Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

infix(Lakota gloss included)

From:Brandon Denny <brandonjdenny@...>
Date:Thursday, March 22, 2001, 0:59
In a message dated 3/21/01 4:56:36 PM Central Standard Time, 
daniel.andreasson@TELIA.COM writes:


> <clipped> > Very interesting. I didn't know _lakota_ meant 'friendly'. > Is _yelo_ obligatory? What does it mean? The translation > of 'I am Lakota' that I have says it's just _malákota_. > > And what do you mean with (statement, m)? That the _ma-_ > prefix is the 1SG pronoun used for states? Or is it _yelo_ > that implies some kind of statement? > > How come you know Lakota? > > daniel > >
As for learning Lakota, I am Lakota, although I lived outside the Reservation. (Which is in South Dakota, USA. I live in Nebraska , USA) I've picked up the rudiments of the language from relatives and books, and study all facets of the culture. Lakota uses enclitics to tell additional information. Lakota was never a written language, and developed a way to indicate certain information by adding a "word" or two (or seven) at the end of a statement. Lakota has changed roughly three times in the past 150 years. The first time it was changed to make the writting of it easier, but the second drift emphasized a more anglicized word order. Lakota is basically the same as Dakota, and Nakota except for the obvious differing pronunciation of the L-sound. The full list of enclitics is rather complicated and as no one I know locally speaks Lakota, I'll rely on memory, IIRC there are seven classes of enclitics, but here are the most common ones. yelo (welo if the last letter of the prceeding word is a U, )-statement/ it is a fact. I usually write this as "statement, m" as a way to differentiate it from the female-speaker statement enclitic (which escapes my memory right now because it was lost in the first language drift). Hu?wo, huwo, hwo (modern pronunciation is basically whoa)-question. Often translated as meaning. "I-am-asking-a-question-and-I-am-male". In modern practice this is used by men only for formal questions. he-informal, question. Often translated as meaning. "I-am-asking-a-question-and-I-am-female". In modern use this is used by both genders, but use it all the time, and men only use in informal situations. yo/wo-imperative, male speaker. (there are actually 5 or 6 versions, male and female, depending on whether it is a directed to a group, couple etc., command, simple request, complex request or even a plead. ye/we-imperative, female speaker. (as above) kta/kte-future (situation has not occured). Han-continuing imperfective of the verb (ing) sni, shni-not s?a-usually, habitual verb form ka-sort of la-endearment, or just a smaller version of the sentance's noun. There are more ways to indicate verb aspect and subjunctive mood, but they escape me right now. Many people seem to choose male-speaker enclitic exclusively nowadays. The enclictics are also added in a specific order, but I'll skip that can of worms for now. For example, Don't do that, or Knock it off: He cusni ye that do not I-am-giving-an-order-to-a-single-person(you)-and-I-am-a-female-speaker He cusni yo that do not I-am-giving-an-order-to-a-single-person(you)-and-I-am-a-male-speaker Hope that answers your questions, thanks Brandon DW

Reply

SMITH,MARCUS ANTHONY <smithma@...>