Anishinaabemowin belongs to the Algonquian language family, which consists of many prominent aboriginal languages of North America, including Cree, Micmac, Delaware, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Arapaho. The reconstructed (hypothesized) language from which all of the Algonquian languages are said to have descended is called Proto-Algonquian. In a paper published in 1913, Edward Sapir demonstrated as well that two languages of California, Wiyot and Yurok, are distantly but undeniably related to the Algonquian languages. These two languages and the Algonquian group are said to have come from a language even more distant than Proto-Algonquian, called Proto-Algic. The chart belows shows the Algonquian and Algic families.

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