The Dilzhę́’é (formerly Tonto) is a one of the groups of Western Apaches and also refers to one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language (an Southern Athabaskan language).

The Dilzhę́’é Apaches refer to themselves as Dilzhę́’é, as do the San Carlos Apaches.

Western Apache from Bylas use Dilzhę́’é to refer to San Carlos and Dilzhę́’é Apaches.

White Mountain Western Apache use Dilzhę́’é to refer to Bylas, San Carlon, and Dilzhę́’é Apaches.

The name Tonto is commonly used to refer to the Dilzhę́’é Apaches in anthropological and linguistic work.

Goodwin (1942) divided Dilzhę́’é into two groups:

1. Northern Tonto
2. Southern Tonto

Bibliography

• de Reuse, Willem J. (forthcoming). A practical grammar of the San Carlos Apache language.
• 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].