Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

used by those ''

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

people in the US, and by the

Stoney People The Nakoda (also known as Stoney or ) are an Indigenous people in Western Canada and, originally, the United States. They used to inhabit large parts of what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana, but their reserves are now located in Albe ...

, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Assiniboine branched off from the

Great Sioux Nation The Great Sioux Nation is the traditional political structure of the Sioux in North America. The peoples who speak the Sioux language are considered to be members of the Oceti Sakowin (''Očhéthi Šakówiŋ'', pronounced ) or Seven Council Fire ...

(aka the ''Oceti Sakowin'') long ago and moved further west from the original territory in the woodlands of what is now

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

into the northern and northwestern regions of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

and

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

in the United States, and

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in Canada. In each of the Western Siouan language dialects, ''nakota'', ''dakota'' and ''lakota'' all mean "friend".

Linguistic history

Historically, the tribes belonging to the Sioux nation have generally been classified into three large language groups: *

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

(;

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as ''Teton''), who form the westernmost group. *

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, a ...

, ('' Dakhótiyapi'' - ''Isáŋyathi''

as ''Santee'') originally the easternmost group * ''Nakota'', originally the two central tribes of the Yankton and the Yanktonai, The Assiniboine separated from the Yankton-Yanktonai grouping at an early time. For a long time, very few scholars criticized this classification. In 1978, Douglas R. Parks, A. Wesley Jones, David S. Rood, and

Raymond J. DeMallie Raymond J. DeMallie (October 16, 1946 – April 25, 2021) was an American anthropologist whose work focuses on the cultural history of the peoples of the Northern Plains, particularly the Lakota. His work is informed by interrelated archival, mu ...

engaged in systematic

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

research at the Sioux and Assiniboine reservations to establish the precise dialectology of the Sioux language. They ascertained that both the Santee and the Yankton/Yanktonai referred (and refer) to themselves by the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

"Dakota." The name of ''Nakota'' (or ''Nakoda'') was (and is) exclusive usage of the Assiniboine and of their Canadian relatives, the Stoney. The subsequent academic literature, however, especially if it is not produced by

specialists, has seldom reflected Parks and DeMallie's work. The change cannot be regarded as a subsequent terminological regression caused by the fact that Yankton-Yanktonai people lived together with the Santee in the same reserves. Currently, the groups refer to themselves as follows in their mother tongues: *

Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

– Dakota, Santee, Yankton and Yanktonai * Lakota people - Lakota or Teton Sioux *Nakota - the

Nakoda people The Nakoda (also known as Stoney or ) are an Indigenous people in Western Canada and, originally, the United States. They used to inhabit large parts of what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana, but their reserves are now located in Albe ...

, the

The

includes both the Assiniboine/Stoney and the Lakota/Dakota. and the Stoney

Present trends

Recently the Assiniboine and, especially, the Stoney have begun to minimize the historic separation from the Dakota, claiming a shared identity with the broader Sioux Nation. This can be seen on

's Stoney official Internet sites, for example, in the self-designation of the '' Alexis Nakota ''Sioux'' First Nation'', or in the claim of the ''

'' to their Sioux ancestry and the value of their native language: "As descendants of the great Sioux nations, the Stoney tribal members of today prefer to conduct their conversation and tribal business in the Siouan mother tongue".

's Assiniboine and Stoney tribes also claim identification with the Sioux tradition. The Assiniboine-Stoney tribes have supported recent "pan-Sioux" attempts to revive the native languages. Their representatives attend the annual "Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Language Summits." Since 2008, these have been sponsored by ''Tusweca Tiospaye'' (Dragonfly Community), the Lakota non-profit organization for the promotion and strengthening of the language. They promote a mission of "Uniting the Seven Council Fires to Save the Language".Cf. . The Lakota promoters acknowledge a common origin with the Nakota peoples: 2008's Language Summit was an effort to unite the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota ("Sioux") ''oyate'' (peoples) in both the United States and Canada to revive the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota languages. In the program of the 2009 summit, the list of the tribes forming the "Seven Council Fires" included the Assiniboine and Stoney in the "Fire" of the Yanktonai. (This was the group from which they are said to have separated historically.) Later, the two Nakota tribes were shifted to the end of the list. The wording, "Also includes the Stoney and Assiniboine People," was retaine
2009 Summit

Notes

Sources

* Curtis, Edward Sheriff, ''The North American Indian : being a series of volumes picturing and describing the Indians of the United States, and Alaska'' (written, illustrated, and published by Edward S. Curtis; edited by Frederick Webb Hodge), Seattle, E. S. Curtis ambridge, Mass. : The University Press 1907–1930, 20 v.
Northwestern University
* DeMallie, Raymond J., "Sioux until 1850"; in Raymond J. DeMallie (ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Plains'' (Vol. 13, Part 2, p. 718–760), William C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 2001 () * Guy E. Gibbon, ''The Sioux: the Dakota and Lakota nations'', Malden, Blackwell Publishers, 2003 () * Howard, James H., ''The Canadian Sioux'', Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1984 () * Lewis, M. Paul (a cura di), 2009. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', Sixteenth edition, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/ * Palmer, Jessica D., ''The Dakota peoples: a history of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota through 1863''. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008 () * Parks, Douglas R., DeMallie, Raymond J., "Sioux, Assiniboine and Stoney Dialects: A Classification", ''Anthropological Linguistics'', Special Issue, Florence M. Voegelin Memorial Volume, Vol. 34:1-4 (Spring - Winter, 1992), pp. 233-255 (accessible online a
JSTORE
* Parks, Douglas R. & Rankin, Robert L., "The Siouan languages", in Raymond J. DeMallie (ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Plains'' (Vol. 13, Part 1, p. 94–114), William C. Sturtevant (gen. ed.), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 2001. * Christopher Westhorp, ''Pocket guide to native Americans'', Salamander Books, Londra, 1993 () – Italian edition consulted: ''Indiani. I Pellerossa Tribù per Tribù'', Idealibri, Milan, 1993 (). {{authority control Nakoda (Stoney) First Nations in Alberta First Nations in Saskatchewan Native American tribes in Montana Plains tribes Algonquian ethnonyms Siouan peoples