Lakota/Grammar

This is a general documentation of Lakota Grammar.

Sources include Lakota Basic Structures, the Lakota language Wikipedia and David V Kaufmann's Lakota Grammar Handbook.

Parts of Speech

Open Class

Nouns

Nouns <n> in Lakota appear in <subj><obj><v> order.

• pȟasù<n> - nose
• tȟahù<n> - neck
• pȟanȟté<n> - forehead
• igmú<n> - cat
• šún(with accent)ka<n> - dog
• maká<n> - skunk

Verbs

Verbs <v> are an essential part of the Lakota language in that they are the only part of speech necessary in forming a sentence.

• máni<v><inf> ↔ (to walk)
• wótA<v><inf> ↔ (to eat)
• ičú<v><inf> ↔ (to take)
• k'ú<v><inf> ↔ (to give to)

mawáni - to walk (first person singular)

wáte - to eat (first person singular)

iwáču - to take (first person singular)

wak'ú - to give to (first person singular)

Closed Class

Postpositions

Lakota uses postpositions <post> rather than prepositions; they work in a similar way to English prepositions though they follow their noun complement. Adpositions occur after the head <n>.

• mas'óphiye<n> (store) ↔ mas'óphiye él<n><post> (at the store)
• Wówapi kiŋ wáglutapi kiŋ akáŋl<post> yaŋké. The book is sitting on the table.
• Wóžuha kiŋ oyúŋke kiŋ oȟláthe<post> yaŋké. The bag is sitting under the bed.
• Šiyútakaŋ kiŋ akáŋwowapi kiŋ isákhib<post> yaŋké. The laptop is sitting beside the desk.
• Wíčazo kiŋ oákaŋke kiŋ itȟókab<post> yaŋké. The pencil is sitting in front of the chair.

Conjunctions

čhaŋké : and

yuŋkȟáŋ: amd

k’éyaš: but

na: joins nouns of phrases

Demonstratives

There are nine demonstratives <dem> in Lakota, and they can function as either determiners <det> or pronouns <prn>.