Dakota Dialects

Wed Feb 16 21:26:22 UTC 2005

Dr. Parks,

How can I get a copy of this publication"Sioux, Assiniboine, and Stoney
Dialects: A Classification"?  Thanks much.

Also, it is intersting when visitng with speakers on this subject.  I
had a long conversation with an elder at the Lake Andes Dakota
Language.  She spoke Ihanktunwan Dakota and I spoke Bdewakantunwan
Dakota and we talked about the differences in the words and where we
come from.  She said they considered themselves to be Dakotaand they
spoke Dakota, not Nakota or Nakoda.   Also, I had a chance to speak
briefly with a woman from Fort Belknap Reservation and she said she was
Nakota.  We swapped emails, and I said Pidamayaye do (thank you).  She
asked about four times, "Ake! (again!)" because she didn't know what I
was saying.  Then I said it slowly and then she said "Ohhh, OK, you mean
Pinamayaye."

-Cantemaza de miye do.
(Neil McKay)
University of Minnesota
Dakota Language Dept.

Koontz John E wrote:

>On Thu, 27 Jan 2005, Parks, Douglas R. wrote:
>
>
>>... The history of the fallacy that Yanktonais referred to themselves
>>with an n is given in DeMallie's and my paper, pp. 242-48.  James Howard
>>is the 20th century promoter of the use of the n form, and his
>>assertions have been accepted by many, particularly younger people who
>>like the "neat" classification that it provides.
>>
>>
>
>JEK:
>
>
>
>>Which would indicate that the canonicalization of the d-n-l division was
>>subsequent to Riggs.  I wonder what the history of it was?
>>
>>
>
>From:
>
>Parks, Douglas R. and Raymond DeMallie.  1992.  Sioux, Assiniboine, and
>Stoney Dialects:  A Classification.  Anthropological Linguistics 34, Nos.
>1-4, Special Issue:  Florence M. Voegelin Mwemorial Volume, pp. 233-255.
>
>This is a summary of the survey that Parks & DeMallie present, pp.
>234-240.  Their classificaiton of Dakota dialects is inserted first for
>reference.
>
>Parks & DeMallie  Santee-         Yankton-      Teton      Assiniboine  Stoney
>(1992:251)        Sisseton        Yanktonai
>
>
>
>Gallatin          Eastern         Yankton       Teton      Assiniboine
>(1836:124)        Dahcota
>
>The Pond, Riggs, et al., mission(s) and associated linguistic work began
>in 1834.
>
>Riggs          1) IsaNti          IhaNktoNwaN   TitoNwaN   -----
>(1852:viii-ix) 2) SisitoNwaN
>                  (Lake Traverse)
>
>Riggs discusses some subdialects of IsaNti and distinguishes it generally
>from the variety of SisitoNwaN spoken at Lake Traverse.  Supressing these
>distinctions arising from his closer study of Santee, he distinguishes
>three dialects, but without reference to Assiniboine and Stoney.  In other
>words, up to this point his analysis concurs with that of Gallatin.
>
>Riggs (1893:188) mentions the Assiniboine dialect, saying "Their language
>differs less from the Dakota in general, than the dialects of the Dakota
>do from each other.  ...  The Assiniboin are said to have broken off from
>the Pine Shooters (Wazikute), a branch of the IhaNktoNwaNna."  From these
>two remarks, the first of which is misinformed and the second of which is
>unattributed, one might deduce, albeit falsely, that Assiniboine is much
>like Yanktonais, which would presumably be much like Yankton, with
>Assiniboine differing less from Yankton than Yankton differed from Santee,
>etc.
>
>In spite of this, the early Siouanists followed Gallatin's lead and listed
>four dialects of Dakota.
>
>Dorsey (1885:919)    Santee          Yankton       Teton      Assiniboine
>
>Boas & Swanton       Santee          Yankton       Teton      Assiniboine
>(1911:879)
>
>Problems crept in with Lowie's Indians of the Plains.  Lowie evidently
>made the deductions that Riggs (1893) supports.
>
>Lowie (1954:8)       Eastern         Central       Western
>                     (Dakota)        (Nakota)      (Lakota)
>                                     (var. Assiniboine)
>
>Howard's work on the Dakota separates Assiniboine back out, but retains
>the erronious characterization of Yankton(-Yanktonais) as like
>Assiniboine.
>
>Howard               Dakota         *Nakota        Lakota     Nakoda
>(1960:249, n. 2;     (Santee)        (Yankton)     (Teton)    (Assiniboine)
>1966:4)
>
>Howard's scheme in particular, caught the attention of anthropologists,
>and was widely cited thereafter.
>
>Hassrick (1964:6), Powers (1972:7, 1977:11), Schusky (1975:3), Grobsmith
>(1981:3), Elias (1988:xiii), Biolsi (1992:4)
>
>I thought it might be interesting to see what the Siouan comparativists
>thought, since their fell into this time range.  Interestingly, they
>actually say very little, perhaps sensing that the issue was a vexed one.
>
>Wolff                Santee                        Teton
>(1950 I:63, 1951)
>
>Matthews (1958:5-6)  Santee          Yankton       Teton
>Matthews (1959:253)  Santee                        Teton      Assiniboine
>                                                              - Montana
>                                                              - Canada
>
>Wolff's list is certainly not intended to be complete.  Matthews seems
>implicitly to follow Lowie or Howard, but comments in his kinship term
>study that Canadian Assiniboine (perhaps meaning Stoney) differs
>dialectally from Montana Assiniboine.
>
>Incidentally, Alexander Lesser's 1958 dissertation on Siouan Kinship finds
>it convenient to discuss Dakotan terminology in terms of Santee, Yankton,
>Teton, and Assiniboine lists, and he finds some diffferences between his
>two Assiniboine authorities, Morgan and Lowie, that seem to come down to a
>difference between Assiniboine and Stoney.  At last certain forms are
>listed specifically as Stoney.
>
>Lesser says of the Assiniboine "according to Lowie, their speech must be
>considered at least a major dialect of Dakota, differing from Santee and
>Teton perhaps to a greater degree than these dialects differ amongst
>themselves."  (Lesser 1958:14)  It's not clear what work of Lowie's he is
>citing, but the implication is that it is Lowie's 1910 monograph The
>Assiniboine.  So, it appears that Lowie's perceptions of Nakota are based
>on Assiniboine, and that it is Yankton-Yanktonais that is being
>overlooked.
>
>Returning to the presentation in Parks & DeMallie, we join the company of
>the more recent Siouanists:
>
>Chafe (1973:1179)    Santee          Yankton       Teton
>                     (Dakota proper) & Assin.     (Lakota)
>                                     (Nakota)
>
>Chafe follows Lowie, essentially, but indicates specifically that there is
>a Canadian variety of Assiniboine called Stoney.
>
>At this point more extensive field experience, close study of the earlier
>materials, and, I suspect, rumors of the Dakota Dialect Survey's findings,
>begin to assert themselves again in the Siouanist community.  Shaw, for
>example, distinguishes essentially the same scheme as Parks & DeMallie.
>
>Shaw        Santee          Yankton     Teton     Assiniboine  Stoney
>(1976:4-5)  - MdewaNtuNwaN
>            - WaxpetuNwaN
>
>Shaw's Santee subdialects are not intended to be exhaustive, I think.
>
>Rood        Santee     Yankton     Teton  Yanktonai Assiniboine  Stoney
>(1979:236)
>
>Rood's list is again the modern one, but with Yanktonai retained as
>separate, probably on the strength of the original comments in Riggs.
>
>The most complete study, and the best documented linguistically (and
>historiographically) is Parks & DeMallie 1992.  However, Riggs and Shaw
>provide a certain number of comparative forms, too.
>
>
>
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