ADVISORY for 6-7:30 p.m. CDT Monday, May 18
BLOOMINGTON, Ind., May 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- "The effort of the Lakota and Dakota People to recover and preserve their language is innovative and significant," says Wil Meya, Executive Director of the Lakota Language Consortium, "and the New Lakota-Dakota Dictionary provides a central resource for this revitalization."
The New Lakota-Dakota Dictionary is a monumental work both in scale and community impact. Weighing in at over four pounds, the 20,000 word volume of the Lakota language also incorporates the Dakota dialects of Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee-Sisseton. The Dictionary is the result of 25 years of work involving over 300 speakers from all representative speech communities of the Northern Plains region, including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
The Dictionary is the first of its kind in over seventy years. William K. Powers, language expert and author, describes the New Lakota-Dakota Dictionary as the best available in terms of lexicographical coverage and grammatical accuracy as well as for ease of use for 21st century learners. Meya refers to the Dictionary as "an indispensable resource for both advanced language users as well as beginning students." Currently, thousands of Lakota and Dakota students and their teachers rely on the Dictionary.
In December 2008, the Lakota Language Consortium published the Dictionary and then distributed over 400 free copies to Lakota and Dakota language consultants, schools, and education programs. Over 150 of the Dictionaries were distributed for free in Minnesota.
On Monday, May 18, the Minnesota Indigenous Language Symposium will feature the New Lakota-Dakota Dictionary from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Symposium will be held at the Northland Inn, Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. For more information about the Symposium contact Jennifer Niemi of the University of Minnesota at 218-726-8419.
The publication of the New Lakota-Dakota Dictionary was as made possible through the generous contributions of the Dakota Indian Foundation of Chamberlain, SD, the Tatanka Oyate Foundation of Germany, the Grotto Foundation of Minneapolis, MN, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Lake Prior, MN, and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Neil McKay, of the University of Minnesota, is also noted as having been significantly involved with the development of the Dictionary.
"Re-establishing Lakota and Dakota as living languages is an ongoing process that relies on the interest and involvement of native speakers, language and education experts, as well as tribal and community leaders," says Meya. "The New Lakota-Dakota Dictionary provides a nexus for these language communities to engage a new generation of Lakota and Dakota speakers."
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CONTACT: Tomas A. Beauchamp, Lakota Language Consortium, http://www.lakhota.org/ , Toll Free 888-525-6828, tomas.beauchamp@lakhota.org
Media Contact: See above.
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