> The Yankton, Yanktonai, and Assiniboine all belong to the what is called
> the "N-speakers" group of the Sioux language.
This view is well distributed in the existing literature (at least with
respect to Yanktonais and Assiniboine) - Yankton proper is usually
associated with the D dialects. However, the dialect survey conducted (and
still in progress) by Doug Parks and Ray DeMallie reports that a better
division (reflecting vocabulary, sound changes, morphology, etc.) is:
Yankton-Yanktonais (Dakhota)
Santee-Sisseton (Dakhota)
Assiniboine (Nakoda)
Stoney (Nakoda)
Teton (Lakhota)
Thus there are five recognizable regional dialects. Only some of the far
northwestern lcoal Stoney dialects are very hard for speakers from other
areas to understand, e.g., Morley Reserve Stoney. This arrangement differs
from the traditionally reported one in putting Yankton and Yanktonais
together, and separating them from Assiniboine and Santee-Sisseton. It also
differs in recognizing the difference between Assiniboine and Stoney,
traditionally reported as one dialect, based on the ethnic perception of
them among the other Dakotan speakers as one group "Hohe." The divergence
of Stoney from Assiniboine may be rather recent, and the names, as Lee
correctly reports, are just Ojibwa and English versions of the same name.
Linguists are now specializing the English form, commonly used in Canada, to
refer to the "Stoney" group, which is restricted to Canada. The Ojibwa form
Assiniboine is specialized to refer to the "Assiniboine" group, which I
believe is split between the US and Canada.
The parenthesized forms above are the pronunciation of "Dakota" (to use an
English spelling - though Dakota spelling systems that don't mark aspiration
often use that spelling, too). These are the basis of the simplistic
standard dialect division into N, D, and L dialects. The Yanktonais is
usually stuck in with the N-dialects I think because they were reported by
the other Dakotan speakers as having had a former political association with
the Hohe groups. Linguists converted this political attribution into a
linguistic one without checking it, possibly because the -nais suffix here
(representing -na `diminutive') looked like it was an "n-dialect" form.
However, the d-dialect(s), though normally having -da~ for the diminutive,
have -na, too, after nasal vowels, which is what we have here. In any
event, the current English/French versions of the names all derive from
Santee-Sisseton usage, and reflect Santee-Sisseton pronuniciations!
> The Assiniboine name comes from a Cree word meaning "those who cook with
> stones." For this reason they were often called the Stoney by the
> Canadian fur traders. In their own language they refer to themselves the
> Nakota.
Cree or Ojibwa - with variations in details of the form. (A)sinipoil and
(A)sinipoet are also encountered, and I've seen "Singing Poet," too.
Assini-boine is Stone-Sioux - the assumption that the stones are used for
cooking is not built into the name, as far as I know. "Boine" or "bwaan" is
probably related to the French term "Puan(t)" or `Stinker', used in
denominating various Siouan groups, e.g., the Winnebago. (I owe this
observation to Richard Rhodes.) I've seen the bwaan forms attributed to
Proto-Algonquain (or at least early, pre-European Algonquian usage), but I
wonder if the source might not actually be French. I believe the term
Winnebago refers to `stinking water' (a placename), and this could have led
to French Puan(t), and thence to "boine"/bwaan/pwaal, etc. (Anyway, the name
Puan(t) `stinker' doesn't refer to even the Winnebago people per se, let
alone other Siouan groups, but only to where the Winnebago lived early on.)
> The Cheyenne called the Assiniboine the Hohe, but this name appears to
> have been borrowed from a Sioux word meaning "rough speakers."
Problem. Hohe is also used in Dakotan, and Cheyenne usage probably derives
from it, though the meaning of the term in Dakotan (other than Hohe
person/people) isn't known. However, "rough speakers" has nothing to do
with Hohe. It is a folk etymology for S^ahiyela/S^ahiyena `Cheyenne'.
Actually, S^ahi is widespread in the northern plains area as a term for
'Cree' (or northern Algonquian in general) and S^ahiyela (S^ahi=yela) is
just `little (or lesser) Crees'. The =la or =na is the diminutive, and (y)e
is a theme vowel required before =la in older usage (-a becomes -e before
=la, but it is no longer productive to insert an extra (y)e if some other
vowel like -i is present). It is misanalyzed by some as s^a `red' + iye `to
speak' + la `little' and this is explained by saying that `red-speaking' is
`to speak hoarsely' (which might describe Cheyenne frequent voiceless
vowels) or `to speak a foreign language'. That observation is probably
based on the knowledge that iye-ska `he speaks - it's clear' means `to
translate, to speak the local language'. Like s^a `red', ska `white, clear'
is a color term. However, apparently s^a-iye (with a different order of
constituents from iye-ska) is only attested in the name for the Cheyenne,
which makes that analysis a bit suspect, especially given a perfectly good
one like `lesser Cree'.
> From what white historians have been able to reconstruct, all of the Sioux
> people originally lived in Minnesota before the arrival of the Europeans
> disrupted everything.
It is worth pointing out that the Teton groups in particular now generally
believe that they originated in the Black Hills, though I don't know whether
any other Dakotan groups accept this view. The non-Dakotan Crows are said
to reject it, feeling that they were in the Black Hills first! Historians
and archaeologists generally consider that the Dakotan groups were in
northern Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas at contact, with an extension of
disputed proportions onto the Canadian plains. [first name?] Michlovic
believes he has identified some of the early Teton farming villages in the
eastern Dakotas, and Midwestern archaeologists in general feel that the
early Dakotans in general are associated with a type of pottery called Sandy
Lake Ware.
> Yankton means "at the edge" and indicates that this group originally lived
> on the western edge of Sioux homeland near their present location on the
> Missouri River.
Yankton is a French rendition of Iha~k-thu~(wa~) (V~ nasal vowel; Ch
aspirated C) or `end village', supposedly refering to being at one of the
mouth (or eastern opening) `ends' of the linear sequence forming the great
thipi ring in which the Dakotan peoples are envisaged as camping when
(theoretically) together. This probably doesn't refer to geographic
location of villages at all, but only to social position.
> I don't know what it means when "ai" is added to the end of a Sioux name
> (perhaps a form of diminutive), but the Yanktonai lived north of the
> Yankton at the western edge, ...
Yanktonai(s) represents Iha~k-thu~(wa~)-na `end village diminutive' or
`lesser End Villagers'.
> The French had first become aware of the Sioux by 1640 (probably through
> the Ojibwa...hence the name Sioux from the French corruption of the Ojibwa
> name for an enemy - Nadouessioux, or rattlesnake) ...
Actually, this term is the diminutive (in -ssiw) of Nadoue (nadowa,
Nottoway, etc.) `foreign speaker', a term applied to neighboring Siouan and
Iroquoian groups. It is the (Mississauga sp.?) rattlesnake that is being
called a `lesser foreigner (Dakotan speaker)'. Anyway, I believe this is the
currently accepted analysis among Algonquianists.