Evening star., 1903-08-18
INDIAN LANGUAGE GROWING.
1t is Better Developed Today Than 4
Was Fifty Years Ago.


Lincoln (Neb) Corr. New Orleans Times Democrat
Despite the adoption by the Indians OF
the northwest of the ways of the white men
In the matter of vocations. the English
language Is, perhaps, farther from being
generally used by them than ever before
The statement is made by missionaries
ana government agents that the Indian Ian
guages are more generally spoken and bet
Ter developed today than they were ffty
years ago This is particularly true of the
Sioux. which. in two dialects. the Teton
and the Yankton has been the means of
communication for unnumbered yeor.
among the Indians of the great n,.,rs 60,
Try on both sides of the Missouri river
Inc law OF evolution works in the Ind;an
language Just as 1t does In the English Tho
otuer tha. ~. iholans employ words and phrases
that the later generations do NOT ,isa 10, =
DO not seem to understand. "'1u
Inc change has come about 1.ro.,,
throush the influence of the missiona r,as
VINO nave taken the trouble to learn the
tongue. and have then emploved tha,r IN me
guistic skill in systematizine II Cra CO. IN
had very little place in the old Ianpuana 60
tne sioux. but the missionary has hronobt
order to this part of 1t. ''oue III
~ oh9 nollceabie change in the character Of
nc !nuian language Of today is its com
pafative purity. In the cid days, when ~ ~
,rlpes roamed at will. each enriched tho
language OF the others by nictnrasl,ie .,e .
paases PHRASES or words. either through the ex.
Sanse oi greetings or the words wr,n. .
from the lips Of captive braves "ioiis
Inc Indian exhibits the same ou,oLra,,
90 ~ taspltis new idfom or striking mira 90
assarti, "ii,e man. although restricted nee
HE fan. ~ ~, aaoian sources. 1t is a remarka-
PIE PIE TACT that the slang of the Enaii.h
Tongue nnds little favor with the reds Oh on
.Iougn they are eager to seize mon ~,
Thns 1ias sood In any other Indian tonone
a.,,n. Mo. coIilnement to the bounds Of tho res.
erVatlons has had the effect OF nnrt,,,..s.
their language in that there ia uttJa ~ ~ 3
oiu mixture or other tribes to be found ''
Al indlan language is spoken in R1lttera,
ueep' thIoaty tones. with small sylla HES
ST., Stu ihucn use OF vowels. Words of lhe
SIOUX sometimes mean whole mira soc oe
English. Take. for instance. the old word
a-mah. h.pas-an-ta-g1l." which exnress.s -
long sentence in English. 'oo d
II means that the Indian has seen soma-
thns slihouetted against the sky. after
DUSK has set in. and that he has watct "a
until ne could distinguish the object hv
the red light Of the afterglow. Tender,ast
scarcely ever observe this peculiar phenom-
enon OF the plains. but old plainsmen have
noticed that always in the evenin1 nhae hs
darkness Is gathering over the land there
ls rant temperance of glowing red light,
as II the sun were about to rise again.
me Inoians. who are great at noticing
things. understood this phenomenon anS
watched for 1t. When written the worJ
would have "wa-yan-ka-pi' added If the
object had been seen by more than one
The afiix 'pi'' always signifies the plural
number. f" "a
The old Indian words wigwam and tom.-
hawk have no longer a place in the Ian.
guage of the reds. These and many others
are practically extinct. They were, strict
iy speaking. words Of eastern tribes. and
In some cases they were the inventions of
trappers and plainsmen. The Sioux wori
Tor wigwam Is tepee. which has a more
essentially Indian sound
BY pref1xing and affixing an Indian word
may be heightened out into meanings that
would require whole paragraph Of Eng
lish to fully translate. The language js
very comprehensive. and in its greater puri-
ty Is more pOetical than formerly. shorn as
1t now is OF what corresponded to Indian
slang.
1t is losing little in the way of being
f1gurative. this being the result of scisn-
tffc application and systematization The
words and phrases still deal mainly with
the ordinary things of the Indians' simple
life. and when the realm Of metaphysics is
entered the redman is at q loss for words.
save as he can illustrate his meaning nv
the use of common words Of double siTnifi-
cation.