Lakota language

From Freepedia

Lakota or Lakhota is the largest of the five major dialects of the Sioux language. The Lakota dialect represents one of the largest Native American language speech communities left in the United States, having approx. 8000-9000 speakers living mostly in northern plains states of North and South Dakota. Lakota is predominantly associated with the Teton Sioux bands living west of the Missouri River. The language was first put into written form by missionaries ca. 1840 and has since evolved to reflect contemporary needs and usage. Lakota is part of the Siouan language family.

Lakota (Lakhota)
Spoken in:	United States, with a few speakers in Canada
Region:	Primarily North Dakota and South Dakota, but also northern Nebraska, southern Minnesota, and northern Montana
Total speakers:	8,000-9,000
Ranking:	Not in top 100
Genetic classification:	Siouan  Siouan Proper   Central Siouan    Mississippi Valley Siouan     Dakotan      Lakota
Official status
Official language of:	---
Regulated by:	---
Language codes
ISO 639-1	--
ISO 639-2	sio
SIL	LKT
See also: Language – List of languages

Contents 1 Sounds 1.1 Vowels 1.2 Consonants 2 References 3 External links

Sounds

Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Vowels

Lakota has five oral vowels, /i e a o u/, and three nasal vowels, /ĩ ã ũ/. The nasal vowels are sometimes written with a following <ƞ> or <N>, and sometimes with ogoneks underneath, <į ą ų>.

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	č	k	’
	Voiced	(b)			(g)
	Aspirated	ph	th	čh	kh
	Ejective	p’	t’	č’	k’
Fricative	Voiceless		s	š	ȟ
	Voiced		z	ž	ğ
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Liquid			l
Semivowel		w		y		h

The voiced plosives /b/ and /g/ should perhaps be considered allophones of /p/ and /k/, since for almost all words they are in complementary distribution, with [b] and [g] occuring only before /l/, /m/, /n/, /w/, and /j/, as well as in certain morphophonemic situations. The voiceless aspirated plosives have two allophonic variants each: those with glottal friction ([pʰ tʰ ʧʰ kʰ]), and those with velar friction ([pˣ tˣ ʧˣ kˣ]), which occur before /a/, /ã/, /o/, /õ/, /ẽ/, and /ű/ (thus, lakhóta, /la'kʰota/ is phonetically [la'kˣota]). For some speakers, there is a phonemic distinction between the two, and both occur before /e/. Some orthographies mark this distinction; others do not. The velar fricatives /x/ and /ɣ/ are commonly spelled <ȟ> (sometimes <ĥ>) and <ğ>.

References

• Rood, David S. and Allan R. Taylor. Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan Language. In: Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 17 (Languages), pp. 440-482. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1996.

External links

• Our Languages: Dakota, Nakota, Lakota (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
• Lakota Language Consortium
• Lakhota Language
• Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan Language
• Lakota Iyapi