Dakota Dialects (was RE: Sign Language (was Dances with Wolves))

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005, Marino wrote:
> >I observed this at the first "No Borders" gathering of all peoples who
> >self-designate as Nakota, which incluldes Assiniboine, Stoney, (and
> >Yanktonai, although there were only two or three of them there).
>
> Do the Yanktonai self-designate as Nakota?   Parks and DeMallie say they do
> not, in their 1992 article in Anthropological Linguistics, on the basis of
> data gathered during the Sioux Dialect Survey.

I wondered about that myself.  I don't recall what Parks & DeMallie said
about self-identification, but I do recall that they found based on the
speech forms collected in the course of the Dakota Dialect Survey that
Yanktonai(s) and Yankton are closely related to each other and form a
distinct Dakota(n) dialect different from Stoney (North or South),
Assiniboine, Teton or what they called Santee-Sisseton.  In terms of some
of the traditional shibboleths Yankton-Yanktonais would be what might be
called a "D-dialect."  But, then, another important finding of the Survey
was that the whole scholarly tradition of a three-way D : L : N dialect
division is faulty - that there are essentially the five dialects (or
dialect groupings) which Parks & DeMallie term Santee-Sisseton,
Yankton-Yanktonais, Teton, Assiniboine, and Stoney.

Did they go on to discuss the origins of the 3-way analysis?  I seem to
recall from somewhere - some of it was definitely David Rood's lectures -
that much of the traditional analysis of Dakota divisions and dialects
originated among the Santee communities Ponds, Riggs, etc., worked with,
and reflects a somewhat Santee-centric analysis of things, e.g., in its
detailed depiction of Santee (and Yankton) subdivisions vs. its rather
sweeping treatment of Teton, Assiniboine, and Stoney, or in its allocation
of importance in terms of identifying Seven Fires within the Dakota
speakers (exclusive of the Hohe or Assiboine and Stoney).

The usual ethnographic catalog of Dakota divisions starts with a detailed
depiction of the Santee and Yankton from these sources.  Then the Teton
people are elaborated upon using as I recall detail obtained later from
other sources more familiar with them.  In the context of the "Seven
Fires" this is handled as internal detail, while the internal divisions of
the Santee are presented as major divisions in their own right.  The
Yanktonais are usually mentioned in these lists as an offshoot of the
Assiniboine who joined the Seven Council Fires.  As I recall there are 4
Santee Fires, and the Yankton, Yanktonais, and Teton are each counted as
additional Fires, while the Hohe groups are not considered part of the
alliance.