my name is Pirkko Vishnevskij, I'm new to this list (except for one
posting to native- l). Originally I started to follow alt.native and
subscribed to both this newsgroup and native- l to find out
something about the following matter:
In March this year I saw a group of Lakota singers and dancers in
Helsinki. They were pretty good - not in anyway pompous or in a
soulless way professional, as "folklore ensembles" sometimes are;
they also strove to teach the audience something about the Lakota.
I thought I heard them speak English between themselves, though. They
also seemed to have English first names and surnames, if not English
like "Smith", then sort of English translations of Lakota names
("Young Bear").
I have been reading available literature on the Lakota in particular
and on Native Americans in general, but none of the sources answer
directly these questions:
To what an extent is Lakota language used among its native
speakers (at home, in education and administration etc.)? Is English
taking/taken its place? Why would people even today have names
not in their their own language but in a language which supposedly is
if not foreign, then at least just the second language for
them?
I understand these questions are elementary from your point of view
but I would be grateful for an answer. If this is a question for a
language newsgroup, could you please send me info on how to subscribe
to that group.
Best regards
Pirkko Vishnevskij
(visnevskij@latuko.helsinki.fi)
*The opinions expressed are mine, not my employer's.*
******Moderation Note******
I am sure that these questions
can be answered in Native-L; however, we
do have a list devoted to Native Languages
Nat-Lang. You can subscribe by sending mail
to listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu and putting the
message: subscribe nat-lang firstname lastname
in the body of the message.
****************************