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That’s funny. But at least she was trying. Just like with our fumbling around with Lakota, it’s not the best, but it was better than doing nothing with a list of 300 measly words and a lot of unintelligible linguist-eze. Even getting criticized for that keeps the ball rolling. And we’ve gotten criticized for translating a prayer to a different, but related language, then swapping in the Tutelo words we have, but the amazing thing was, the prayer ended up being 75% Tutelo words, with Tutelo conjugations that were intelligible and proper word order because the translator was familiar with those conjugation patterns from Omaha she knew.
And it does give a real big warm fuzzy buzz to take those words to an old site and say them out loud. Definitely feels appreciated.
It would good to rewrite those words using Lakota simplified spelling instead of all those accent marks and other linguist products.
Lakota uses simple letters to express with no special markings, in order to help preserve it..
Just a little FYI. I was a French major in college and kept my roommate from failing her Spanish class by helping her translate the Spanish which I never had. The languages are not too different.
Techteach
The Biloxi language died out in the early 20th century. The Biloxi got absorped by the Tunica–I believe they spoke different languages but used French as their ‘common’ language.
I found an interesting page on Siouan languages:
http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz/faq/language.htm#Siouan
I found another site here:
http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/workshops/indian/session4_lesson28.html
This one word, O’ka (Made) is conjugated. The conjugation has some vague similarities to the Ma Verb conjugation rules in Lakota.
I guess that there might be Verb conjugation that works like Wa verbs as well.
In regards to Tutelo at 6 Nations…alot is known through Hale’s book and the Spirit Adoption Ceremony book. In regards to speakign now…some words etc. are known in different ways (ceremonies etc) but no one goes around speaking it like Mohawk or something.
This is waht I know (with people Iknow from 6 Nations). If I am wrong in any way, please let me know and your source thanks (meaning how youknow differently, I dont need to know specific person, š )
Deb š
Hey Deb, good to see ya!
In answer to Spilleddi’s question, I would like to keep it simple & stick pretty close to the language our Saponi ancestors probably spoke, even if it is incomplete. Learning the same words & phrases together, and practicing them with each other here sounds like a fun way to participate in revitalizing at least some of the language. I don’t mind the vocabulary being limited, as long as it is consistent. Songs and prayers frequently have few words, anyway.
The prayer translation was awesome & I appreciate the time and effort it took to do that. But I have no idea how to read it.
Pilahuk,
Bee
Linda,
You have a good point. We should look at languages that are still active and share in their vision of keeping it alive.
David Little Elk has a Lakota study course that’s reasonably priced. I have seen some of his work and I believe that his knowledge of the language proves that it did come from or is directly related to the Saponi and eastern Siouan languages. (Except maybe Lumbee.) I have seen his use of the single syllable words and they are the same as Saponi. Migration and the evolution of the language is what have made them all seem different. One English word in use today is a good example. “Furmiliar” is becoming used so much on TV that the new generations will actually think that it’s a word! By butchering the pronunciation you loose the base word.
David Little Elk lives in Berlin and teaches Lakota. By learning Lakota, if Germany ever tries to take over the world we will at least know the language. If you learn Lakota you will be able to adapt it to the other Siouan languages.
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