Lakota (also Lakhota, Teton, Teton Sioux) is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. While generally taught and considered by speakers as a separate language, Lakota is mutually understandable with the other two languages (cf. Dakota language), and is considered by most linguists one of the three major varieties of the Sioux language. The Lakota language represents one of the largest Native American language speech communities in the United States, with approximately 6,000 speakers living mostly in northern plains states of North Dakota and South Dakota.
! align="center"|Glottal
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! rowspan=4|Plosivesand affricates
! unaspirated
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! voiced
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! aspirated
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! ejective
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! rowspan=3|Fricative
! voiceless
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! voiced
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! ejective
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! colspan=2|Approximant
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The voiced uvular fricative becomes a uvular trill () before /i/ Words are often spelled phonetically and multiple spellings can be considered correct. Sinte Gleska University uses an othography developed by Albert White Hat and the school's Lakota Studies Department. The writing system of the New Lakota Dictionary has been adopted as the standard orthography by the Sitting Bull College, by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and is also used in a number of schools on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. This is the system presented below.
The vowels are a, e, i, o, u; nasal vowels are aŋ, iŋ, uŋ. Pitch accent is marked with an acute accent: á, é, í, ó, ú, áŋ, íŋ, úŋ on stressed vowels (which receive a higher tone than non-stressed ones)
The following consonants approximate their IPA values: b, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, w, z. Y has its English value of . An apostrophe, ’, is used for glottal stop.
A caron is used for sounds which are not written with Latin letters in the IPA: č , ǧ , ȟ , š , ž . Aspirates are written with h: čh, kh, ph, th, and velar frication with ȟ: kȟ, pȟ, tȟ. Ejectives are written with an apostrophe: ''č’, ȟ’, k’, p’, s’, š’, t’.
The spelling used in modern popular texts is often written without diacritics. Besides failing to mark stress, this also results in the confusion of numerous consonants: and are both written s, and are both written h, and the aspirate stops are written like the unaspirates, as p, t, c, k.
Alphabet
Standard Lakota Orthography, as used by majority of schools, is in principle phonemic, which means that each character (
grapheme) represents only one distinctive sound (
phoneme), except for the distinction between glottal and velar aspiration which is treated phonetically.
{|class=wikitable
|+Lakota alphabet
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!Letter
!Name of the letter
!Usual phonetic value (
IPA)
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A a
|a
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Aŋ aŋ
|aŋ
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B b
|be
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Č č
|ču
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Čh čh
|čhi
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Č’ č’
|č’ó
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E e
|e
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G g
|gli
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Ǧ ǧ
|ǧu
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H h
|ha
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Ȟ ȟ
|ȟe
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I i
|i
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Iŋ iŋ
|iŋ
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K k
|ku
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Kh kh
|khi
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Kȟ kȟ
|kȟa
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K’ k’
|k’o
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L l
|la
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M m
|ma
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{|class=wikitable
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!Letter
!Name of the letter
!Usual phonetic value (
IPA)
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N n
|na
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O o
|o
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P p
|pu
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Ph ph
|phi
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Pȟ pȟ
|pȟa
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P’ p’
|p’o
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S s
|sa
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Š š
|še
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T t
|tu
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Th th
|thi
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Tȟ tȟ
|tȟa
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T’ t’
|t’o
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U u
|u
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Uŋ uŋ
|uŋ
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W w
|wa
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Y y
|ya
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Z z
|za
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Ž ž
|že
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’
|khéze
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All digraphs (i.e. characters created by two letters, such as kh, kȟ, k’) are treated as groups of individual letters in alphabetization. Thus for example the word 'čhíŋ' precedes 'čónala' in a dictionary.
Phonological processes
A common phonological process which occurs in rapid speech is
vowel contraction, which generally results from the loss of an intervocalic glide. Vowel contraction results in phonetic long vowels (
phonemically a sequence of two identical vowels), with falling pitch if the first underlying vowel is stressed, and rising pitch if the second underlying vowel is stressed:
kê: (falling tone), "he said that," from
kéye;
hǎ:pi (rising tone), "clothing," from
hayápi. If one of the vowels is nasalized, the resulting long vowel is also nasalized:
čhą̌:pi, "sugar," from
čhąhą́pi
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Translation
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hAŋ || continuous || yá-he || "was going"
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pi || plural || iyáyapi || "they left"
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la || diminutive || záptaŋla || "only five"
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ke || attenuative || wašteke || "somewhat good"
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ktA || irrealis || uŋyíŋ kte || "you and I will go" (future)
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šni || negative || hiyú šni || "he/she/it did not come out"
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s’a || repeating || eyápi s’a || "they often say"
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séčA || conjecture || ú kte séče || "he might come"
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yeló || assertion (masc) || blé ló || "I went there (I assert)"
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yé || assertion (fem) || hí yé || "he came (I assert)"
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he || interrogative || Táku kȟoyákipȟa he? || "What do you fear?"
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huŋwó || interrogative (masc. formal) || Tókhiya lá huŋwó? || "Where are you going?"
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huŋwé || interrogative (fem. formal, obsolete) || Tákula huŋwé? || "What is it?"
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waŋ || dubative question || séča waŋ || "can it be as it seems?"
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škhé || evidential || yá-ha škhé || "he was going, I understand"
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kéye || evidential (hearsay) || yápi kéye || "they went, they say"
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Ablaut
all examples are taken from the New Lakota Dictionary.
The term "ablaut" refers to the tendency of some words to change their final vowel in certain situations. Compare these sentences.
Šúŋka kiŋ sápa čha waŋbláke.
Šúŋka kiŋ sápe.
Šúŋka kiŋ sápiŋ na tȟáŋka.
The last vowel in the word "SápA" changed each time. This vowel change is called "ablaut". Words which undergo this change are referred to as A-words, since, in dictionary citations, they are written ending in either -A or -Aŋ. These words are never written with a final capital letter in actual texts. Derivatives of these words generally take the ablaut as well, however there are exceptions.
There are three forms for ablauted words: -a/-aŋ, -e, -iŋ. These are referred to as a/aŋ-ablaut, e-ablaut, and iŋ-ablaut respectively. Some words are ablauted by some and not others, like "gray" hóta or hótA. Ablaut always depends on what word follows the ablauted word.
A/Aŋ-Ablaut
This is the basic form of the word, and is used everywhere in which the other forms are not utilized.
E-Ablaut
There are two cases in which e-ablaut is used.
---1. Last word in the sentence
---2. Followed by a word which triggers e-ablaut
1. Last word in sentence
Examples
Héčhiya yé He went there. (e-ablaut of the verb yÁ)
Yúte She ate it. (e-ablaut of the verb yútA)
Thípi kiŋ pahá akáŋl hé. The house stands on a cliff. (e-ablaut of the verb hÁŋ)
2. Followed by a word which triggers e-ablaut
There are three classes of words which trigger e-ablaut
a) various enclitics -such as- ȟča, ȟčiŋ, iŋčhéye, kačháš, kiló, kštó, któ, lakȟa, -la, láȟ, láȟčaka, ló, séčA, sékse, s’eléčheča, so, s’a, s’e, šaŋ, šni, uŋštó
b) some conjunctions and articles -such as- kiŋ, kiŋháŋ, k’éaš, k’uŋ, eháŋtaŋš
c) some auxiliary verbs -such as- kapíŋ, kiníča (kiníl), lakA (la), kúŋzA, phiča, ši, wačhíŋ, -yA, -khiyA
Examples
Škáte šni. He did not play. (enclitic)
Škáte s’a. He plays often. (enclitic)
Škáte ló. He plays. (enclitic (marking assertion))
Okȟáte eháŋtaŋš... If it is hot... (conjunction)
Sápe kiŋ The black one (definite article)
Glé kúŋze. He pretended to go home. (auxiliary verb)
Yatké-phiča. It is drinkable. (auxiliary verb)
Iŋ-Ablaut
The iŋ-ablaut (pronounced
i by some) occurs only before the following words:
ktA (irrealis enclitic)
yetȟó (familiar command enclitic)
na, naháŋ (and)
naíŋš (or, and or)
yé (polite request or entreaty enclitic)
Examples
Waŋyáŋkiŋ yetȟó. Take a look at this, real quick.
Yíŋ kte. She will go.
Skúyiŋ na wašté. It was sweet and good.
Waŋyáŋkiŋ yé. Please, look at it.
Phrases
"Háu kȟolá", literally, "Hello, friend," is the most common greeting, and was transformed into the generic motion picture American Indian "
How!", just as the traditional feathered headdress of the Teton was "given" to all movie Indians. As "háu" is the only word in Lakhota which contains a
diphthong, /au/, it may be a loanword from a non-Siouan language.
Learning Lakota
Few resources are available for self-study of Lakota by a person with no or limited access to native speakers of Lakota. Here is a collection of some resources currently available:
Lakhótiya Wóglaka Po! - Speak Lakota! : Level 1 & Level 2 Textbooks and Audio CDs by Lakota Language Consortium. (elementary/secondary school level)
New Lakota Dictionary. (ISBN 0-9761082-9-1)
Lakota: A Language Course for Beginners by Oglala Lakota College (ISBN 0-88432-609-8) (The companion 15 CDs/Tapes (11 hours) (high school/college level)
Reading and Writing the Lakota Language by Albert White Hat Sr. (ISBN 0-87480-572-4) (high school/college level)
University of Colorado Lakhota Project: Beginning Lakhota, vol. 1 & 2, Elementary Bilingual Dictionary and Graded Readings, (high school/college level)
Lakota Dictionary: Lakota-English/English-Lakota, New Comprehensive Edition by Eugene Buechel, S.J. & Paul Manhart (ISBN 0-8032-6199-3)
English-Lakota Dictionary by Bruce Ingham, RoutledgeCurzon, ISBN 0700713786
A Grammar of Lakota by Eugene Buechel, S.J. (; professional level)
The article by Rood & Taylor, in
Notes
References
Palmer, Jessica Dawn. The Dakota Peoples: A History of Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota through 1863.Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7864-3177-9.
Rood, David S. and Allan R. Taylor. (1996). Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan Language. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 17 (Languages), pp. 440–482. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution. Online version.
Ullrich, Jan. (2008). New Lakota Dictionary. Lakota Language Consortium. ISBN 0-9761082-9-1.
Further reading
Buechel, Eugene. (1983). A Dictionary of Teton Sioux. Pine Ridge, SD: Red Cloud Indian School.
DeMallie, Raymond J. (2001). "Sioux until 1850". In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 2, pp. 718–760). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-050400-7.
Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parks, Douglas R.; & Rankin, Robert L. (2001). "The Siouan languages". In Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 1, pp. 94–114). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
de Reuse, Willem J. (1987). "One hundred years of Lakota linguistics (1887-1987)". Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 12, 13-42. Online version.
de Reuse, Willem J. (1990). "A supplementary bibliography of Lakota languages and linguistics (1887-1990)". Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 15 (2), 146-165. (Studies in Native American languages 6). Online version.
Trechter, Sarah. (1999). "Contextualizing the Exotic Few: Gender Dichotomies in Lakhota". In M. Bucholtz, A.C. Liang, and L. Sutton (Eds) Reinventing Identities (pp. 101–122). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195126297
External links
Lakhota Language
Lakota Language Consortium
A Lakota language forum
New Lakota Dictionary online
Omniglot
Our Languages: Lakota (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
Niobrara Wocekiye Wowapi: The Niobrara Prayer Book (1991) Episcopal Church prayers in Lakota
Palatalization in Lakhota
Swadesh vocabulary lists for Lakota and other Siouan languages (from Wiktionary)
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Category:Siouan languages
Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Plains
Category:First Nations languages in Canada
Category:Languages of the United States
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