Las lenguas apaches o apacheanas constituyen la rama meridional de la familia atabasca y representan una migración relativamente reciente desde el Noroeste de América del Norte. Estas lenguas se dividen en tres grupos principales:

I. Apache de las praderas

1. Idioma apache kiowa

II. Lenguas apacheanas occidentales

A. Mescalero-chiricahua

2. Idioma chiricahua (N'nee biyat'i)

3. Idioma mescalero (Ndé biiza')

4. Idioma navajo (Diné bizaad)

5. Idioma apache coyotero (N'dee biyat'i)

III. Lenguas apacheanas orientales

6. Idioma jicarilla (Abaachi miizaa)

7. Idioma lipán (Ndé miizaa)

Los numerales en diferentes lenguas apacheanas son:^[2]​^[3]​

GLOSA	Apache occid.	Navajo	Mescalero	Chiricahua (San Carlos)	Jicarilla	PROTO- APACHEANO
'1'	dáłaʼá dáłaʼé	tʼɑ́aɑ łɑ́ʼí	tašayay	datła dišłai	tahčli	*táłaʼáí
'2'	nɑ́kih	nɑːki	nahki	nɑːki	nahki	*náˑʔki
'3'	tɑ̄ːgi	tɑ́ːʼ	kayai	tɑːgi kɑːge	kiyi	*táˑʔgi
'4'	dɪ̨̄ːʼi	dɪ̨́ːʼ	inyeh	dingi	tini	*dɪ́ˑŋgi
'5'	ɑšdlaʼi išdlaʼi	ɑšdlɑʼ	aštlai	aštla ištli	atsčli	*ašdlaʼi
'6'	gostɑ́n	hɑstɑ̜́ː	hostkonnai	goːstan	koskon	*gostáˑn
'7'	gostsʼidi gostsʼigi	tsotsʼid	hosteedai	gastede	kossetpi	*gostsʼidi
'8'	tsebīː sebīː	tseːbíː	hahpi	tsepi	tsapi	*tsáˑʔpi
'9'	góstʼɑ́í ńgóstʼɑ́í	nɑ́hɑ́stʼéí	'nghostai	'ngostai	nusti	*ngostʼáí
'10'	goneznɑ́n goniinɑ́n	neːznɑ́ː	gonaihannai		koneznan	*goneˑznáˑn

• Dosch Hymes, Virginia: "Athapaskan Numeral Systems", International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 26-45, 1955.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1938). The southern Athapaskan languages. American Anthropologist, 40 (1), 75-87.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (1), 13-23.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (4), 193-203.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (1), 1-13.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (2), 51-59.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1948). The Apachean verb, part IV: Major form classes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 14 (4), 247–259.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1949). The Apachean verb, part V: The theme and prefix complex. International Journal of American Linguistics, 15 (1), 12–22.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1956). The Chronology of the Athapaskan languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 22 (4), 219-232.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1963). The Athapaskan languages. In H. Hoijer (Ed.), Studies in the Athapaskan languages (pp. 1–29). University of California publications in linguistics 29. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Hoijer, Harry (Ed.). (1963). Studies in the Athapaskan languages. University of California publications in linguistics 29. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1971). The position of the Apachean languages in the Athapaskan stock. In K. H. Basso & M. E. Opler (Eds.), Apachean culture history and ethnology (pp. 3–6). Anthropological papers of the University of Arizona (No. 21). Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
• Hymes, Dell H. (1957). A note on Athapaskan glottochronology. International Journal of American Linguistics, 22 (4), 291-297.
• Liebe-Harkot, Marie-Louise. (1984). A comparison of Apachean languages, exemplified by the verb system for handling verbs. In H. Krenn, J. Niemeyer, & U. Eberhardt (Eds.), Sprache und Text: Akten des 18: Linguistischen Kolloquiums, Linz 1983. Linguistische Arbeiten (Max Niemeyer Verlag) (Nos. 145-146). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag. ISBN 3-484-30145-7 (Bd. 1); ISBN 3-484-30146-5 (Bd. 2).
• de Reuse, Willem J. (2001). Prototypes and fuzziness in the system and usage of Apachean classificatory verb stems. In S. Tuttle & G. Holton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2001 Athabaskan Languages Conference (No. 1, pp. 75–94). Fairbanks, AK: Alaska Native Language Center.
• Sapir, Edward. (1936). Linguistic evidence suggestive of the northern origin of the Navaho. American Anthropologist, 38 (2), 224-235.
• Young, Robert W. (1983). Apachean languages. In A. Ortiz, W. C. Sturtevant (Eds.), Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest (Vol. 10, pp. 393–400). Washington: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-004579-7.

• Na-Dené Numerals