L36 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS 



The Athapascan-speaking Kiowa-Apache and Sarsi 

 arc also worthy of notice because the family to which 

 they belong has representatives in five of the eight 

 great culture area- into which North American cul- 

 ture- are Localized, affording us the unique example 

 of five distinct cultures with languages of the same 

 family, or stock. 



Returning to our classification of Plain- tribes under 

 linguistic families, it may be well to note that while 

 it is absolutely true that these families have nothing 

 in common, the difference.- between the various tribes 

 under the same stock are by no means equal. Thus 

 while a Dakota and an A-siniboin can make them- 

 selves partially understood, Dakota and Crow are so 

 different that only philologists are able to discover them 

 to be of the same family. Again, in the AlgonHan group, 

 the Arapaho and Gros Ventre are conscious of having 

 related languages, while the Blackfoot lived on neigh- 

 borly terms with the latter for many years as did the 

 Cheyenne with the Arapaho, not once, so far as we 

 know, discovering any definite relation between their 

 languages. It is well to remember, therefore, that the 

 term linguistic stock doe- not denote the language or 

 speech of a particular tribe, but is a designation of the 

 philologists to define observed relationships in structure 

 and form, and that the speech of these Indians differs 

 in varying degree as one passes from one group to the 

 other. Thus, the seven tribes of the Dakota form at 

 least three dialectic groups: the Eastern tribes say 

 Dakota and the Teton. Lakota, one always usinu '/ for 



