Lakȟótiyapi is the language of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or Seven Council Fires, a historic confederacy of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples who speak mutually intelligible language varieties. Sometimes Lakȟotiyapi is pronounced Dakȟótiyapi or Dakhótiyapi depending on where the speaker is from. While many elders in Očhéthi Šakówiŋ communities grew up speaking the language, very few, if any, people in my generation grew up speaking it. However, a growing number of young adults, including myself, are working to learn the language from our elders, from recordings, from written texts, and from specialized language learning materials. Our goal is to learn it for ourselves and to teach it to the next generations. For more information on the language and community-based language revitalization programming,
check out the websites below.
check out the websites below.
Tasha's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tashtash89/?hl=en
Standing Rock Language and Culture Institute: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SRSTLCI/photos/?ref=page_internal
Lakȟótiyapi Wahóȟpi e na Wičhakini Owáyawa: https://www.facebook.com/LakotaLanguageNest/
Thunder Valley Language Initiative: https://thundervalley.org/live-rez/our-programs/lakota-language