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This page is about the orthographies of the Dakota language. There is no standard Dakota orthography. Dakota was originally only a spoken language. European Christian missionaries invented a system of Dakota written language with Latin characters in the 1800s which became the most widespread system in use. Stephen Return Riggs' orthography is most well known. However modern written Dakota tends to use new orthographies created by and for Dakota speakers to better communicate the nuances of the language.
Modern Dakota orthography
editHistory
editNotable orthographic systems
editBecause Dakota and Lakota are mutually intelligible and frequently affect one another, Lakota orthographic innovations are included in this list of Dakota orthographies.
| Abbreviation | Date | Authors | Dialect | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota Mission | 1834 | Stephen Return Riggs, Samuel Pond, Gideon Pond, Thomas Smith Williamson | Dakota | [1] |
| Riggs | 1852 | Stephen Return Riggs | Dakota | [1] |
| Williamson | 1868 | John Poage Williamson, Stephen Return Riggs | Dakota | [1] |
| Buechel 1 | 1924 | Eugene Buechel | Lakota | [1] |
| Boas and Deloria | 1932 | Franz Boas, Ella Cara Deloria | Lakota and Dakota | [1] |
| Buechel 2 | 1939 | Eugene Buechal | Lakota | [1] |
| Traditional | 1940 | Luther Standing Bear Jr., Vine Deloria Sr., Charles Eastman, Mary Crow Dog | Lakota | [1] |
| DEDP | 2006 | Dakota-English Dictionary Project: Chris Mato Nunpa, Waziyatawin (Angela Wilson), Tim Dunnigan | Dakota | [1][2] |
Dakota Mission, Riggs, and Williamson
editDakota-English Dictionary Project
editThe Dakota-English Dictionary Project (DEDP) sought to rectify key concerns the project participants had with the orthographies of Dakota Mission, Riggs, and Williamson. Project lead Dr. Chris Mato Nunpa called Riggs's dictionary "a fine piece of work, as far as it goes," but contests the neutrality and accuracy of Riggs's interpretations. DEDP would be "an accurate and respectful portrayal of the Dakota language, culture, values, religious thought, and worldview."[3]
As an example, Mato Nunpa points to Riggs's definition of wapiya, which Mato Nunpa defines as "to heal the physically sick through ceremony". Riggs says "to conjure the sick, to powwow in the Indian way", which Mato Nunpa contends is offensive and demeaning of Dakota religion. As a Christian missionary Riggs's aim when recording Dakota language was to convert Dakota from their own religion and culture, which colors his interpretations of Dakota into English. Mato Nunpa concludes that "his view of things Dakota were inevitably disrespectful, insensitive, and inaccurate."[3]
DEDP was organized from the Pezihuta Zizi Language Preservation and Renewal Program of the Upper Sioux Community in Granite Falls, Minnesota. It focuses on three Dakota dialects: Bdewakantunwan, Wahpetunwan, and Sisitunwan; collectively these are part of Eastern Dakota dialect.[4] The orthography and dictionary are based on Riggs's 1852 dictionary, updated 1968.[3]
The orthography developed for the dictionary was developed by Alan L. Ominsky, formerly of the Minnesota Historical Society. A diacritic (dot) under unaspirated k, p, and t sounds will distinguish them from aspirated, which Riggs does not distinguish. Apostrophes after the letter replace Riggs's diacritic under letters representing a glottal stop.[5] Representations of velarized stops are absent because Eastern Dakota dialects do not use that sound, which is exclusive to Lakota and Western Dakota.[6] The DEDP team called the computer font created for the orthography the "Minnesota Dakota font" or "MinDkota".[5]
DEDP was used for the curriculum of the first Dakota language immersion preschool trial at Pezihutazizi (Upper Sioux Community), Minnesota. Pezihutazizi Wahohpi Wohdakapi Unspe (Yellow Medicine Language Learning Nest) operated from October 1999 and closed May 2000.[7][8] Waziyatawin Angela Wilson's Remember This! Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor Narratives, the first book that relies on Native American history-telling techniques,[9] uses DEDP orthography to record Dakota elder Eli Taylor's oral account of Dakota culture and history.[10]
Notable figures
edit- Ella Cara Deloria – worked with Franz Boas
- Waziyatawin (formerly Angela Cavender Wilson) – linguist, historian, activist
- Chris Mato Nunpa – linguist and Dakota historian
Notable Dakota texts
edit- Deloria, Ella Cara (2006) [1932]. Dakota Texts. Bison Books. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6660-5. Dakota Texts at Google Books
- Originally published as: Deloria, Ella (1932). Boas, Franz (ed.). "Dakota Texts". Publications of the American Ethnological Society. New York: G. E. Stechert & Co. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
Nine tribal colleges and universities are contributing to a forthcoming anthology of Lakota/Dakota texts. The effort is lead by Sisseton Wahpeton College, Cankdeska Cikana Community College, and Oglala Lakota College, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Scholarly Editions and Translations and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The anthology will include texts originally written in Lakota/Dakota with English translations and texts in other Native languages like American Indian/Alaska Native languages translated into Lakota/Dakota and English. Individual contributors will decide which orthography to use for their contribution. Texts will include prose, poetry, jokes, children's songs and stories, contemporary and archival works, traditional stories, and transcriptions of oral history. The purpose of this anthology is to provide language learning texts for Lakota/Dakota students, since there are currently very little available.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Esteban 2017, p. 157.
- ^ Mato Nunpa 2006, p. 205–206,216–217.
- ^ a b c Mato Nunpa 2006, p. 207–209.
- ^ Esteban 2017, p. 161.
- ^ a b Mato Nunpa 2006, p. 212.
- ^ Esteban 2017, p. 160–161.
- ^ Waziyatawin Angela Wilson 2006, p. 87, 108–109.
- ^ González, Josué (2008). "Indigenous Languages as Second Languages". Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi:10.4135/9781412963985. ISBN 978-1-4129-3720-7.
- ^ Miller, Susan A. (2009). "Native Historians Write Back: The Indigenous Paradigm in American Indian Historiography". Wicazo Sa Review. 24 (1). University of Minnesota Press: 25–45. ISSN 0749-6427. JSTOR 40587764. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
- ^ Waziyatawin Angela Wilson; Taylor, Eli (2005-01-01). Remember This! Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor Narratives. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-8032-9844-6. Project MUSE book 11730.
- ^ Antoine, Jurgita (February 15, 2024). "Lakota/Dakota Text Anthology Project Underway". Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education; Mancos. 35 (3): 1–2. Retrieved September 11, 2024 – via ProQuest.
Citations
edit- Mato Nunpa, Chris (2006) [1999]. "The Dakota-English Dictionary Project: A Minnesota Collaborative Effort". In McCarty, Teresa L.; Zepeda, Ofelia (eds.). One Voice, Many Voices: Recreating Indigenous Language Communities. Tempe, AZ: Center for Indian Education, Arizona State University. p. 205–217. ISBN 0-9787190-0-X. OCLC 123308054.
- Waziyatawin Angela Wilson (2006) [1999]. "Community-Based Immersion Programming: Establishing a Dakota Language Preschool at Pezihutazizi". In McCarty, Teresa L.; Zepeda, Ofelia (eds.). One Voice, Many Voices: Recreating Indigenous Language Communities. Tempe, AZ: Center for Indian Education, Arizona State University. p. 205–217. ISBN 0-9787190-0-X. OCLC 123308054.
External links
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