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Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan Language. Pt.II

DAVID S. ROOD AND ALLAN R. TAYLOR

Handbook of North American Indians, Vol.17 (Languages), pp.440-482.

Copyright 1996 by Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

9. Verbs

9.1. Sentence and Affix Types

9.1.1. Impersonal Verbs

9.1.2. Stative Verbs

9.1.3. Stative transitive Verbs

9.1.4. Active intransitive Verbs

9.1.5. Active transitive Verbs

9.1.6. Verbs Requiring Three Complements

9.2. Verbal Derivation

9.2.1. Complex Stem Formation

9.2.2. Class-changing Processes

9.2.2.1. Causatives

9.2.2.2. Inceptives

9.2.2.3. Deactivization or Stativization

9.3. Verb Inflection

9.3.1. Stative Affixes

9.3.2. Object Affixes

9.3.3. Active Subject Affixes

9.3.4. Two-affix Combinations

9.3.5. Irregular Verbs

9.3.6. Reflexive Verbs

9.3.7. Reciprocal Verbs

9.3.8. Reflexive Possessive, Dative, and Benefactive Verbs

9.3.8.1. Reflexive Possessive

9.3.8.2. Dative

9.3.8.3. Benefactive

10. Enclitics

11. Selected Vocabulary

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9. Verbs

Because it is the only obligatory element in the sentence, the verb is the most important kind of word in Lakhota. It is also the most complex. Analyzing verbs requires taking into account three different kinds of information: in what kinds of sentences a given verb may occur, what affixes or other markings a given verb may have, and how a verb may be expanded or changed in its basic meaning.

9.1. Sentence and Affix Types

Part of the meaning of every Lakhota verb is a specification of the number of “participants” (the technical term is “arguments”), or things to which nominals or pronominal affixes can refer, in the event the verb describes. Simple sentences can, depending on the verbal category, imply zero, one, two, or three participants.

Verbs that imply one participant are in turn divided into two groups, depending somewhat on what they mean. If the verb describes an activity over which its participant has control, or which the participant can carry out willfully, it will select an affix from the set that marks the subject (technically, “agent”) of a two-participant sentence. But if the situation described by the verb involves no will or control on the part of its participant, then that participant will be marked as if it were the object (technically: “patient”) of a two-argument verb. These semantic definitions are not perfectly reliable, and occasionally a verb takes affixes that seem to belong logically to the other category. For example, ní ‘to be alive, not dead’ takes agent forms, while kį'za ‘squeak, as a mouse does’ takes patient forms. See Legendre and Rood (1992) for a detailed discussion of these two classes.

Verbs thus fall into several classes according to their participant types: impersonal (no participants), stative (one objectlike participant), active intransitive (one subjectlike participant), transitive (two participants), and ditransitive (three participants). There is also a sixth class with very few members that ‘takes two objectlike participants: this class is called “stative transitive.” These verbs are so rare that “stative” will be used consistently for the one-participant statives in what follows, and “transitive” for “active transitive.”

9.1.1. Impersonal Verbs

Impersonal verbs do not take any personal affixes. Most of them are limited semantically to expressions of natural states such as the weather or the time of day. Examples include:

There is also a small number of impersonal verbal expressions that refer to speaker-perceived states such as obligations, necessity, apparentness, and the like. Here are examples with the verbs phíča, iyéčheča, s^?eléčheča, and héčha:

These verbs can all be used with stative personal affixes, but with somewhat different meanings. For example, with personal affixes héčha means ‘to be such a one’ and phíča means ‘to be glad’.

9.1.2. Stative Verbs

Stative verbs ordinarily describe states or conditions. They are most reliably identified not by their meaning, but by the personal affixes they take. ‘I’ and ‘you’ with stative verbs are always expressed by ma and ni respectively. (Further details of affixation are given in 9.3.)

Examples of stative verbs are khúžA ‘nauseated’ (makhúže ‘I am nauseated’), í-puza ‘thirsty’ (í-mapúza ‘I am thirsty’), wašté ‘good’ (niwášte ‘you are good’), and zí ‘yellow; pale’ (nizí ‘you are pale’).

Almost all nouns can also be used as stative verbs identifying the noun, although the verb héčha ‘to be such a one’ can also provide this meaning:

9.1.3. Stative transitive Verbs

Some transitive verbs (see 9.1.) permit two patients in their semantics. Most common among of them is itháwa ‘own’ (see 8.4.1.), with which one can say Nimíthawa ‘you are mine’. Other examples are iyénimačheča ‘you look like me’ and iyónimakiphi ‘l find you congenial’. Additional examples are given in Boas and Deloria (1941:77).

9.1.4. Active intransitive Verbs

Active intransitive verbs are, like stative verbs, restricted to sentences with one participant; but these verbs take the affixes wa ‘I’ and ya ‘you’ (or variants thereof, see 9.3.), instead of ma and ni. Semantically, most of these verbs describe actions that the subject can perform. Examples include hí ‘arrive’ (wahí ‘I have arrived’), wačhí ‘dance’ (wawáčhi ‘I dance’), okíhi ‘be able’ (oyákihi ‘you can’), and nážį ‘stand’ (nayážį ‘you stand’).

9.1.5. Active transitive Verbs

Active transitive verbs require two participants in their sentences, an agent (subject) and a patient (object). Consequently they also permit two affixes to occur with them (inflectional details are given in 9.3.). Examples include wąyą'kA ‘see’, aphÁ ‘hit’, slolyÁ ‘know’, iyéyA ‘find’, and kté ‘kill’.

Many Lakhota transitive verbs correspond to English verbs that are optionally transitive. For example, in English people say ‘we are eating now’ or ‘we are eating meat’; the first sentence uses ‘eat’ intransitively, the second uses it transitively. Very few Lakhota verbs have this option. Two that do are škátA ‘play’ or ‘play a game’ and hąblé ‘dream’ or ‘dream about’. A Lakhota transitive verb that is used as an intransitive verb ordinarily requires the prefix wa-, which attributes an indefinite or implied object to the verb: naĥ^?ų' ‘to hear’, wanáĥ^?ų ‘to listen; to obey’; manú ‘to steal an object’, wamánu ‘to steal things’. In some cases this wa- is concealed by sound changes: yútA ‘to eat’, but wótA ‘to eat a meal’; iwą'yąkA ‘to examine, look at’; wíwąyąkA ‘to examine things; to make a judgment.’

9.1.6. Verbs Requiring Three Complements

Finally, there are a few Lakhota verbs that require three participants in their sentences. Verbs of this kind are k^?ú ‘to give something to someone’ and lá ‘to ask someone for something’.

Actually, most transitive and active and some stative verbs permit an indirect object (8.) in their sentence, but in this case the form of the verb itself is changed to show that a third participant has been added (9.3.8.).

9.2. Verbal Derivation

9.2.1. Complex Stem Formation

Lakhota speakers freely form compound verb stems for special meanings. Usually this is accomplished by prefixing a noun, an adverb, or another verb to the basic root. Thus from wayáwa ‘to read; to attend school’ and glí ‘to arrive home, coming’ is derived wayáwa-glí ‘to have come home from school’; with iglúštĄ ‘to finish for oneself is formed wayáwa-iglúštĄ ‘to have finished school’, and so on. Some other examples include:

šųň^?ákąyąkA (šų'ka ‘horse’, aką' ‘on’, yąkÁ ‘sit’) ‘to ride horseback’

ločhį' (lo ‘food’, not used as a free form today, and čhį' ‘want’) ‘to be hungry’

wakšíyužaža (wakšíča ‘dishes’, yužáža ‘to wash’) ‘to wash dishes’

í-puza (í ‘mouth’, púzA ‘be dry’) ‘to be thirsty’

In addition to these more or less obvious compounds, complex stems are often formed with prefixes. The first set of these prefixes sometimes, but not always, has adverbial meanings: i- ‘with, instrumental’, o- ‘inside’, a- ‘on the surface of: because of’, khi- ‘at the middle’.

Examples of these prefixes are:

iyátkĄ (yatkĄ' ‘to drink’) ‘to drink with, to use for drinking’

othó (thó ‘to be blue or green’) ‘to be bruised’

onáphA (naphÁ ‘to run away, to flee’) ‘to flee into’

apáĥpa (paĥpá ‘to push over’) ‘to push over onto’

aléžA (léžA ‘to urinate’) ‘to urinate on’

ačhą'tešičA ‘to be sad because of’ (čhątéšičA ‘to be sad’)

khičáksA (kaksÁ ‘sever by striking’) ‘to break in the middle by striking’

khiwápsakA (wapsákA ‘to sever a string’) ‘to cut a string in two’

The meaning that has been added by the prefix is not always easy to specify. Compare, for example, ománi ‘to travel’ and máni ‘to walk’: ayúštĄ ‘to leave alone’ and yuštĄ' ‘to finish’.

In a few cases, verbs exist only with the prefix; an equivalent form without the prefix cannot be found. An example of this is alí ‘to climb on, to step on’.

Another set of prefixes has clear instrumental meaning. Seven of these are used very frequently; an eighth appears rarely. The instrumental prefixes often appear together with one of the adverbial prefixes just discussed.

In some cases the prefixes are added to verbs that are also used without the instrumental prefixes. In other cases (probably in most), an equivalent verb without the prefix is not used. The prefixes, with examples, are given beginning with the rather rare prefix pu-:

ka is also used in verbs that refer to action of wind, or other more or less spontaneous actions:

na- is used in verbs that refer to action accomplished by heat. It is also used when the action occurs by spontaneous inner force:

wo- is also used in verbs that refer to action by blowing:

yu- is also used in verbs that have a general causative meaning (9.2.2.1).

9.2.2. Class-changing Processes

The verbs that fit into the categories in 9.1. may either belong there inherently or be brought into that category by a derivational process. Thus, for instance, stative and intransitive verbs may be made transitive (‘be sick’ changes to ‘make sick’ or ‘sing’ changes to ‘cause to sing’ or ‘let sing’). The indefinite object prefix wa (9.1.4.) could be listed here, too, as a device-for changing transitive verbs into active intransitives.

9.2.2.1. Causatives

Lakhota stative and intransitive verbs are made transitive by means of a causative construction. Transitive verbs may also be made causative, in which case they become ditransitive verbs. There are three causative constructions:

1) Stative verbs that describe size or shape (so that the change being caused is one of degree, not of kind) and verbs of value judgment are made causative with the instrumental prefix yu (9.2.1.):

2a) Stative verbs that refer to other kinds of conditions are made causative by using the suffixed auxiliary -yA; -yA is an active verb. Examples:

An interesting illustration of the meaning differences between (1) and (2a) is the root ská ‘be white’, which accepts both causatives: yuská means ‘to clean; to make whiter’, while skayÁ means ‘to paint white; to whiten’.

Many of the verbs that take -yÁ for the general causative also take instrumental prefixes for special kinds of causative meaning; in these cases -yA is not used. Thus, from khúžA ‘to be nauseated’ can be derived yukhúžA ‘to harass someone until he becomes sick’ and yakhúžA ‘to talk someone into being sick’.

2b) Active and transitive verbs may also be made causative with -yA if the causation was accidental or unintentional or indirect:

čhį' ‘want’, čhįyÁ ‘to cause to want’ (for example, to cause someone to want food by eating in front of him)

mağážu ‘to rain’, mağážuyA ‘to cause to rain’ (for example, by doing something unusual; a lazy person suddenly beginning to work hard is said to make it rain)

yuhá ‘to have’, yuháyA ‘to cause someone to have (perhaps by leaving it behind at his house)’

čhéyA ‘to cry’, čhéyeyA ‘to cause to cry (by telling a sad story, perhaps)’.

Some verbs with the causative auxiliary -yA have no currently used non-causative. Such are slolyÁ ‘to know’ and iyéyA ‘to find’.

3) When the causation is intentional, or when there is no desire to stop the action, active verbs are made causative by use of the active auxiliary verb -khiyA. English translations are more often ‘let’ than ‘make’:

čhéyekhiyA ‘to let cry (without trying to stop)’

yuhákhiyA ‘to let have (carry); to have carry’

ókiyekhiyA ‘to let help’.

If a transitive verb is used with -khiyA, the main verb as well as the auxiliary may take affixes (the main verb takes object affixes only):

9.2.2.2. Inceptives

Moving into the state designated by a stative verb is indicated in two different ways. Either ki- is prefixed to the verb, or the auxiliary verb áyA is used. Probably áyA is the verb ‘to bring’, since other verbs of bringing and taking also occasionally mean ‘begin to’, but in this construction it functions like a stative verb. In fact although the meaning shift for this construction seems to be from stative to active intransitive, the formal affixation pattern for both the derived and underived constructions remains that of stative verbs. Examples are:

In some cases a verb can be used with both, but with different meanings:

In most instances, ki- imparts a meaning of inevitable change into the state mentioned by the verb, change over which the referent has no control.

9.2.2.3. Deactivization or Stativization

There is no obvious formal process whereby active verbs may be shifted to the stative category. (In English this is done by the use of passive participles: break->be broken, find->be found, etc.) Such notions are expressed in Lakhota by using the third-person plural subject form (marked by pi after the verb) of an active transitive verb: ‘they broke it’, ‘they found him’, etc.

However, there is some syntactic evidence that pi in this construction is genuinely a passive marker rather than the subject pluralizer. With verbs like ‘seem’, most linguists agree that the subject of ‘seem’ and the subject of its complement have to be the same. Thus in ‘She seemed to hit him’ and ‘She seemed to have been hit’, "she" is the subject of both verbs in both sentences even when, logically, “she” is the recipient or patient of the second one. If this is so, then in the Lakhota sentence amápha pi s^?elémačheča ‘I seem to have been hit’, ma rather than pi must represent the subject of amápha pi. Obviously, this analysis relies on a very specific notion of  “subject.” This notion has not yet been well explored for Lakhota.

9.3. Verb Inflection

Lakhota verbs may be inflected to indicate the person and number of subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, and possessors of objects. Inflection involves the addition of affixes to the verb. Note that “affix” is used here as a cover term for prefix, suffix, and infix; an infix is an element inserted into a stem. Many of the inflectional morphemes in Lakhota are either prefixed or infixed, depending on the verb. Sometimes the infixing is only apparent, as when the inflection follows a derivational prefix such as na- ‘by means of the foot’. Thus a sequence like na-wá-t^?e ‘I killed it with my foot’ (from nat^?é ‘to die or kill by means of foot action’) technically consists of two prefixes and a root. However, there are many cases where the inflectional morpheme is inserted into an otherwise (synchronically) unanalyzable stem, such as máni ‘to walk’ (mawáni ‘I walk’), or ophéthų ‘to buy’ (ophéwathų ‘I buy/bought it’), or wičháša ‘man’ (wimáčhaša ‘I am a man’). In accord with Lakhota grammatical tradition and (most) native-speaker intuition, all the inserted inflectional elements are here called “infixes,” and both these infixes and all the prefixes are called “affixes.”

In addition to affixes, all verbal paradigms make use of the enclitic pi to mark a plural argument. An enclitic is like a suffix, except that it is a separate word.

The discussion of verb inflection can be divided into 10 subtopics: stative affixes, object affixes, active subject affixes, two-affix constructions, irregular paradigms, reflexives, reciprocal constructions, reflexive possessive, dative constructions, and benefactive constructions.

9.3.1. Stative Affixes

The basic paradigm has positions for three persons and three numbers, although the dual is available only for the first-person inclusive subject (‘you and I’, but not ‘he and I’). It is tempting to analyze the ų(k) without pi (the dual) as “inclusive singular” and thus make pi a consistent marker of the plural. This analysis must be rejected because pi is added to all objects (not stative subjects), both dual and plural, and pi neutralizes the inclusive/exclusive distinction.

In the third person, plural is marked for animate nouns only; inanimate plurals are marked by reduplication of the verb stem (see 4.3.2.8.). When the plural refers to human beings there is yet another distinction: distributive versus collective. “Distributive plurals” focus on plurality as a collection of separate individuals, while “collective plurals” focus on persons whose identities are fused into a group. An English noun with just these kinds of meanings is the word “family.” When the verb used with family is singular (My family is waiting for me), the noun is collective in meaning. When the verb is plural (My family are all living in California now), the meaning is distributive. Many Lakhota verbs do not have collective forms; when such forms do not exist, the distributive plural forms are used instead. The collective sense is not necessarily lost in such cases, since a noun with collective meaning (or a quantifier such as oyás^?į ‘all of a collective human group’) may also be present in the sentence.

Here are the personal affixes used in the inflection of stative verbs.

0 means that there is no affix for that person.

ų(k) is written in this way to indicate that ų is used if any consonant but /^?/ follows the affix, while ųk appears if a vowel or /^?/ follows.

There are three patterns for the placement of these affixes in the verb: all affixes are prefixed: all affixes are infixed: ųk is prefixed and the others are infixed. Here are sample paradigms of each type:

The stative paradigm is completely regular: there are no further subtypes within this conjugation. In particular, verbs such as yąkÁ ‘to sit,’ of which the first-person form is mąké, are not stative. See the description of active nasal stems in 9.3.3., and note that when an object affix appears on this verb in the construction described at the end of 8.5.3., the form is mayą'ke.

One further remark about the use of the stative verb inflection is in order. Stative verb affixes are regularly used to identify the possessor of an inalienably possessed noun (8.4.1.) that is the subject of a stative verb:

9.3.2. Object Affixes

The paradigm for transitive objects (assuming a third-person singular subject) is almost like that for stative verb subjects, but there are two differences: first, there is no collective versus distributive distinction: the collective affix of the stative paradigm is used for all animate plural objects. Second, there is no separate form for the dual; pi is used with ų(k) whenever it marks the object. Here are the object affixes:

The placement of these affixes follows the same three patterns observed with the stative verbs: ų(k) may be prefixed while the others are infixed, or all may follow the same pattern. Here are three paradigms:

9.3.3. Active Subject Affixes

The active subject affixes come in three slightly different paradigms, all of which have the same positional arrangements (prefix, infix, mixed). The three paradigms differ only in the form of the affixes used for ‘I’ and ‘you’. The remainder of the subject affixes are as in the stative paradigm except that motion verbs have a rather than wičhá as the affix of the collective plural. Note that ų(k) may mark either subject or object; its correct meaning has to be read from another affix or from the context. In y-stems, the y- changes to /l/ after first-person singular b- and disappears after l- in the second person. Actually, both y-stem and nasal-stem affixes are probably to be derived from the wa- and ya- of regular verbs by a series of phonological rules involving loss of the vowel of the affix and subsequent consonant assimilations. For detailed discussion, see Carter (1974:130-154) and Koontz (1983).

Here is a chart of the three sets or active subject affixes:

The inflectional paradigm that is used for each active verb is partially predictable. For example, the affixes of paradigm 2 (y-stem) are used most often with verbs that have /y/ followed by an oral vowel at the point where the affix is added: the affixes of paradigm 3 (nasal stem) are used most often with verbs that have /y/ or /^?/, followed by a nasalized vowel at the point where the affix is added. There are a few exceptions to these general rules.

Given below are paradigms of verbs with active affixes. No attempt is made to illustrate the prefix-infix-mixed types, since the variations are exactly the same as for the stative or object affix paradigm types.

Examples of Paradigm I (regular)

slolyÁ ‘know’ (looks like y-stem, inflected regularly)

Examples of Paradigm 2 (y-stem)

Note that /ą/ is changed to /a/ following /l/ in the ‘I’ and ‘you’ forms.

Examples of Paradigm 3 (nasal stem)

Note that some of the forms of this verb are identical to some forms of ^?ų' ‘exist’.

Note that most forms of this verb have the loss of /a^?/ described in 4.3.1.3.

Verbs of motion utilize a collective prefix a different from that of other intransitive verbs. If the verb begins with i, the prefix a coalesces with the initial i of the stem to yield é:

áye ‘they went (collective)’; compare yá pi ‘they went (distributive)’

éyaye ‘they (collective) started out, going’; compare iyáya pi (distributive)  compare iyáya pi (distributive)

énažį ‘they (collective) went and stood’; compare inážį pi (distributive)

9.3.4. Two-affix Combinations

Transitive verbs take two affixes whenever the subject and object are grammatical persons marked by affixes. The same is true of stative transitive verbs (9.1.3.). When two affixes are present, the usual order is first the object affix, then the subject affix. Another description of the order of sequence in the affixes would be (third person) (second person) (first person). This would eliminate rule 3 below, but not rule 1 in all cases. Similarly, describing the order as (third) (first) (second) would eliminate rule 1. but not rule 3. The object-subject description seems better, since there are other ways in which ų(k) is exceptional (e.g., prefixing to verbs where other affixes infix).

The combinations of affixes that appear are usually as given in the object and subject paradigms outlined in 9.3.2. and 9.3.3., but there are some additional complexities that cannot be predicted from a simple blending of the two sets. The complexities involve the affixes, some verb stems, and the enclitic pluralizer pi.

With respect to the affix combinations, the following rules apply:

1) ų(k) precedes all affixes but wičha

2) The combination of ‘I’ subject and ‘you’ object is represented in transitive verbs by a single affix: čhi.

3) In the stative transitive verbs, ni always precedes ma, regardless of the grammatical functions of the affixes. The meaning of verbal forms of this kind is therefore ambiguous.

4) y-stem or nasal stem transitive verbs with ‘you’ subject and ‘me’ or ‘us’ object have yal or yan, respectively, for ‘you’.

Verbs that require ų(k) prefixed, but the others inserted, present a problem, since ų(k) must follow wičha, and inserted affix. In the speech of some persons this apparent contradiction is resolved by inserting both in the proper order, but repeating the entire verb stem after ų(k). An example can be given using the verb oyúspA ‘to arrest': owíčhųkoyuspa pi ‘we arrested them’. Note that wičha is inserted after o, as required for this verb, and at the same time ų(k) precedes o as is also required by this particular verb. However, many persons simply insert both affixes, ignoring the apparent contradiction of not having ų(k) before o. In the speech of these persons, the correct form is owíčhųyuspa pi.

Pluralization can appear only once in each verbal form. Hence, either affix, or both simultaneously, may be pluralized by pi. Many verbal forms containing pi and affixes that may be either singular or plural are thus ambiguous, and only the context can indicate which participants are actually plural. For example ųkóyuspa pi can mean ‘we arrested him’, ‘he arrested us’, or ‘they arrested us’. iyé^?ųyą pi kte can mean either ‘you (sing.) will find us’or ‘you (pl.) will find us’.

The combinations of affixes that occur in transitive verbs are shown in table 5

NOTE: First-person b- and m- and second-person (ya)l- and (ya)n- occur with y-stem and nasal-stem verbs, respectively. See 9.3. for further explanation.

9.3.5. Irregular Verbs

There are some verbs that have irregularities of one or another kind in their inflection. Among the most frequent are the verbs eyÁ ‘to say’ and its derivatives, the verb yútA ‘to eat’, and various motion verbs, especially yÁ and verbs based on it.

The transitive verb eyÁ ‘to say’ is conjugated as follows: note the stress shift in the third-person singular:

A derivative of eyÁ, eyáyalaka ‘to tell lies’, is inflected doubly, with the same irregularities in both places: epháphalaka, etc.

The transitive verb yútA ‘to eat’ has these forms:

The verb yÁ ‘to be going’ normally conjugates according to active Paradigm 2 (9.3.3.): blé, lé, yé, ųyé, ųyą' pi, lá pi, yá pi. However, whenever the syntax of the sentence demands that the final vowel be į (see 4.3.2.6.), the personal affixes are nasalized. Observe the difference between the second-person singular and plural forms of the potential paradigm: in the singular the vowel is į, but in the plural it is a:

The verb iyáyA ‘to set out’ has two sets of subject affixes in the ‘I’ and ‘you’ forms: ibláble, ilále, iyáye, ųkíyaye, ųkíyaya pi, ilála pi, iyáya pi. When this verb is potential, the first affix is as just given, but the second is as in the potential inflection of yÁ alone: iblámni kte, iláni kte, but ilála pi kte. Many Oglalas in the 1990s prefer ibláblį kte, ilálį kte, even though this introduces an unexpected (and unparalleled) /l/ before a nasal vowel.

Another verb that has double inflection is ^?į'yąkA ‘to run’:

Two other motion verbs have two different stem forms, one used when there is no personal affix, the other when there is a personal affix. The two are khiglÁ ‘to set out to go home’ and gličú ‘to set out to come home’. This is the stem form for the third-person forms; the other stems are respectively -khiyaglA and -gliyaču (some speakers say -gliyaku). Compare the following:

9.3.6. Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs are those in which the subject and the object refer to the same person: I cut myself is an English example.

Lakhota reflexive verbs have the affix ič^?i added to the transitive verb: ič^?íkte ‘to kill oneself’ (cf. kté ‘to kill’), ó^?ič^?ičiyA ‘to help oneself’ (cf. ókiyA ‘to help’).

The personal affixes are those of the stative paradigm (9.3.1.). There are no collective plural reflexive forms. See Legendre and Rood (1992) for discussion of the abstract syntax of these forms.

Whenever ič^?i precedes the instrumental prefixes ya, yu, ka, or pa (9.2.1.), the reflexive and instrumental affixes fuse to igla, iglu, igla, and ikpa respectively.

Here are sample paradigms of ič^?íkte ‘to kill oneself’ and iglúžaža ‘to wash oneself’:

There is a second reflexive paradigm (not well studied) in which the initial i- of the affix is doubled, without an inserted [^?]. Its meaning is approximately that the action was not completely under the control of the subject. Compare: namíč^?iĥtake ‘I kicked myself’ with namíič^?iĥtake ‘I could have kicked myself (for something I did)’, or sabmíč^?iye ‘I blackened myself’ with sabmíič^?iye ‘I blackened myself for a reason such as mourning.’

9.3.7. Reciprocal Verbs

The concept ‘each other’ is expressed by the affix -kičhi- (or a variant of this affix) added to transitive verbs. Only dual and plural forms are used, of course. The reciprocal paradigm has these forms:

Whenever these are attached to a stem beginning with ki or khi, that syllable of the verb stem is dropped. Examples of reciprocal verb forms are:

See 4.3.2.3. for a comment on the nasalization of -yą- ‘see’.

9.3.8. Reflexive Possessive, Dative, and Benefactive Verbs

The next three sections of this sketch deal with very complex and highly idiosyncratic features of Lakhota verb inflection. It should be noted that this area of Lakhota grammar is not nearly so well explored as some other areas. Both the morphology and semantics of the paradigms to be discussed are unpredictable and often irregular, and they often vary from community to community and even from speaker to speaker within a community. It is very possible that many unexpected phenomena remain to be discovered here.

The semantic concepts expressed are: reflexive possession (the object of the verb belongs to the subject of the verb), dative (an indirect object, a person other than the subject and object of the verb is affected by the verbal action), and benefactive (one person performs the verbal action for another's benefit or in his place).

The morphological representations of these three are intertwined and often very confusing. The difficulty comes from two facts: the morphemes representing all three concepts have the basic form ki; and some instances of ki lose the /k/ or the /i/ in certain contexts, and some cause a following /k/ to change to /č/ while others do not. Part of the unpredictability appears to result from homonym avoidance: when words from two of the paradigms could be expected to be alike in form, one is often different through some kind of irregularity.

Carter (1974) is able to explain much, but not all, of this complexity by positing in some forms another morpheme with the shape i. This does not explain everything, and it is too abstract an argument for the description here.

When the /i/ of ki is lost before /y/, /k/, or /p/, the resulting clusters are, in the first two cases, /gl/, or in the third, /kp/; the specific places where this happens will be discussed below. When the /k/ is lost, the personal affixes coalesce with the remaining /i/ to give we ‘I’, ye ‘you (agent)’, mi ‘me’, ni ‘you (patient)’, and čhi ‘I to/for you’. These coalesced affixes always take the stress when they are the first element in the word.

9.3.8.1. Reflexive Possessive

The fact that the object of the verb is possessed by the subject is shown in Lakhota by adding ki after the subject affix.

ki is reduced to /k/ alone before a y-stem verb (9.3.3.), and ky becomes /gl/. Ill is also lost from ki before verbs beginning with /p/. When ki is used before the instrumental prefix ka (9.2.1.), the reflexive possessive affix and the instrumental prefix fuse to /gla/.

In the illustrative paradigms that follow, only the singular and dual forms are given. The corresponding plural words can be formed by adding pi to the second and third singular and the dual.

iyéyA ‘to find’

This verb illustrates the behavior of the causative auxiliary (9.2.2.) -yA; before it the possessive ki loses neither k nor i.

kté ‘to kill’

This verb follows the most regular rules: ki loses k after personal affixes.

yuhá ‘to have’

In this verb, ki is reduced to k, which fuses with y to form gl.

kabléča ‘to shatter’

This verb works like yuhá but illustrates the ka- prefix.

pazó ‘show; point’

This verb is a verb with initial /p/.

ičú ‘take’.

This verb requires an extra k after the regular ki.

áyA ‘to take along’

This verb illustrates the verbs of bringing and taking, which prefix glo- to form possessives; regular active affixes are then used:

There are other irregularities in the reflexive possessive that have not been illustrated. Some of these are described by Boas and Deloria (1941:86-102), but note that some of the details they give are not valid for Brule and Oglala speakers in the 1990s.

9.3.8.2. Dative

The dative has one form but, from an English speaker’s point of view, two meanings: the form can mean that the action was done to an object possessed by someone else (‘I took his’, ‘he ate mine’) or that it was done to or for someone else by accident or without his knowledge or permission. This second meaning is sometimes expressed by ‘on’ in colloquial English (‘He ate it up on me’: or ‘His wife emptied the bank account on him.’). Boas and Deloria (1941) and Carter (1974) refer to this as the ‘first dative.’

The regular affix for these forms is again ki, but this ki never loses either the k or the i, nor does it cause a following k of the verb root to change to č, although ks in other prefixes do change.

In verbs of bringing and taking, ka is used instead of ki, and a ki (but an irregular one!) can then also be prefixed (see examples below). Before the causative -yA, khi is used instead of ki. In the sample paradigms that follow, only singular and dual forms are given. As usual, the plural forms differ only by the presence of pi.

9.3.8.3. Benefactive

Benefactive verbal forms imply that the action was undertaken for someone purposefully and with his knowledge and permission. Boas and Deloria (1941) call this the ‘second dative.’ The regular benefactive has ki twice: the first behaves like the reflexive possessive (especially in that k is lost after ‘I’ and ‘you’ affixes), the second like the dative, except that when the first ki is actually present as the first syllable of the word, it is stressed. For example, note kíčikte ‘He killed it for her’.

Note that in the forms for ‘I—you’ (čhi) and ‘he—you’ (ni) the difference between the dative and the benefactive is expressed solely by the stress position: čhičíkte ‘I killed yours, I killed it on you’ but čhíčikte ‘I killed it for you’.

The benefactive affixes also occur regularly with intransitive and stative verbs. Observe omíčimani ‘He travels for me’ from ománi ‘to travel’, and míčiskuye ‘mine is sweet; it’s too sweet for me’ from skúyA ‘to be sweet’.

Before -yA (the causative auxiliary) kiči becomes kičičhi, and the first k disappears after ‘I’ and ‘you’ affixes. ‘Bringing’ and ‘taking’ verbs affix kiči to ka to give the meaning ‘bring/take for someone with his permission’.

These forms are very regular (compared, at least, to the reflexive possessives and datives), so only three paradigms are given: a normal one, a ‘bring’ verb, and a causative.

Some speakers can use a few verbs with both the benefactive and the possessive together, but in this case it is the beneficiary, not the object, that is owned. Thus imíčigluha ‘she is keeping it for me and I belong to her (i.e., I am her relative)’; however, most verbs do not follow this pattern.

There are no reciprocal benefactives, but the reflexive can occur with the benefactives. For verbs that do not lose the i of ki when they form the possessive, and for some others, there is no difference between the reflexive direct object form and the reflexive benefactive. Thus from olé ‘to look for’ comes omíč^?ile ‘I’m looking for myself’ or ‘I’m looking for it for myself’. But in most verbs where the ki of the possessive loses the i, the reflexive benefactive is formed by adding the reflexive (ič^?i, etc.) morpheme to the possessive verb form: míč^?igluha ‘I am keeping it for myself’, or ųkí^?ič^?ikču héči ‘let's take it for ourselves (dual)’; but iglúštą pi ‘they finished it for themselves’ has no benefactive morpheme at all.

Some speakers can inflect verbs for both direct and benefactive objects, but others reject these forms as meaningless. (Neither Buechel 1939 nor Boas and Deloria 1941 mention these paradigms.) The more complex pattern seems to begin with the benefactive form, into which are inserted the transitive affixes appropriate to the nonbenefactive verb. Thus, ‘Ím looking for them for you’ (verb stem olé) goes from očhíčile to owíčhawačhičile. Other speakers use a paraphrase: owíčhale mayáši čha očhíčile ‘you told me to look for them so I’m looking for it for you’.

10. Enclitics

Except in those instances when a conjunction stands last in the sentence (section 6), postverbal elements belong to the class here called enclitics. These words express aspect, tense, modality, and, in one case, number.

In other descriptions of Lakhota, enclitics have been variously treated as suffixes, adverbs, or auxiliaries, and indeed the decision to treat the most common of them as enclitics rather than suffixes is based on semantics and on native-speaker intuition rather than on phonological criteria. Speakers recognize these words as independent, isolable, and as meaningful. But one-syllable enclitics are frequently not stressed, so they do sound as if they are suffixed to the verb.

There are several dozen of these words (Taylor 1974). Recall that vowel ablaut, in those elements that have final vowel ablaut, is determined by the following enclitic (4.2.6.).

There is a strict order in which enclitics occur, but the 12 position classes defined by this order have few definable semantic correlations. Table 6 includes the enclitics defined and discussed here; others would appear in position 12 on the chart and would have similar kinds of meanings. Determination of the exact meanings of the enclitics is difficult in some cases, particularly those that express speaker attitude. While their general meaning is clear, individual meanings may vary from speaker to speaker and from situation to situation.

The enclitics are defined and discussed according to the position classes in table 6. Vowel ablaut specifications refer to the effect that the particular enclitic has on a preceding A-final element (4.2.6.).

Some of the words described here are clearly a compound of two or more simple enclitics, but such compounds will be regarded as units in the discussion.

1. hĄ; a-ablaut. Judging from other Siouan languages and Sioux dialects, this is likely the stative verb ‘be erect, be upright’, but this verb is rare in Lakhota, and in any event semantically distant from the element here described as an enclitic. hĄ indicates that the verbal action or state was continuous at the time under consideration. Compare the following two sentences:

Táku tókhanu hą he? ‘What were you doing?’

Táku tókhanu he? ‘What did you do?’

2. pi; a-ablaut. pi marks animate plural subjects (9.3.) and pluralizes non-third-person objects (9.3.2.). Numerous examples have already been given.

3. la; e-ablaut. la denotes the speakers affection or feeling of endearment with respect to other persons affected by the verbal action or state. The example of la is from a folktale:

Misų', hé wóškatela kį ųspémakhiya pi la ye! Míš-eyá waškáte la kte!

‘Little brothers, won’t you please teach me that little game: I do so want to play it too!’

4. kA; a-ablaut. kA attenuates the verbal meaning, ‘rather’ or ‘somewhat’ are good English translations of this enclitic:

Hé pte-blóka kį očhį'šiča ke.

‘That bull is acting kind of mad.’

kA can also be used ironically:

Hé wašté ke yeló.

‘He certainly is a nice guy!’ (Meaning: ‘He is certainly not a nice person.’)

5. ktA; į-ablaut. ktA marks a statement as not yet true at the time under discussion. It corresponds to the English future, subjunctive, or, in a sentence about the past, to the future anterior. ktA is never used in sentences that are commands.

Mní kte. ‘I will go.’

Yį' kta ehą'tąhąš šíčį kte. ‘It will be bad if he goes.'

Yį' kta kéye. ‘He said he would go.’

6. šni; e-ablaut. šni negates the verb with which it occurs.

Oyáte kį mní kį yatką' pi okíhi pi šni. ‘The people could not drink the water.’

7. s^?a; e-ablaut. s^?a marks an oft-repeated action; it is frequently accompanied by the adverb óhiniyą ‘always’.

Lakhóta kį ehą'ni zuyáya pi s^?a. ‘The Indians often used to go on war parties.’

8. All these enclitics mark commands of various kinds. Several are used by only one sex and not by the other; this explains their rather large number.

Neutral commands are expressed by yo (men) and ye (women). (These become wo and we respectively when the immediately preceding word ends in /u/, /ų/, or /o/.) yo and ye have a-ablaut.

Ná khą'ta eyá, wąží ičú wo! ‘Here are some plums, take one!’

Yethó (men) and nithó or įthó (women) indicate a familiar request: there is a connotation that the requested action will be of short duration and easy to accomplish. These enclitics call for į-ablaut.

Thóhįyąkį yethó. ‘Just wait a minute!’

The enclitics ye (men and women) and na (women) express a combined command-request, ye has į-ablaut, na has a-ablaut:

Ómakiyį ye, wanúni ye. ‘Please help me. I’m lost’.

Mní hų'ĥ mak^?ú na! ‘Please give me some water.’

Besides these command enclitics, some of the enclitics in position 12 are used in sentences that have the nature of both statements (or questions) and commands. These will be described together with the other enclitics in position 12.

9. séčA, e-ablaut; načhéčA, a-ablaut. These enclitics indicate that the statement is a conjecture by the speaker. Lakhota speakers translating into English sentences containing these enclitics ordinarily include expressions such as probably, I guess, I suppose, and the like.

Ektáwapha kį mağážu kte séče.
‘It will probably rain later on today.’

Iyúha owíčhayuspa pi kta načhéče.
‘I suppose they’ll catch them all.’

10. kéyA and kéya pi are the third-person singular and plural respectively of the verb kéyA ‘to say that’. Preceding A-words show a-ablaut. When used as enclitics, these words indicate that the speaker is quoting someone else. Such sentences always refer to events or states about which the speaker has no direct, personal knowledge. Hence, kéyA and kéya pi appear very frequently in historical narratives. The absence of kéye or kéya pi implies that the speaker has personal knowledge about the event or state he is reporting, unless the context is clearly one of reported information.

Čhąkhé thiblóku kį wągláka kéye.
‘And then she beheld her elder brother, it is said.’

11. Enclitics in this position all indicate that the speaker is not emotionally neutral to what he is reporting. Feelings indicated include mild yearning, mild discomfort, amusement, and probably others as well. laĥ is a sentence closing form, whereas láĥčA and láĥčakA can be followed by enclitics in position 12. Preceding A-words show e-ablaut.

Mni-píğa wąží wačhį' laĥ! ‘Gee, I sure would like a beer!’

Wą líla olúluta laĥ! ‘Gosh it sure is sultry!’

Iyáyekiya pi láĥčake! ‘Boy, did they ever take off!’

12. Several enclitics mark various kinds of questions. he; hųwó; a-ablaut. he marks a direct question. Although both men and women use he, men use hųwó (pronounced [hNwNo] in rapid speech) in relatively formal situations. Most questions, even those containing an interrogative word end in he or hųwó.

Tohą'l ya^?ú kta he? ‘When will you come?’

Wašíču kį Pahá-sápa kį ičú pi šni hųwó?
‘Did not the White man take the Black Hills?’

so, se; e-ablaut. So (men) and se(women) mark a dubitative question. There is no presupposition that the person questioned knows the answer:

Tóškhe wašíčuya hé eyá pi so? ‘I wonder how you say that in English?’

sél; a-ablaut. se‘l also marks a dubitative question, but it presupposes an affirmative reply:

Bébela kį waná yuhá pi sél?

‘I guess they've had their baby by now, huh?'

s^?elél; a-ablaut. s^?elél marks a tag question.

Nahą'ĥči waš^?áke šni s^?elél?
‘He isn’t very strong yet, is he?

yelakhá; e-ablaut.

Čhįčá kį he wakáštake yelakhá.

‘Oh, so I’m the one who made the kid cry!’

Two enclitics from position class 12 are used to make deferential suggestions. They share the properties of a rhetorical question and a command.

héči: a-ablaut. héči is used when the speaker induces himself as a participant in the proposed action:

Waná ųyą' pi héči.

‘Let’s go now!’ ‘Should we go now?’

Thaló etą' awá^?u héči.

‘Should I bring some meat^?’ ‘How would it be if I brought some meat?’

Ogná bló etą' ayá^?u kį.

‘Maybe you could bring some potatoes.’ ‘Would you like to bring some potatoes?’

Several enclitics in position 12 are used to mark sentences that are assertions rather than simple statements. Sentences containing these enclitics often correspond to emphatic statements in English, but many Lakhota examples do not seem to be particularly emphatic. The assertion may be a (generally recognized) fact, or it may be a personal opinion.

ye; e-ablaut. ye marks the mild assertion of a generally recognized fact:

Osní ye, thimá glá pi yo!

‘It’s cold, go back inside!’

yeló (men), yelé (obsolescent, women) (yeló becomes weló when the immediately preceding vowel is /u/, /ų/ or /o/)and kšt (men), kištó (women; kištó is usually pronounced kštó in rapid speech) are comparable. kšt is stronger than yeló, kištó alone is used by most women to correspond to both yeló and kšt used by men. All require e-ablaut of a preceding A-word.

Hą' hená?ųs čhebčhépa pi yeló.

‘Yes, each of the two is fat.’

Ağúyapi-blú etą' wačhį' kte kištó.

‘I’ll need some flour.’

Hi...yá, he misų'kala kšt.

‘No - he is too my younger brother!’

k^?ų: e-ablaut. k^?ų marks a strongly asserted fact; it is often used to make it clear that the reference is to past lime or completed action, k^?ų is pronounced [ų] in rapid speech.

Líla hú-mastáka čha héčhamu wačhį' šni k^?ų.

‘I’m very tired and I do not want to do that!’

Hokšíla kį iyéya pi k^?ų.

‘The boys did leave.’

kį; e-ablaut. kį is also used to mark a strong assertion. It can have scolding or sarcastic overtones.

Tókša, ečhámu kte kį. ‘Just a minute. I’ll do it!’

kšt and kištó are probably built on this kį.

Asserted opinions are marked by several enclitics that vary from mild to very strong, wą (men) and ma (women) mark a mild opinion; yewą' and yemá are stronger, wą and ma require a-ablaut, yewą' and yemá require e-ablaut.

Wą, hé heyé k^?ų héčhetu séča wą.

‘Hey, what he said there seems to be right, by gosh!’

Šíyi, ka^?ičhišniyą égnake yemá!

‘Mercy me, he went and put it wrong!’

ĥčA; e-ablaut. ĥčA is widely used in Lakhota to strengthen the force of an accompanying word. It is thus much more free than most enclitics in terms of its sequential relations with other words. As a sentence-final enclitic, ĥčA marks an emphatic statement.

Compare these examples of the two related uses of ĥčA (word emphasizer versus sentence emphasizer):

Osní ĥče šni. ‘It is not very cold.’

Osní šni ĥče. ‘Heh! It's not really cold!’

įčhéye; e-ablaut. įčhéye asserts an opinion but presupposes that the interlocutor will agree:

Winóna šų'ka kį wók^?u šni įčhéye.

‘Winona didn’t feed the dog, right?’

Two (possibly archaic) enclitics mark assertions that the speaker believes to be true, but for which formal proof is lacking. These are hųšé and čhé; both require a-ablaut. The examples are from Buechel (1939).

Ehą'k^?ų maĥpíyata Wakhą'-Thą'ka-thí kį lé thiyópa hųšé.

‘Verily this is no other than the house of God and the gate of heaven!’

Táku wówaĥtani waníl tąyéĥči wó?ečhų ihų'nikiya pi kta čhé, eyápi čhé.

‘I believe that they will finish everything blamelessly and well, as they say they will.’

ní; a-ablaut. A strong wish that something might come-about is expressed by ní:

Hu-makáweğe šni ní.

‘I hope I don’t break my leg!’

Wakhą'-Thą'ka ų'šimala ní!

‘May God have mercy on me!’

Probably based on this ní is šní (note the stress), which expresses a similar strong desire, šní requires e-ablaut.

Hé šų'ka kį hé kté šní.

‘I wish he would kill that dog!’ ‘He really ought to kill that dog!’

kįló; e-ablaut. a strong warning is expressed by kįló:

Niyáĥtake kįló! ‘Hey, watch out, he’ll bite you!’

Two enclitics are used to mark emphatic negative sentences. These are ka and kačhá. Both require e-ablaut of preceding A-words.

Tasé héčhamu wačhį' ka!

‘Of course I do not want to do that!’

Wówaši-ečhų' kačhá

‘He certainly does not work!’

kačhá usually has sarcastic or deprecating connotations. A better translation for the last example would be ‘Don't tell me he works!’

škhÁ; a-ablaut. škhÁ is used to indicate that the statement is received knowledge, something about which the speaker has no direct, personal knowledge. As such, it appears frequently in historical and especially mythological narratives. Its meaning is ‘purportedly, supposedly, allegedly’.

Iktómi kákhena tokhé ečháčha ománi-yá hą škhé.

‘Iktomi (Trickster) was walking around aimlessly over there (they say).’

tkhá; a-ablaut. tkhá is frequently shortened to khá. The enclitic appears to have several somewhat similar meanings, but the principal use is in conditional statements.

Máza-ská etą' awá^?u kta tkhá.

‘I should have brought some money.’

Čhą' wą bluhá k^?éš sįté-ĥla kį wakát^?a tkhá.

‘If I had (had had) a stick I would kill (would have killed) the rattle snake.’

Lehą'yela mat^?á tkhá.

‘I almost died.’ (‘I would have died if...’)

Wičháĥčala kį he išnála thí he tkhá.

‘That old man was living alone until recently.’

11. Selected Vocabulary

The symbols A and Ą at the ends of verbs in this list represent a vowel that changes, depending on grammatical context (4.3.2.6.).

airplane kįyékhiyapi ‘they make them fly (in them)’

alive ní

animal wamákhaškąšką ‘those moving about on the earth’

ankle iškáhu

ant thažúška

antelope thathókala ‘antelope; domestic goat’

anus ųzé ‘anus; buttock’

apple thaspą'

Arapaho Maĥpíyathó ‘Blue-sky (Indian)’ (This is apparently a reference to tattoos.)

Arikara Phaláni ‘Arikara, Ree’

arm istó

arrow wahį'kpe

artichoke phąğí (Jerusalem artichoke; domestic turnip)

ash tree pséĥtį

ashes čhaĥóta

Assiniboine Hóhe

aunt thųwį' ‘father’s sister’ (The mother’s sister is called ‘mother’.)

aurora borealis wanáğiwačhípi ‘spirit dance’

automobile iyéčhįkįyąke ‘runs by itself’

awl See needle

axe nazų'spe; ičákse ‘instrument for chopping’

baby hokšíčala
    bébela (this is probably a loanword from French bébé)

back hįyéte ‘upper back’
    čhuwí ‘back below shoulder blades’

bacon wašį' ‘bacon; animal fat’

bad šíčA

badger ĥoká

ball thápa

bathe nuwĄ' ‘to swim, to bathe’

be é ‘be a particular one (of animate things only)’;
    hą' ‘be upright (of inanimate things only)’;
    héčha ‘be such a one, be of such a kind’;
    hiyéyA ‘be located here and there (of inanimate things only)’;
    ų' ‘be, exist (of animate things only); be located somewhere (of all things)’;
    yukhĄ' ‘have, be (of intimate possessions only)’;
    níčA ‘not to have, not to be (of intimate possessions only)’

beads pšithó

beadwork wakšúpi ‘decoration’

beans omníča

bear mathó

beautiful See good

beaver čhápa

bed oyų'ke

bee theĥmų'ğazizíla ‘little yellow banded fly’

beer mnipíğa

bell ĥláĥla

belly thezí

bent škópA

big thą'ka

bighorn sheep See mountain sheep

bird zįtkála

bite yaĥtákA

bitter phá

black sápA

blackbird wáĥpathą'ka

Blackfeet Sioux Sihásapa

Black person Hásapa ‘black skin’

blood wé

blue thó ‘blue; green’

boil píğA ‘to be boiling’; piĥyÁ ‘to cause to boil’

bone hohú ,

book wówapi ‘book; letter; flag’

bow itázipa

boy hokšíla

brain nasúla

brave ohítikA

bread ağúyapi

break kawéğA

breast azé ‘female breast’

breechcloth čhegnáke ‘penis cover’

bring ahí ‘to bring here’; a^?ú ‘to be bringing here’; ahíyu ‘to leave to bring here’; aglí ‘to bring home here’; akú ‘to be bringing home here’; aglíyaču ‘to leave to bring home here’

brother čhiyé ‘older brother of a man’; thibló ‘older brother of a woman’; sųkála ‘younger brother of man or woman’

brown ğí

Brule Sioux Sičhą'ğú ‘burned thigh’

buffalo cow pté

buffalo berry maštį'čaphuté ‘rabbit lip’

buffalo bull thathą'ka

bug wablúška

burn ilé bum, blaze up; špą' ‘be burned, to be cooked (food), to be ripe (fruit)’

bush hú

butcher phátA

butterfly kimímila

buttock See anus

buy ophéthų

buzzard hečá

cactus ųkčéla

cafe owótethípi ‘eating house’

calf of leg hučhóğį

carry on back k^?į' ‘carry; pack’

cat igmúla

catch oyúspA

chair čhą^?ákąyąkápi ‘wood to sit on’

cherry See chokecherry

chest makhú

Cheyenne Šahíyela

chicken khokhéyaĥ^?ąla; khokhóyaĥ^?ąla ‘chicken, rooster’

chief ithą'čhą

child wakhą'yeža

Chippewa see Ojibwa

chokecherry čhąphá

church owáčhekiye ‘prayer places’; thípiwakhą' ‘holy house’

claw šaké ‘claw (of animal or bird); fingernail (of human)’

cloth mniĥúha

cloud See sky

coat See shirt

coffee wakhályapi

cold čhuwíta ‘to feel cold (internal sensation; used of animate things only)’;
    sní ‘to feel cold (external sensation; used of inanimate things only)’;
    osní (used of atmosphere and weather)

come glí ‘arrive at home here’; gličú ‘leave for home here’; hí ‘arrive here’; hiyú ‘leave for here’; kú ‘be on the way home here’; ú ‘be on the way here’

converse wóglakA ‘converse, talk’

cook špąyĄ ‘to cause to be burned; be cooked’; see burn

corn wagmíza

cottonwood wáğačhą' ‘brittle wood’

count See read

cow ptegléška, ptebléška ‘spotted buffalo’; ptewániyąpi ‘pet buffalo’

cowbird wáĥpaĥóta

coyote šųňmánitu ‘wilderness dog’; mayásleča

cradleboard iyók^?įpa

crane phehą'

crazy witkó

Cree Šahíya

creek wakpála

cricket psipsíčala ‘little hopper’

crippled hušté

crow khąğí

Crow Khąğíwičháša ‘Crow person’; Psáloka (borrowed from Crow)

cry čhéyA

cup wíyatke ‘instrument for drinking’

cut waksáksA

dance wačhí ‘to dance’; wačhípi ‘a dance’

day ąpétu                

daughter čhųkší

deer tháĥča

die t^?Á ‘be dead’

digging stick wíwopta ‘instrument for digging’

dish wakšíča

do ečhá^?ų, ečhų'

dog šų'ka

donkey sų'sųla ‘donkey; mule’

door thiyópa

dragonfly thuswéča

dream ihą'blA

dress čhuwígnaka ‘back cover’

dried meat pápa

drink yatkĄ'

drum čhą'čheğa ‘wooden kettle’

dry sáka

duck mağá, mağáksiča

eagle wąblí

ear núğe ‘human ear’; nakpá ‘animal ear’

earring owį'

earth makhá ‘earth, dirt’

east wiyóhįyąpata ‘where the sun comes up’

eat yútA

eat up thebyÁ

egg wítka ‘egg; testicle’

eight šaglóğą

elk heĥáka ‘branched horns’

elm p^?éčhą

enemy thóka

fall (season) ptąyétu

fall down hįĥpáyA

fat čhépA ‘to be fat’; see also bacon

father até (term of address); atéwaye kį ‘the one I have for father’

feather wíyaka

female wį'yela

field See garden

fingernail See claw

fire phéta

firefly ųzéblinkblink ‘blinking arse’ (jocose)

fish hoğą'

five záptą

flag wówapi

flea psičála; hála

flower wanáĥča

fly theĥmúğa, thoĥmúğa, thaĥmuğa ‘housefly; horsefly ’; kįyą' ‘to fly’

fog p^?ó

food wóyute

foot sí

forehead ithúhu

four tópa, tób

fox thokhála, šųğíla

frog gnašká

gall bladder phizí

garden wóžupi ‘garden, field’

gasoline See grease

gas station wígli^?oínažį ‘gasoline stopping place’

girl wičhį'čala; See also woman

give k^?ú

give back kičhú

go yÁ; be on the way there; glÁ be on the way home there; í arrive there; khí arrive at home there; iyáyA leave for there; khiglÁ leave for home there

goat tháĥča šų'kala ‘dog deer’

good wašté ‘good; beautiful’

goose mağášapa ‘dirty duck’

government (U.S.) thųkášila ‘grandfather’

grandchild thakóža

grandfather thųkášila

grandmother ųčí (maternal), khų'ši (paternal)

grape čhųwíyapehe ‘(it) wraps around a tree"

grass pheží

grasshopper gnugnúška; phežíhophop ‘grasshopper’ (jocose) (note that /p/ is not replaced by /b/)

gray ĥóta

grease wígli ‘grease; gasoline, oil’

green See blue

grind yukpą'

Gros Ventre See Hidatsa

guts šupé

hail wasú

hair phehį' ‘head hair’

hairpipe breastplate wawóslatawanáp^?į ‘hairpipe necklace’

hand napé

hard sutá

hat waphóštą

have yuhá (used only of alienable things); see also be

hawk čhetą'

head natá, phá

hear naĥ^?ų'

heart čhąté

heavy tké

heron hokhá

Hidatsa Ĥewáktokta ‘Hidatsa, Gros Ventre’

high wąkátuya

hill pahá

hit aphÁ

horns hé

horse šų'kawakhą' ‘wonderful dog’
    draft horse šųňwówaši ‘working horse’
    mare šųňwį'yela ‘female horse’
    saddle horse šųk^?ákąyąkapi ‘horse they sit on’
    stallion šųňkhíyuĥa ‘breeding horse’

hospital okhúžethípi ‘sick house’

hot khátA

house čhą'thipi ‘wooden lodge’

Hunkpapa Sioux Hų'kpapha ‘Hunkpapa, Standing Rock Sioux’

husband hįgná

ice čháğa

Indian Lakhóta ‘Sioux Indian; American Indian’

iron see metal

jail okáškethípi ‘detention house’

jerkey wakáblapi ‘what has been pounded flat’

jump psíčA

June berry wípazųtka. wípazųtką, wípazukha

kettle čhéğa

kick naĥtákA

kidney ažų'tka

kill kté

knee čhąkpé

knife míla

know slolyÁ

lake blé

land makhóčhe

laugh iĥá ‘laugh; smile’

leaf waĥpé

leather theĥpí

left-handed čhatká

leg hú

legging hųská

lie (recline) yųkÁ

lie down ĥpáyA

light in weight kap^?óžA

lightning wakį'yątųwą'pi ‘The Thunderers are blinking’

like waštélakA ‘to like’; s^?e ‘like. as, as though’

lip, lower ihá
   upper phuté

little čík^?ala, čístila, čísčila

live thí

liver phí

lizard agléška

lodge thípi

lodge cover ákaĥpe

lodge pole thušú

look for olé

louse heyá

love theĥíla

Lower Brule Sioux Khulwíčhaša ‘Lower person’

lung čhağú

magpie halháta; ųkčékiĥa ‘buries his dung’

make káğA

male bloká

man wičháša
    young man khoškálaka
    old man wičháĥčala

Mandan Miwátani

mare See horse

meadowlark thašíyagnupá

meat thaló

medicine phežúta ‘herbal roots’

metal (iron) máza

Mexican spayóla (This is probably a loanword from. French espagnol)

milk asą'pi

Milky Way wanáğithačhą'ku ‘ghost road’

mink íkhusą

Minneconjou Sioux Mnikhówožu ‘those who plant by water’, Mnikhówąžu

mirror míyoglas^?į

moccasin hąm^?íkčeka ‘ordinary shoe’

money mázaská ‘silver’ ‘white metal’

moon wí ‘luminary’; hąhépiwí ‘night luminary’

mosquito čhaphų'ka

mother iná (term of address); ináwaye kį ‘the one I have for mother’

mountain ĥé

mountain lion igmúthą'ka ‘big cat’

mountain sheep héčhįškayapi ‘they make spoons from their horns’

mouse ithų'kala

mouth í

movie wówapiškąšką ‘moving picture’

mule See donkey

muskrat sįkphé, sįkphéla

mustache phutį'hį ‘upper lip hair’

narrow očík^?a

navel čhekpá

necklace wanáp^?į

needle thahį'špa ‘needle, awl’

new (young) théča ‘new; young"

night hąhépi

nine napčį'yųka

north wazíyata

northern lights See aurora borealis

nose phasú

nostril phaĥláte

Oglala Sioux Oglála ‘Oglala Sioux, Pine Ridge Sioux’

oil See grease

Ojibwa Ĥaĥáthųwą ‘those who live at the falls’

old ką' ‘old, worn out’

one wą'či (used in counting); wąží (used in specifying an amount)

onion pšį'

otter ptą'

owl hįhą'

pack wak^?į' ‘backpack’

paint See write

pants See trousers

parfleche bag wókpą

pemmican wasná

penis čhé; susú ‘testicle(s); male genitals’

people oyáte ‘people; tribe’

pepper yamnúmnuğapi, yamnúmnužapi (This term originally referred to the berries of the hackberry tree.)

picture itówapi

pig khukhúše

pigeon wakį'yela

pine wazí

Pine Ridge Sioux See Oglala Sioux

pipe čhąnúpa

pipestem čhąnúpasįté ‘pipe tail’

play škátA

plum khą'ta

porcupine phahį' ‘sharp hair’

potato bló

prairie chicken šiyó

prairie dog pispíza ‘squeaking, barking’

puppy šųĥpála

quillwork wóska

quill owį'ža

rabbit maštį'ča, maštį'čala

racoon wičhítegleğa ‘striped face’

rain mağážu

rainbow wígmųke ‘snare, trap’

rattle wagmúha

rattlesnake sįtéĥla ‘rattle tail’

rawhide thahálo

read yawá ‘read; count’

red šá

relative otákuye

rib thučhúhu

rice pšį'

rifle mázawakhą' ‘wonderful metal’

ripe See cook

river makhízita

root húta

rope wíkhą

Rosebud Sioux See Brule Sioux

run į'yąkA

sack wóžuha

saddle čhą'wak^?į ‘wooden back rack’

salt mniskúya ‘sweet water’

Sans Arc Sioux Itázibčho ‘those without bows"

Santee Sioux Isą'yethi

say eyÁ

school owáyawa ‘reading place’

see wąyą'kA

seven šakówį

sew kayéğA

sharp (edge) phé

sharp (point) phéstola

shawl šiná

sheep héčhįškayapi ‘they make spoons from their horns’ ‘bighorn sheep, mountain sheep’; ptį'čala ‘domestic sheep’

shield waháčhąka

shin hubló

shirt (coat) ógle

shoe hą'pa

shoot khuté

short ptéčela

Shoshone Súsuni

shoulder abló

sick khúžA ‘to be nauseous’; yazą' ‘to hurt’

sinew khą'

sing lową'

sister thąké ‘older sister of a man’; čhuwé ‘older sister of a woman’; thąkší ‘younger sister of a man’; thąká ‘younger sister of a woman’

sit yąkÁ

sit down íyotakA

six šákpe

skinny thamáheča

skunk maká

sky maĥpíya ‘sky; cloud’

sleep ištį'mA ‘to be asleep’

sleepy ĥwá

smoke šóta; ų'pA ‘to smoke tobacco’

snake zuzéča

snow wá ‘fallen snow’; ičámna ‘falling snow’

socks hųyákhų

soda pop kaphópapi ‘bursting, popping’

soft phąšphą'ža

son čhįkší

soup wahą'pi

south itókağata

speak iyÁ

spear wahúkheza

spider įktó; įktómi

spoon čhįšká

spring (season) wétu

spring of water wiwíla

squash wagmú ‘squash; gourd’

squirrel zičá

stand ognáke ‘stand, chest’; nážį ‘be standing’

stand up inážį

Standing Rock Sioux See Hunkpapa Sioux

star wičháĥpi

stone į'yą; iĥ^?é

store mas^?óphiye ‘cashbox’

stove očhéthi

sugar čhąhą'pi ‘tree juice’

summer blokétu

sun wí ‘luminary’; ą'pawí ‘day luminary’

sunflower waĥčází ‘yellow flower’

swallow ištáničathą'ka ‘cliff or barn swallow’; napčÁ ‘to swallow; to internalize knowledge’

sweet skúyA

swim See bathe

table wáglotapi

tail sįté

talk See converse

take a^?í ‘to take or convey there’; akhí ‘to take or convey home there’; áyA ‘to be taking or conveying there’; aglÁ ‘to be taking or conveying home there’; éyayA ‘to leave to take or convey there’; akhíyaglA ‘to leave to take or convey home there’

take ičú ‘take, get’

tall hą'skA ‘tall; long’

tea waĥpé ‘leaves’; waĥpékhalyápi ‘leaf beverage’

telephone mas^?ápha

ten wikčémna

tepee See lodge

testicle itká; see also egg

Teton Sioux Thíthųwą

thick šókA

thigh (side) sičhą'
    (front) šúte

thin zizípa

three yámni

throat loté

thunder wakį'yąhothųpi ‘The Thunderers are calling’

tired watúkha, hústakA

tobacco čhąlí

tomato See wildrose

tongue čheží

tooth hí

travois čhuwíč^?įpa

tree čhą' ‘tree; wood’

tribe See people

trousers ųzóğį

turkey waglékšą

turnip thį'psila ‘wild turnip’; see also artichoke

turtle khéya

two núpa, núm

Two-Kettle Sioux O^?óhenupa ‘those who boil meat twice’

uncle lekší ‘mother’s brother’ (The father’s brother is called ‘father’.)

use ų' ‘use; wear’

vegetation wóĥe ‘weeds’

vulva šą'

wagon čhąpágmiyąpi ‘wood that is made to roll along’

walk máni

warbonnet wapháha

warclub į'yąkapémnipi ‘stone club’

wash yužáža

water mní

watermelon špą'šniyutápi ‘they eat it raw’;
     wagmúšpąšni ‘uncooked squash’

wear See use

weasel ithų'kasą', ithų'kasą'la

weed See vegetation

west wiyóĥpeyata ‘where the sun goes down’

wet spáyA

whiskey mníwakhą' ‘wonderful water’

white są' ‘dull white’; ská ‘clear white’

White man Wašíčų, Wašíču

wide ópta

wife thawíču

wildrose ųžį'žįtka ‘rose hip; tomato’

willow čhąšáša ‘red stem dogwood’; čhąwíwila ‘common willow’

wind thaté

window ožą'žąglepi ‘frame to admit light’

wing ĥupáhu

winter waníyetu

woman wį'yą ‘woman’; wikhóškalaka ‘young woman’; winu'ĥčala ‘old woman"

wolf šųňmánituthą'ka ‘big coyote’

wood See tree

write owá ‘write; paint’

Yankton Sioux Ihą'gthųwą ‘those dwelling at the end’

yellow zí

young See new

T.O.C.

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