhe?e Apaches refer to themselves as Dilzh???é, as do the San Carlos Apaches. Western Apaches from Bylas use Dilzh???é to refer to both San Carlos and Tonto Apaches. White Mountain Western Apaches use the term Dilzh???é to refer to Bylas, San Carlos, and Tonto Apaches.

The name "Tonto" is considered offensive by some, due to its etymology — it comes from the Spanish word for "stupid". However, the name has mostly stuck and is widely used by most people outside of the Western Apache community. The term Tonto is most frequently encountered in anthropology literature, especially older works.

History

One of three subgroups of the Yavapai of central and western Arizona, the Tonto Apache or Kewevkapaya band is a group of Western Apaches who lived in a territory stretching from the San Francisco Peaks in the U.S. state of Arizona to what is now the Mexican state of Sonora.

Typically hunter-gatherers, the Tonto Apache had slight differences in dialect with neighboring Apache bands although they lived in relative peace with each other.

The Tonto Apache Reservation, located south of Payson, Arizona was created in 1972. Within the Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix it consists of 85 acres (344,000 m²) and serves about 100 tribal members.

Further reading

• de Reuse, Willem J. (2006). A practical grammar of the San Carlos Apache language. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 51. LINCOM. ISBN 3-89586-861-2.
• Goodwin, Grenville. (1942). The social organization of the Western Apache. Goodwin, Janice T. (Ed.). The University of Chicago publications in anthropology: Ethnological series. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [reprinted 1969 by Tucson: University of Arizona Press].

References

See also

• Western Apache
• Yavapai-Apache Nation
• Southern Athabaskan languages

External links

• Yavapai-Apache Nation website
• Yavapai-Apache Nation (Inter Tribal Council of Arizona)