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Mandan has two main [[dialect]]s: Nuptare and Nuetare. Only the Nuptare variety survived into the 20th century, and all speakers were bilingual in Hidatsa. As of 1999, there were only six fluent speakers of Mandan still alive, though there are currently programs in local schools to encourage the use of the language.{{ref|speakers}} Linguist Mauricio Mixco of the [[University of Utah]] has been involved in fieldwork with remaining telephonic speakers since 1993.
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Mandan has different grammatical forms that depend on [[gender]] of the [[addressee]]. Questions asked of men must use the [[suffix]] ''{{Unicode|-oʔša}}'' while the suffix ''{{Unicode|-oʔrą}}'' is used when asking of women. Likewise the [[indicative]] suffix is ''{{Unicode|-oʔs}}'' when addressing men and ''{{Unicode|-oʔre}}'' when addressing women, and also for [[imperative mood|imperatives]]: ''{{Unicode|-ta}}'' (male) , ''{{Unicode|-rą}}'' (female).{{ref|gender}} Mandan, like many other North American languages, has elements of [[sound symbolism]] in their vocabulary. A {{IPA|/s/}} sound often denotes smallness/less intensity, {{IPA|/ʃ/}} denotes medium-ness, {{IPA|/x/}} denotes largeness/greater intensity:{{ref|soundsymb}}
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