Sioux language
| Sioux | |
|---|---|
| Dakota, Lakota | |
| Native to | United States, Canada |
| Region | Northern Nebraska, southern Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, northeastern Montana; southern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan |
|
Native speakers
|
25,000 (2015) |
|
Siouan
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: dak – Dakota lkt – Lakota |
| Glottolog |
dako1258 (Dakota)lako1247 (Lakota)
|
| Linguasphere | 62-AAC-a Dakota |
Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 30,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit and Ojibwe.
Sioux has three major regional varieties, with various sub-varieties:
Yankton-Yanktonai (Western Dakota) stands between Santee-Sisseton (Eastern Dakota) and Lakota within the dialect continuum. It is phonetically closer to Santee-Sisseton but lexically and grammatically it is much closer to Lakota. For this reason Lakota and Western Dakota are much more mutually intelligible than they are with Eastern Dakota. The assumed extent of mutual intelligibility is usually overestimated by speakers of the language. While Lakota and Yankton-Yanktonai speakers understand each other to a great extent, they each find it difficult to follow Santee-Sisseton speakers.
Closely related to the Sioux language are the Assiniboine and Stoney languages, whose speakers use the self-designation term Nakhóta or Nakhóda. Speakers of Lakota and Dakota have more difficulty understanding each of the two Nakoda languages (Assiniboine and Stoney).
The following table shows some of the main phonetic differences between the regional varieties of the Sioux language. The table also provides comparison with the two closely related Nakota languages (Assiniboine and Stoney), which are however no longer mutually intelligible with the Sioux language.
There are also numerous lexical differences among the Sioux 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:
Life for the Dakota changed significantly in the nineteenth century as the early years brought increased contact with white settlers, particularly Christian missionaries. The goal of the missionaries was to introduce the Dakota to Christian beliefs. To achieve this, the missions began to transcribe the Dakota language. In 1836, brothers Samuel and Gideon Pond, Rev. Stephen Return Riggs, and Dr. Thomas Williamson set out to begin translating hymns and Bible stories into Dakota. By 1852, Riggs and Williamson had completed a Dakota Grammar and Dictionary (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Center). Eventually, the entire Bible was translated.
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Wikipedia