SIOUAN 

 DAKOTA (TETON AND SANTEE DIALECTS) 



WITH REMARKS ON THE PONCA AND WINNEBAGO 



Bv Franz Boas and John R. S wanton 



§ 1. INTRODUCTION 



The Siouan languages are spoken in a considerable number of 

 dialects. One group of tribes speaking Siouan kinguages lived on 

 the western plains, extending from the northern border of the United 

 States far to the south. Another group of dialects was spoken b}^ 

 tribes inhabiting the southern Appalachian region; and two isolated 

 dialects belonged to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, east of the 

 Mississippi river and the low^er Yazoo river, respectively. At present 

 the last two groups are on the verge of extinction. 



The following sketch of Siouan grammar is based mainly on the 

 San tee and Teton dialects of the Dakota language, which embraces 

 four dialects — Santee, Yankton, Teton, and Assiniboin. Santee and 

 Yankton are spoken by the eastern Dakota bands, Teton by the west- 

 ern bands, and Assiniboin by those of the northwest. The material 

 for the present sketch is contained mainly in the grammar, texts, and 

 dictionary of the Santee, published by S. R. Riggs (Contributions to 

 North American Ethnology, vols, vii, ix). This account has been 

 the basis of Dr. John R. Swanton's studies of a series of Teton Texts, 

 in possession of the Bureau of American Ethnology, written by 

 George Bushotter, a Teton Dakota. In the summer of 1899 Doctor 

 Swanton revised these texts on the Rosebud Indian reservation with 

 the help of Mr. Joseph Estes, a Yankton Dakota, who had been long 

 resident among the Teton, and who was at that time teacher in one of 

 the Government schools. Doctor Swanton's notes, contained in the 

 present account, refer to the Teton dialect, while the material based 

 on Riggs's published Santee material has been discussed by F. Boas. 



879 



