A Western Siouan language of the Great Plains — spoken by the Lakota people across the Dakotas, Nebraska, and southern Saskatchewan.
Where it’s spoken
Lakota is the language of the Lakota Sioux — Oglala, Sicangu, Hunkpapa, Mniconjou, Itazipco, Oóhenuŋpa, and Sihasapa — with major communities at Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock reservations in the Dakotas. Speaker numbers have declined sharply from around 30,000 in 1950 to roughly 2,000 today, almost all elderly. Substantial revitalisation programmes operate in tribal schools.
What it sounds like
A consonant-rich phonology with three series — voiceless, glottalised, and aspirated stops — plus distinctive ejectives. Lakota is mildly tonal (high-low contrast in some words) with elaborate honorific differences between male and female speech.
How it’s written
The Latin alphabet with multiple competing orthographies; the Lakota Language Consortium’s standardised “Sicangu” system is increasingly the default. A complete Lakota New Testament was published in 1880.
Find more languages by letter
Lakota starts with L and ends with A. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Lakota":