Lakota language
The Lakota language, also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. Lakota is mutually intelligible with the two dialects of the Dakota language, especially Western Dakota, and is one of the three major varieties of the Sioux language.
Speakers of the Lakota language make up one of the largest Native American language speech communities in the United States, with approximately 2,000 speakers, who live mostly in the northern plains states of North Dakota and South Dakota. Many communities have immersion programs for both children and adults.
Like many indigenous languages, the Lakota language did not have a written form traditionally. However, efforts to develop a written form of Lakota began, primarily through the work of Christian missionaries and linguists, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The orthography has since evolved to reflect contemporary needs and usage.
One significant figure in the development of a written form of Lakota was Ella Cara Deloria, also called Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ, a Yankton Dakota ethnologist, linguist, and novelist who worked extensively with the Dakota and Lakota peoples, documenting their languages and cultures. She collaborated with linguists such as Franz Boas and Edward Sapir to create written materials for Lakota, including dictionaries and grammars.
Another key figure was Albert White Hat Sr., who taught at and later became the chair of the Lakota language program at his alma mater, Sinte Gleska University at Mission, South Dakota, one of the first tribal-based universities in the US. His work focused on the Sicangu dialect using an orthography developed by Lakota in 1982 and which today is slowly supplanting older systems provided by linguists and missionaries.
History and origin
The Lakota people's creation stories say that language originated from the creation of the tribe. Other creation stories say language was invented by Iktomi.A wholly Lakota newspaper named the Anpao Kin circulated from 1878 by the Protestant Episcopal Church in Niobrara Mission, Nebraska until its move to Mission, South Dakota in 1908 continuing until its closure in 1937. The print alongside its Dakota counterpart Iapi Oaye played an important role in documenting the enlistment and affairs including obituaries of Native Sioux soldiers into the army as America became involved in World War I.
Revitalization efforts
In 2024, a Lakota dub of the 2012 superhero movie The Avengers was released in 2024 on the Disney+ platform coordinated by for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Councilman-At-Large Cyril Archambault and language teacher Eugene “Ray” Taken Alive; plans for the dub kickstart after Ray's family become close acquaintances with Mark Ruffalo following his involvement and presence in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests – Ruffalo himself reprises for the dub along with other of the main Avengers cast with language tutoring by the Lakota team.Phonology
Vowels
Lakota has five oral vowels,, and three nasal vowels, . Lakota and are said to be more open than the corresponding cardinal vowels, perhaps closer to and. Orthographically, the nasal vowels are written with a following,, or ; historically, these were written with ogoneks underneath,. No syllables end with consonantal.A neutral vowel is automatically inserted between certain consonants, e.g. into the pairs, and. So the clan name written phonemically as has become the place name Ogallala.
Consonants
The voiced uvular fricative becomes a uvular trill before and in fast speech it is often realized as a voiced velar fricative. The voiceless aspirated plosives have two allophonic variants each: those with a delay in voicing, and those with velar friction, which occur before,,,, and . For some speakers, there is a phonemic distinction between the two, and both occur before. No such variation occurs for the affricate /tʃʰ/. Some orthographies mark this distinction; others do not. The uvular fricatives and are commonly spelled and.All monomorphemic words have one vowel which carries primary stress and has a higher tone than all other vowels in the word. This is generally the vowel of the second syllable of the word, but often the first syllable can be stressed, and occasionally other syllables as well. Stress is generally indicated with an acute accent:, etc. Compound words will have stressed vowels in each component; proper spelling will write compounds with a hyphen. Thus máza-ská, literally "metal-white", i.e. "silver; money" has two stressed vowels, the first a in each component. If it were written without the hyphen, as mazaska, it would imply a single main stress.
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, with falling pitch if the first underlying vowel is stressed, and rising pitch if the second underlying vowel is stressed: kê:, "he said that", from kéye; hǎ:pi, "clothing", from hayápi. If one of the vowels is nasalized, the resulting long vowel is also nasalized: čhaŋ̌:pi, "sugar", from čhaŋháŋpi.When two vowels of unequal height contract, or when feature contrasts exist between the vowels and the glide, two new phonetic vowels, and, result: iyæ̂:, "he left for there", from iyáye; mitȟa:, "it's mine", from mitȟáwa.
The plural enclitic =pi is frequently changed in rapid speech when preceding the enclitics =kte, =kiŋ, =kštó, or =na. If the vowel preceding =pi is high/open, =pi becomes ; if the vowel is non-high, =pi becomes : hi=pi=kte, "they will arrive here", ; yatkáŋ=pi=na, "they drank it and...",.
Lakota also exhibits some traces of sound symbolism among fricatives, where the point of articulation changes to reflect intensity: zí, "it's yellow", ží, "it's tawny", ǧí, "it's brown".
Orthographies, standardization, and teaching materials
Several orthographies as well as ad hoc spelling are used to write the Lakota language, with varying perspectives on whether standardization should be implemented. In 2002, Rosebud Cultural Studies teacher Randy Emery argued that standardization of the language could cause problems "because the language is utilized diversely. If standardization is determined to be the approach... then the question is whose version will be adopted? This will cause dissent and politics to become a factor in the process."Also in 2002, Sinte Gleska University rejected a partnership with the European-owned Lakota Language Consortium. Sinte Gleska uses the orthography developed by Albert White Hat, which on December 13, 2012, was formally adopted by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe per Tribal Resolution No. 2012–343. This resolution also banned the Lakota Language Consortium and its "Czech orthography" from the reservation and its educational system. This ban was a response to a series of protests by community members and grassroots language preservation workers, at Rosebud and other Lakota communities, against the Lakota Language Consortium. Despite its name, the LLC is an organization formed by two Europeans. Concerns arose due to the LLC's promotion of their New Lakota Dictionary, websites and other Internet projects aimed at revising and standardizing their new spelling of the Lakota language. "Lakota first language speakers and Lakota language teachers criticize the "Czech orthography" for being overloaded with markings and – foremost – for the way it is being brought into Lakota schools"; it has been criticized as "neocolonial domination." Sonja John writes that "The new orthography the Czech linguist advocates resembles the Czech orthography – making it easier for Czech people to read. The Europeans predominantly use the internet to give the impression that this "Czech orthography" is a Lakota product and the standard for writing Lakota." "The Rosebud Sioux Tribe was the first of the Lakota tribes to take legal action against the self-authorizing practices the LLC committed by utilizing names of Lakota language experts without their consent to obtain funding for their projects." Rosebud Resolution No. 2008–295 goes further and compares these actions to what was done to children taken from their families by the residential schools.
In 2006 some of the Lakota language teachers at Standing Rock chose to collaborate with Sitting Bull College, and the Lakota Language Consortium, with the aim of expanding their language curriculum. Teachers at Standing Rock use several different orthographies. Language activists at Standing Rock also refer to it as simply the "SLO" or even "Suggested Lakota Orthography." Tasha Hauff writes,
In 2013 Lakota teachers at Red Cloud Indian School on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation discussed their use of orthography for their K–12 students as well as adult learners. The orthography used at Red Cloud "is meant to be more phonetic than other orthographies... That means there are usually more 'H's than other versions. While many orthographies use tipi... Red Cloud spells it thípi." He continues, "the orthography also makes heavy use of diacritical marks... that is not popular among some educators and academics". Delphine Red Shirt, an Oglala Lakota tribal member and a lecturer on languages at Stanford University, disagrees and prefers a Lakota orthography without diacritical marks. "I'm very against any orthography that requires a special keyboard to communicate," she said. First language speaker and veteran language teacher at Red Cloud, the late Philomine Lakota, had similar concerns with the orthography, and argues against changing the spelling forms she learned from her father. However, she did consider that, a shared curriculum could "create consistency across the region and encourage the long-term viability of the language. However, Philomine is also cognizant that it will take more than a school curriculum to preserve the language." She added, "In order for a language to survive, it can't simply be taught from the top. A language is a living thing and students need to breathe life into it daily; talking with friends, family and elders in Lakota".
In 2018, at the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, Lakota speaker Manny Iron Hawk and his wife Renee Iron Hawk discussed opening an immersion school and the difficulties around choosing an orthography to write Lakota; Mr. Iron Hawk voiced support for the LLC Orthography, saying it was accessible to second language learners, but know not all agreed with him. Others in the community voiced a preference for the tribe creating their own orthography. While Mr. Iron Hawk supports this approach, Renee Iron Hawk also expressed a sense of urgency, saying "We should just use what we have, and then fix and replace it, but we need to start speaking it now". The Iron Hawks both agreed that too much time has been spent arguing over which orthography to use or not use, and not enough time is spent teaching and speaking the language.
In 2022, the Tribal Council of the Standing Rock Sioux hired an attorney to hasten the return of many recordings of Lakota people who had contributed to the LLC, following a exposé by elementary school teacher Ray Taken Alive who had been refused recordings of his deceased grandmother by the Consortium in 2020. On May 3, that same year, the Tribal Council in a near-unanimous vote, banished the Lakota Language Consortium from ever again setting foot on the reservation. The council's decision was based on the LLC's history with not only the Standing Rock community, but also with at least three other communities that also voiced concerns about Meya and the LLC, "saying he broke agreements over how to use recordings, language materials and historical records, or used them without permission."