A Message from Garcia: Dakota Language, Part 1

The Dakota language is classified by linguists under the name Siouan. The term basically means thousands of years ago a large tribe of indigenous people all spoke a common tongue. As the centuries passed groups separated and moved away from the main tribe. The tribes who spoke Siouan are listed as about eighteen nations. They divided away many centuries ago that only a word here and there are heard that belonged to the original language. More or less the eighteen languages are unenterable to each other. The Siouan indigenous tribes are Mandan, Sioux, Assiniboine, Stony, Hidatsa, Crow, Omaha, Ponca, Osage, Kansa, Quapaw, Iowa, and Winnebago from the plains area. From the southeastern United States are the Ofo, Biloxi, Tutelo, and Catawba who unfortunately have no speakers of their language today.

The Wampanoag were the first indigenous Nation to be able to read and write in their language beginning in 1640’s. Harvard University published the Old and New Testament of the Bible in 1663 under the direction of John Eliot and others. The second was the Cherokee, by Sequoia (1775-1843) who in 1821 established 86 symbols to represent the Cherokee language. The Dakota were the third to acquire the knowledge to read and write their language. This acquisition is thanks to two brothers Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond from Connecticut who came to Minnesota after the United States purchased two tracks of land in 1805. This land purchase known as the Pike Treaty is recognized as the first land acquisition from the Dakota. One track was located where the St. Croix River joins the Mississippi River and lower down where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi River. This later location is where the Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul now reside. Two brothers named Pond, filled with religious furvert, decided to Christianize the Dakota and arrived in 1834. Realizing they would have to learn the Dakota language to accomplish their aim, acquired word lists from the solders at Fort Snelling which was built in 1819 on the 1805 land. The Pond brothers House is a historical site open to the public in Bloomington, Minnesota today. They started by asking in Dakota “De taku he?’ What is this? The answer was noted and they were on their way to write down the Dakota language. “We made single characters C and X represent the English sounds of CH and SH. When our alphabet was completed, each letter had one uniform sound and no two letters could be used to denote the same sound, and if one knows how to pronounce a word, he knows what letters to use writting it. The house (they built) was to stand for five years, while the alphabet will be used as long as Dakota is written”.

Samuel Wilson Pond 1808 – 1891) was given the Indian name of WamdiDuta (Scarlet Eagle) and Gedeon Hollister Pond (1810 – 1878) his name was MatoHota (Grey Bear). They were 26 and 24 years old respectably when they arrived. Indian Agent Lawrence Taliaferro gave them permission to commence their religious work and hired them to help Chief Big Thunder (WakinyanTanka) to plow. Big Thunder and his Chief Soldier Big Iron (MazaTanka) held the plow alternately while Mr. Pond drove the oxen. These two men were the first Dakota to ever plow a furrow the Ponds thought.

To be continued.