Customer Reviews

Dakota Texts (American Ethnological Society Pubs No. 14)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ella Deloria's classic 1932 collection has been reprinted fully by the University of Nebraska Press (ISBN 080326660X) and partially by the University of South Dakota Press (ISBN 0882490257). Both editions include all the tales collected by Deloria, and give her polished English translations, her cultural notes and her introduction. The Nebraska edition includes all this plus the Lakhota language originals and Deloria's literal word-by-word translations. Those interested in the ethnological and story-telling aspects of the tales will find either edition to be a masterly rendition into English by one of the first native American anthropologists of her culture's literature. Those interested in the linguistic aspects of the Lakhota/Dakota language should get the Nebraska edition. (Since Amazon's computers apply the same rating and review to both editions, I have removed one star for the Dakota Press version.)

Anyone with Lakota roots, will cherish this treasure as a way to pass along the language, traditions, and day-to-day life of their ancestors. Ella Deloria, mother of Vine Deloria considered by many to be one of the most authoritative voices of Native American thought, shares common day-to-day stories, creation and origin stories, and some historical stories of the Lakota people. The stories are presented in Lakota, Modern English translations and, for some of the stories, English transcriptions that preserve the Lakota syntax. The book is extremely well-researched and annotated with many helpful facts on the history, language, and culture of the Lakota. The Lakota portions of the book are written using Buechel's Orthography which may challenge modern learners but also offers greater insight into the pronunciation and etiology of the language. Any student of the language will find themselves dog-earing pages with growing excitement when they begin to see the language come alive as told by master story-tellers on dark plains nights. After reading the Lakota Primers available from TuswecaTiospaye.org, and Albert White Hat's Reading and Writing the Lakota Language, this is a must-have for anyone trying to pass on the rich language and culture of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples.

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This is a great collection of our traditional stories and legends. My only wish is that someone would re-write the Lakota text using the standard orthography that is now used for Lakota. The orthography is used in the New Lakota Dictionary. That writing system makes Lakota so much easier to read and pronounce.

If you are interested in Siouan languages, this and Deloria's
Dakota grammar are the books to get - and modern materials published
by the Lakota Language Consortium.