In the late 19th century, Comanche children were placed in boarding schools where they were discouraged from speaking their native language, and even severely punished for doing so. Use and revitalization effortsĪlthough efforts are now being made to ensure its survival, most speakers of the language are elderly. Their own name for the language is nʉmʉ tekwap ʉ which means l'language of the people'. The name Comanche comes from the Ute word kɨmantsi 'enemy, stranger'. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are therefore quite similar, but certain consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility. Comanche ( English:, endonym Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ̲) is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche people, who split from the Shoshone people soon after the Comanche had acquired horses around 1705.