Lakota (language)

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Lakota (Lakȟótiyapi)

Spoken in

United States
Linguistic
classification
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

sio

ISO 639-3

lkt

former spread of the native languages ​​of North America
Junior Garcia, a Lakota Nation activist and teacher, speaks Lakota

The Lakota language (also Lakhota) or Lakȟótiyapi in Lakota belongs to the family of Sioux languages ​​spoken by the Lakota tribe . The Dakota dialects (Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee-Sisseton) are closely related in terms of language and the speakers understand each other without any problems. In the film Dances with Wolves (Lkt .: Šuŋgmánitu tȟáŋka ób wačhí) one can hear authentic - and partly correct - Lakota. The Indians in the RTL remake of the Winnetou trilogy speak Lakota semi-authentically. However, Winnetou is a Mescalero Apache. In reality, this Indian tribe speaks the Mescalero-Chiricahua language.

Number of speakers and language situation

The Lakota, like all Sioux languages, is acutely threatened with extinction. There are perhaps five or six thousand speakers of the Lakota today, but the numbers are rather optimistic. Most of the speakers are middle or advanced in age. There are almost no children left who learn Lakota as their mother tongue.

Unlike many smaller languages, Lakota has a realistic chance of survival. A milestone is the standardization of the written language through SLO (Standard Lakota Orthography). The Lakota Language Consortium has published textbooks in SLO for Lakota as a second language since 2004, along with a curriculum for schools and training for teachers. At the moment the books for the first to fourth grades have been published, the fifth book is in progress.

Another success is the first animated film in Lakota in 2011 (and also the first animated film in an Indian language in the USA at all), Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe ( The Compassionate Bear Family ) - a synchronization of the Berenstain Bears .

distribution

Lakota is spoken almost exclusively on the Indian reservations in South Dakota west of the Missouri River . There is also a small reserve in Canada where Lakota is still spoken. The Lakota people living outside the reservations almost never speak Lakota.

The alphabet of the Lakota

A a Aŋ aŋ B b Č č Čh čh Č 'č' E e G g
Ǧ ǧ H h Ȟ ȟ I i Iŋ iŋ K k Kh kh Kȟ kȟ
K 'k' L l M m N n O o P p Ph ph Pȟ pȟ
P 'p' S s Š š T t Th th Tȟ tȟ T 't' U u
Uŋ uŋ W w Y y Z z Ž ž '

Language typology

The Lakota is one of the so-called polysynthetic languages , in which different particles can be connected with a basic word (which also includes agglutination ). These particles can be inserted before, after or within a compound word. The Lakota does not have a system of division into times (past, present, future) that is comparable to the European languages , but it does have other ways of expressing times and especially the different aspects . The actual distinction is that between the aspects "factual / realis" (usually corresponds to what "has already happened" - the past) and "non-factual / unrealis" (what has not yet occurred, what is desired, requested or feared, etc. , so often about the future - the future tense). The 3rd person singular of the verb is the basic form. Adjectives are behind the noun , whereby it should be noted that there are no adjectives per se, because they are actually verbs (or, more precisely, one-word sentences) that comment on the noun (the head or topic ) Make a statement. The particles ( clitica ) with which certain things (e.g. aspects, commands, doubts, frequency / habituality of what happens, etc.) are expressed can vary depending on the gender of the speaker. Yelo [yeló] is what a man says at the end of a statement to emphasize it (affirmative), k (i) sto [kštó] is what a woman says (but much less often according to her traditional gender role). Affirmative particles of this kind have found an echo in popular Indian literature and in related films when you find an Indian Howgh, I've spoken! lets say.

Phonology

As far as the phonology of the Lakota is concerned, it should be noted that there are nasalized and non-nasalized vowels [a,], [iŋ], [u,], and for most consonants there is an opposition between aspirated and non-aspirated or glottalized and not -glottalized consonants. The glottalization is the pronunciation of a consonant with a larynx closure (" glottal beat "). Examples, for example for / k /, are: [k] [k '] [kh] and [kȟ] for unaspirated, glottalized, aspirated or aspirated with a throat sound. The "k" in Lakota z. B. is "guttural" aspirated in the last-mentioned way: [Lakȟóta] (therefore sometimes also written "Lakhota"), the word for "turtle" _khéya_ is spoken with a "normal" aspirated (breathed) "k", the definite one Article "kiŋ" (or "ki") contains an unaspirated "k", which is pronounced like voiceless [g] and "give something to someone". "K'ú" contains a glottal stop, something like in "Flu g-u nterricht" . The “h” is breathy like in German, another “h” (often written with a point above) is pronounced [ȟ] or [x] (as in the German word “Rache”). Intervowel "g" (often written with a point above) is pronounced [ǧ], a sound that does not exist in High German: a voiced throat friction sound (guttural fricative), similar to the / r / in French "car" (denn) or similar to the pronunciation of / g / in some German dialects, e.g. B. in Berlin: "ick sa g e (sa ɤ ɘ) dir".

See also

literature

  • Rebecca Netzel: Sioux / Lakota. Word for word (=  gibberish . Volume 193 ). 3. Edition. Reise Know-How Verlag Rump, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-8317-6445-7 .
  • Jan Ullrich: Lakota Grammar Handbook by Lakota Language Consortium, 2016. ISBN 978-1-941461-11-2
  • Jan Ullrich: New Lakota Dictionary. Lakȟótiyapi-English / English-Lakȟótiyapi & Incorporating the Dakota dialects of Yankton-Yanktonai & Santee-Sisseton. Lakota Language Consortium, Bloomington IN 2008, ISBN 978-0-9761082-9-0 .
  • David S. Rood, Allan R. Taylor: Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan Language. In: William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 17: Ives Goddard (Ed.): Languages. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 1996, ISBN 0-16-048774-9 , pp. 440-482.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arno Frank: Strong "Winnetou" remake: "Deutscher, hm?" - "Jawoll!" Spiegel Online , December 22, 2016, accessed on August 19, 2017 .
  2. ^ Website of The Lakota Language Consortium , accessed August 19, 2017.
  3. ↑ Antonia Zerbisias: Can dubbing a cartoon help save a language? Toronto Star , September 23, 2011, accessed August 19, 2017.
    Jacki Lyden: Berenstain Bears Reconnect Sioux To Native Language . Interview with Sunshine Archambault-Carlow on National Public Radio (NPR), September 26, 2011, accessed on August 19, 2017.