Dakota language

Dakota
Dakhótiyapi, Dakȟótiyapi
Pronunciation	[daˈkʰotijapi], [daˈqˣotijapi]
Native to	United States, with some speakers in Canada
Region	Primarily North Dakota and South Dakota, but also northern Nebraska, southern Minnesota; southern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan
Ethnicity	Santee, Sisseton, Yankton, Yanktonai Sioux
Native speakers	20,000 (2010 & 2011 censuses)
Language family	Siouan Western Siouan Mississippi Valley Siouan Dakotan Sioux Dakota
Language codes
ISO 639-2	dak
ISO 639-3	dak
Glottolog	dako1258

Dakota (also Dakhota) is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.

Morphology

Nouns

Dakota, similar to many Native American languages, is a mainly polysynthetic language, meaning that different morphemes in the form of affixes can be combined to form a single word. Nouns in Dakota can be broken down into two two classes, primitive and derivative. Primitive nouns are nouns whose origin cannot be deduced from any other word (for example make or earth, peta or fire, and ate or father), while derivative nouns are nouns that are formed in various ways from words of other grammatical categories. Primitive nouns stand on their own and are separate from other words. Derivative nouns, on the other hand, are formed by the addition of affixes to words in other grammatical categories, such as verbs, adjectives, and other nouns.

Verbs

Verbs in Dakota can appropriate, through agglutination and synthesis, many of the pronominal, prepositional, and adverbial or modal affixes of the language. There are many verbal roots, all of which are only used once certain causative prefixes are added, forming participles. Like in English, Dakota verbs also have three persons, the first, the second, and the third. Person is indicated through the addition (first and second person) or subtraction (third person, the verb is used in its simplest form) of personal pronoun affixes. There are two forms of tense in the language, the aorist (sometimes called the indefinite) and the future. In order to express the future tense, the words kta or kte are placed after the verb, much in contrast to expressing the aorist tense, which requires no marking, but is instead derived from the context of what is being said.

Possessive Pronouns and Pronominal Affixes

In order to show possession in Dakota, a possessive pronoun must be prefixed onto whichever noun is being possessed. Two forms of possessive nouns occur, the natural class and the artificial or alienable class. Natural class pronouns express possession that cannot be alienated, and when prefixed to a noun, signifies the different parts of one’s self. For example, the possessive natural article pronoun mi-, which means “my,” can be added to nouns such as “eye,” in miista, or “words,” in mioie. Meanwhile, artificial possessive pronouns are used to signify property and possessions that can be transferred or traded. For example, the artificial pronoun ta- or ti-, which is equivalent to the singular her or him, can be prefixed onto nouns such as “bow,” in tinazipe, and “friend,” in takodaku.

Syntax

Nouns and Verbs

Dakota is mainly a subject-object-verb (SOV) language, where nouns, whether they are the subject or object, always come before the verb. And when two nouns are used in the same clause, where one is the subject and the other is the object, the subject is most usually placed first. Verbs are also usually placed after adjectives that are used to qualify either the subject or the object and adverbs that qualify the verb. When additional words are used within a clause that are not either nouns or verbs, the nouns, both subject and object, are always placed at the beginning of the clause.

Dialects

Dakota has two major dialects with two sub-dialects each (and minor variants, too):

1. Eastern Dakota (AKA Santee-Sisseton or Dakhóta)
   • Santee (Isáŋyáthi: Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute)
   • Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ)
2. Western Dakota (AKA Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta/Dakhóta, and erroneously classified, for a very long time, as “Nakota”)
   • Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ)
   • Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna)
     • Upper Yanktonai (Wičhíyena)

The two dialects differ phonologically, grammatically, and to a large extent, also lexically. They are mutually intelligible to a high extent, although Western Dakota is lexically closer to the Lakota language with which it has higher mutual intelligibility.

Writing systems

For a comparative table of the various writing systems conceived over time for the Sioux languages, cf. the specific section of the article Sioux language.

Sound system

Vowels

Dakota has five oral vowels, /a e i o u/, and three nasal vowels, /aŋ iŋ uŋ/.

		Front	Central	Back
high	oral	i		u
	nasal	iŋ		uŋ
mid		e		o
low	oral		a
	nasal		aŋ

Consonants

		Labial (-ized)	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal (-ized)	Velar/ Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m [m]	n [n]
Stop	aspirated	ph [pʰ] pȟ [pˣ]	th [tʰ] tȟ [tˣ]	čh [tʃʰ]	kh [kʰ] kȟ [kˣ]
	voiceless	p [p]	t [t]	č [tʃ]	k [k]	’ [ʔ]
	ejective	p’ [pʔ]	t’ [tʔ]	č’ [tʃʔ]	k’ [kʔ]
	voiced	b [b]	d [d]		g [ɡ]
Fricative	voiceless		s [s]	š [ʃ]	ȟ [χ]
	ejective		s’ [sʔ]	š’ [ʃʔ]	ȟ’ [χʔ]
	voiced		z [z]	ž [ʒ]	ǧ [ʁ]
Approximant		w [w]		y [j]		h [h]

Comparison of the dialects

Phonological differences

In respect to phonology Eastern and Western Dakota differ particularly in consonant clusters. The table below gives the possible consonant clusters and shows the differences between the dialects:

Dakota consonant clusters
								Santee Sisseton	Yankton	Yanktonai
b	ȟ	k	m	p	s	š	t	h	k	g
bd	ȟč	kč	mn	pč	sč	šk	tk	hm	km	gm
	ȟd	kp		ps	sk	šd		hn	kn	gn
	ȟm	ks		pš	sd	šb		hd	kd	gd
	ȟn	kš		pt	sm	šn		hb	kb	gb
	ȟp	kt			sn	šp
	ȟt				sp	št
	ȟb				st	šb
					sb

The two dialects also differ in the diminutive suffix (-daŋ in Santee, and -na in Yankton-Yanktonai and in Sisseton) and in a number of other phonetic issues that are harder to categorize. The following table gives examples of words that differ in their phonology.

Eastern Dakota		Western Dakota		gloss
Santee	Sisseton	Yankton	Yanktonai
hokšídaŋ	hokšína	hokšína		boy
nína		nína	nína / dína	very
hdá		kdá	gdá	to go back
hbéza		kbéza	gbéza	ridged
hnayáŋ		knayáŋ	gnayáŋ	to deceive
hmúŋka		kmúŋka	gmúŋka	to trap
ahdéškadaŋ	ahdéškana	akdéškana	agdéškana	lizard

Lexical differences

There are also numerous lexical differences between the two Dakota dialects as well as between the sub-dialects. Yankton-Yanktonai is in fact lexically closer to the Lakota language than it is to Santee-Sisseton. The following table gives some examples:

English gloss	Santee-Sisseton	Yankton-Yanktonai	Lakota
			Northern Lakota	Southern Lakota
child	šičéča	wakȟáŋyeža	wakȟáŋyeža
knee	hupháhu	čhaŋkpé	čhaŋkpé
knife	isáŋ / mína	mína	míla
kidneys	phakšíŋ	ažúŋtka	ažúŋtka
hat	wapháha	wapȟóštaŋ	wapȟóštaŋ
still	hináȟ	naháŋȟčiŋ	naháŋȟčiŋ
man	wičhášta	wičháša	wičháša
hungry	wótehda	dočhíŋ	ločhíŋ
morning	haŋȟ’áŋna	híŋhaŋna	híŋhaŋna	híŋhaŋni
to shave	kasáŋ	kasáŋ	kasáŋ	glak’óǧa

Grammatical differences

Yankton-Yanktonai has the same three ablaut grades as Lakota (a, e, iŋ), while in Santee-Sisseton there are only two (a, e). This significantly impacts word forms, especially in fast speech and it is another reason why Yankton-Yanktonai has better mutual intelligibility with Lakota than with Santee-Sisseton.

Some examples:

English gloss	to go	I shall go	to go back	he/she/it will go back
santee-sisseton	yá	bdé kte	hdá	hdé kte
yankton-yanktonai	yá	mníŋ kte	kdá/gdá	kníŋ/gníŋ kte
lakota	yá	mníŋ kte	glá	gníŋ kte

There are other grammatical differences between the dialects.

Learning Dakota: language revitalization efforts

Software and mobile apps for learning Dakhóta

A Dakota 1 app is available for iPhone, iPad, and other iOS devices. The Association on American Indian Affairs website offers an extensive selection of Dakotah learning resources, including CDs, DVDs, flashcards, and software.

Curriculum, textbooks, and other materials for teaching and learning Dakhóta

A Level 1 Speak Dakota! textbook is available from the Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye. Developed by Dakota language speakers, teachers, and linguists, the textbook is the first fully illustrated Dakota language textbook that is linguistically and pedagogically consistent. Dakota language learning materials are also available on their website.

Notable speakers

• Gwen Westerman, Dakota educator, writer and artist.

Bibliography

• 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• Rood, David S.; & Taylor, Allan R. (1996). Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan language. In Handbook of North American Indians: Languages (Vol. 17, pp. 440–482). Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.
• Parks, D.R. & DeMallie, R.J. (1992). Sioux, Assiniboine, and Stoney Dialects: A Classification . Anthropological Linguistics vol. 34, nos. 1-4
• Riggs, S.R., & Dorsey, J.O. (Ed.). (1973). Dakota grammar, texts, and ethnography. Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, Inc.
• Shaw, P.A. (1980). Theoretical issues in Dakota phonology and morphology. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
• Ullrich, Jan. (2008). New Lakota Dictionary & Incorporating the Dakota Dialects of Santee-Sisseton and Yankton-Yanktonai (Lakota Language Consortium). ISBN 0-9761082-9-1.

External links

• Dakota Language Texts, from the Boston Athenæum: Schoolcraft Collection of Books in Native American Languages. Digital Collection.