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Dakota Example Text

Here is the first section of the text entitled The Deer Woman, which was written down by Ella Deloria in the book Dakota Texts. I have attempted to re-transcribe the story into three orthographies of the Yankton-Yanktonai Dakota language.

As some of the accented letters are not independently encoded by Unicode, the accents may not appear in the positions they should.

Deloria 1932

Wicʿa′ṡa wą waye′i kʾa tʿa′ḣca nu′m wicʿa′o ke′ya′piʾⁱ. Tąye′na wicʿa′pʿate cʾa tʿado′ kį tʿaṡų′ke kʾįkʿi′ye cʾa wana′ wi′ kʿu′ciyena cʿąkʿe′ tiya′takiya ku′yąka ke′ya′piʾⁱ. Maya′ wą apʿa′żeżeyena asni′kiya-i‵yotaka ųkʿą′ akʿo′tąhą wį′yą wą maya′-akda‵kda tʿahe′nakiya u′yąka e wąya′k yąka′ ke′ya′piʾⁱ. Wana′ hihų′ni kʾa wicʿa′ṡa kį isa′kʿip hina′żį kʾe′yaṡ ini′na yąka′ ųkʿą′ hąke′ya kicʿi′ i′yotake cʾa – Tokʿe iye′mayakiyeṡni se? To′kʿa ųkʿą′ ini′na nąka′ he? – eye′ cʾa i′ṡ iya′ maya′ kį e′d hu′ ġe′ġeya i′yotaka ke′ya′piʾⁱ.

Whitehat (SICC version) 1973*

Wic̀as̀a waƞ wayei k’a taḣc̄a num wic̀ao k̄eyap̄i’. T̄aƞyena wic̀apat̄e c̀’a tado k̄iƞ tas̀uƞk̄e k’iƞkiye c̀’a wana wi kuc̄iyena c̀aƞke t̄iyat̄ak̄iya k̄uyaƞk̄a k̄eyap̄i’. Maya waƞ apajejeyena asnik̄iya-iyot̄ak̄a uƞkaƞ akot̄aƞhaƞ wiƞyaƞ waƞ maya-akdakda tahenak̄iya uyaƞk̄a e waƞyak̄ yaƞk̄a keyap̄i’. Wana hihuƞni k’a wic̀as̀a kiƞ isakip̄ hinajiƞ k’eyas̀ inina yaƞk̄a uƞkaƞ haƞk̄eya kic̀i iyot̄ak̄e c’a – T̄oke iyemayak̄iyes̀ni se? T̄oka uƞkaƞ inina naƞk̄a ha? – eye c̀’a is̀ iya maya k̄iƞ ed hu ġeġeya iyot̄ak̄a k̄eyap̄i’.

Ullrich 1992

Wičháša waƞ wayéi k’a tháȟča núm wičháo kéyápi’. Taƞyéna wičháphate č’a thadó kiƞ thašúƞke k’iƞkhíye č’a waná wí khúčiyena čhaƞkhé tiyátakiya kúyaƞka kéyápi’. Mayá waƞ aphážežeyena asníkiya-iyotaka uƞkháƞ akhótaƞhaƞ wíƞyaƞ waƞ mayá-akdákda thahénakiya úyaƞka e waƞyák yaƞká kéyápi’. Waná hihúƞni k’a wičháša kiƞ isákhip hinážiƞ k’éyaš inína yaƞká uƞkháƞ haƞkéya kičhí íyotake č’a – Tokhe iyémayakiyešni se? Tókha uƞkháƞ inína naƞká he? – eyé č’a íš iyá mayá kiƞ éd hú ǧéǧeya íyotaka kéyápi’.

*The Saskatchewan standard uses the White Hat orthography with a few changes: WH ‹ċ› is written ‹c̀› and WH ‹ṡ› is written ‹s̀›.

Last Update: December 4, 2007