"This classic work on the language, grammar, tales, history, and culture of the Dakota Indians is the result of many years of linguistic study and personal experience spent in Minnesota by Stephen R. Riggs, who arrived as a Presbyterian missionary in 1837 ... In Dakota grammar, Riggs presents three interrelating aspects of language and culture, beginning with a detailed description of the Santee dialect of the Dakota language and its grammar. The texts of the traditional stories ... are each accompanied by full English translations. Riggs also provides an ethnographic overview of various aspects of Dakota culture and history that enhances the value of the book to all students of Dakota"--Back cover.

Excerpt from Dakota Grammar, Texts, and Ethnography The author's life among the Indians was spout chiefly with a single division of the Dakota, known as the Santee or Mdewakantonwan. A few of the Teton words in his dictionary were furnished by one of his sons, Rev. T. L. Riggs, but most of them were obtained from Rev. W. J. Cleveland. The author, moreover, knew very little about the languages of those cognate tribes that are not Dakota, such as the Ponka, Omaha, Kausa, Winnebago, etc., while I have lived among many of these tribes and have devoted considerable time to the comparison of most of the Siouan languages, having engaged in original investigation from time to time, as late as February, 1893, when I visited the Biloxi Indians in Louisiana. In order, therefore, to furnish the readers of this volume with the latest information, and to give more fully than was possible in those footnotes for which I am responsible my reasons for hesitating to accept some of the author's conclusions, as well as evidence confirmatory of some of the author's statements this preface has been written. In my notation of Dakota words, both in this preface and in the footnotes, the author's alphabet has been used, except whore additional characters wore needed; and such characters are described in the following section of this preface. Hut in recording the corresponding words in the cognate languages the alphabet used is that of the Bureau of Ethnology. All footnotes followed by "S. R. R." were contributed by the author. Those furnished by bis son, Rev. Alfred L. Riggs, are signed "A. L. R." "T. L. R." stands for Rev. T. L. Riggs, and "J. P. W." for Rev. J. P. Williamson. "J. O. D." marks those footnotes for which I am responsible. The alphabet given by the author on pages 3 and 4 has no characters representing certain sounds heard in the Teton dialect of the Dakota and in some of the cognate languages. Besides these, there are other sounds, unknown in Teton and the other dialects of the Dakota, but common to the other languages of the Siouan family. These peculiar sounds and some additional ones which are described are given in the characters adopted by the Bureau of Ethnology. The authority for the Hidatsa words is Dr. Washington Matthews, U. S. Army. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Ella Deloria (1889?1971), one of the first Native students of linguistics and ethnography in the United States, grew up on the Standing Rock Reservation on the northern Great Plains and was trained by Franz Boas at Columbia University. Dakota Texts presents a rich array of Sioux mythology and folklore in its original language and in translation. Originally published in 1932 by the American Ethnological Society, this work is a landmark contribution to the study of the Sioux tribes.

Dakota Grammar, Texts, And Ethnography by James Owen Dorsey, first published in 1893, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.