Matthews on Siouan dialogue

[Alan H. Hartley]

This passage is probably well known to Siouanists, but it is so
enlightening as to bear repeating:

1877 W. Matthews _Ethnog. & Philol. of the Hidatsa Indians_ 17-18

"To the philologist, it is an interesting fact that this trio of savage
clans, although now living in the same village, and having been
next-door neighbors to each other for more than a hundred years, on
terms of peace and intimacy, and to a great extent intermarried, speak,
nevertheless, totally distinct languages, which show no perceptible
inclination to coalesce. The Mandan and Grosventre (or Minnetaree)
languages are somewhat alike, and probably of a very distant common
origin; but no resemblance has yet been discovered between either of
these and the Arickaree ("Ricara"). Almost every member of each tribe
understands the languages of the other tribes, yet he speaks his own
most fluently; so it is not an uncommon thing to hear a dialogue carried
on in two languages, one person, for instance, questioning in Mandan,
and the other answering back in Grosventre, and vice versa. Many of them
understand the Dakota tongue, and use it as a means of
intercommunication, and all understand the sign-language... it is not
uncommon to find persons among them, some even under twenty years of
age, who can speak fluently four or five different languages."

Alan