Encyclopedia of North American Indians -

Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Lakota Language

Language is vital to Lakota culture. It is our bloodline. History has demonstrated that how we handle our language, how we develop it, can cause the Lakota people to grow or can destroy us. Two hundred years ago the language built us up to a point where we were a progressive and strong people. Within two hundred years, misuse of the language almost destroyed us.

Oeti Sowi (The Seven Council Fires), most commonly referred to as the Sioux Nation, comprises seven tribes that fall into three distinct dialect groups. Four tribes speak Dakota (Mdewa-anu, Waeu, Waekue, Sisiu), two tribes speak Nakota (Ihauwan, Ihauwai), and one tribe, the Tiuwa (People of the Prairie), the most populous of the three divisions, speaks Lakota. Today, most Lakota speakers live west of the Missouri River on various reservations within South Dakota. (The Lakota orthographic system used here was developed in 1982 by the Committee for the Preservation of the Lakota Language.)

The Lakota language, like most Native American languages, was not originally a written language. The first people to transcribe Lakota into a written alphabet were early missionaries and anthropologists. In 1834, the Episcopal missionaries Samuel W. Pond, Gideon H. Pond, Stephen R. Riggs, and Dr. Thomas S. Williamson created a Dakota alphabet. This alphabet system was adapted and extended to the "L" dialect by Ella Deloria and Franz Boas during the 1930s. Since then, three other spelling systems have been created. In 1939, the Reverend Eugene Buechel published a Lakota grammar book that contains his spelling system. In 1976 another alphabet system for the Lakota language was introduced by Allen Taylor and David Rood of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The most recent Lakota alphabet was created in 1982 by Lakota language instructors from the South Dakota area who were frustrated by the wide variety of written forms of our language. This group of instructors—from the Rosebud Reservation, the Pine Ridge Reservation, the Cheyenne River Reservation, and Rapid City—organized the Committee for the Preservation of the Lakota Language. This committee wanted to standardize the alphabet and to learn more about the philosophy of the language from tribal elders.

In the spring of 1982, the committee members created a "recommended alphabet system" that we believe combined the best elements of the existing systems. The forty letters in our system function as a pronunciation guide for the Lakota language. Though this system is not the official alphabet system for the Sioux Nation, it does address all forty Lakota sounds and is simple enough for children to use.

After listening to tribal elders from the various reservations, the committee identified two central ideas to be emphasized in teaching the language. First, the language is waa, "very powerful." We use it to communicate with the other nations: the Deer Nation, the Eagle Nation, the Buffalo Nation, and so forth. We talk to the wamaaa, living beings of the earth, through spiritual communications. Language must be taught with this in mind. Second, when teaching the language to younger people, its good and evil powers must also be taught. Children need to understand that language contains great power, that it can be used to injure peoples' feelings or to compliment the achievements of another human being, that it can be used to harm or to honor and bless. Young people need to understand that language contains the power to give life or to take it away and that it therefore must be used with respect.

The committee's ideas challenged Western language teaching by emphasizing the importance of philosophy in the Lakota language. This can be seen in the Lakota use of gender endings—words at the end of the sentence that indicate whether the speaker is a woman or a man. For example, to ask if something is good, a woman says, "Wae he?" while a man says, "Wae huwo?" To answer "Yes, it is good," a woman responds by saying, "Ha wae ko," and a man responds by saying, "o wae yelo."

These differences in male and female speech patterns reflect Lakota philosophy. Men and women have distinct roles in our society. Women represent beauty, softness, and the goodness of birth, of giving life. Though all these qualities are more gentle than those of a man, they imply just as much strength and determination. A woman's softer approach is evident by both her behavior and her speech. Traditionally, a woman lets the man address her first, out of respect for him and for his role. In addition, female expressions sound more gentle because they often contain nasal vowels.

Men, on the other hand, are the protectors of the circle and as a result, in the Lakota view they are more aggressive and rough. Their behavior and speech reflect their role in Lakota society. Men's speech tends to be loud and rugged, filled with many guttural sounds. Also, their behavior is more aggressive, especially if they are called to protect the values of the circle. Thus gender endings reinforce Lakota philosophy.

The Lakota language also reflects the Lakota environment. It affirms spirituality. It supports music, dance, good times, sad times. All those feelings are in it. Lakota teachers need to steep themselves in their language. A Lakota speaker needs to feel and understand every word in order to express true emotions.

Before World War II our people were conditioned to read and to write the Lakota language. Through this process, the language changed to reflect the Christian perspective of early missionaries. Words began to have as many as four different interpretations. For example, waa, used as a noun, means "energy." It teaches that all creation has the power to give life or to take it away. Christians understood this word to mean "something sacred." Anthropologists translated waa as "mystery." In such ways traditional Lakota meanings get corrupted and, eventually, lost. Lakota speakers in the classroom become fearful and uneasy when they hear a traditional translation. Their fear reminds me of my own struggles when I first started teaching the language. The language I spoke, although it was Lakota, reflected a Catholic philosophy. At that time I, too, was afraid of the traditional interpretation of the language. At Catholic boarding schools, I was taught that the traditional language represented evil. Once I had identified that old belief in myself, I could apply my own experience to the classroom. I could see whether a student was Catholic or Episcopalian, and then I could understand his or her perspective. Each would have a different interpretation of the language, and both would fear the traditional translation.

During the 1940s and the 1950s, communities began to deteriorate as Lakota speakers became increasingly dependent on authority figures from churches, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or tribal programs. These circumstances created an ideal setting for alcoholism. When you drank, you could temporarily escape authority and practice a type of independence. Independence is a feature of Lakota tradition, but such alcohol-supported behavior was artificial.

By the 1960s a new culture with its own language had developed—what I call the reservation subculture and the reservation language. Young people thought that this was normal Lakota speech. When I asked students what makuje (I am sick) meant, they responded, "Hangover." When I asked what otehi (difficult to endure) meant, they responded, "You have one hell of a hangover. You are flat broke with absolutely no resources for another drink." This particular culture, which was aggressive and was practiced daily, challenged the other three (Catholic, Episcopalian, Lakota). Today, in an attempt to reverse this change in language, we deliberately use words in their traditional form. Today, we have more powwows, more Sun Dances, more giveaways, more naming ceremonies, more honoring ceremonies. We use our words in settings and situations where they truly belong. It is our hope that, through these community activities, people will feel able to adjust their lifestyles to reflect the true meaning of their language.

In class, I explain the different cultures. My intention is to clarify our current situation. We are all Lakota. In the classroom, I try to explain how the different influences have conditioned students' lives and how that affects them today. I try to make students conscious of what each culture represents. You have a traditional Lakota spirituality. You have a Catholic spirituality. You have an Episcopalian spirituality. You should respect each other and honor each other's choices. I honor my people and respect them. Whatever decisions they have made I will honor.

This new approach has forced me to redefine my role as a language instructor. As an instructor, I realize that I have to demonstrate Lakota values and morals in my own daily life so that students not only learn the Lakota words but also see examples of what I am teaching. I find that this work, though challenging, frees me from concepts and uses of my language that I never chose. It is a process of deconditioning and liberation. Our language was invaded, just as our lands were. We need to bring back our language with all its spiritual values and its moral force, just as we fight to reclaim the Black Hills and the other sacred sites within our domain.





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