Navajo is spoken in the American Southwest (primarily Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) by the Navajo people, or Dine'. The largest of all the Native American tribes, the Navajo are one of the few tribes that still use their native language in everyday communication. The Navajo language first appeared in writing in the mid-1800s. In 1939, the alphabet was standardized and printed materials were available. Shortly after, during World War II, bilingual code talkers sent secure radio messages using Navajo as a code. Includes over 9,000 entries; a detailed section on Navajo pronunciation; and useful, everyday expressions.

First published in 1958, this is a simple and concise Navajo-English only dictionary. It has over 9000 entries and contains many useful every day expressions. It was originally intended for the native Navajo speaker to learn English and for non-Navajos who want to acquire some knowledge of the Navajo language.

This book, the first of its kind, teaches the rudiments of Cherokee, which is the native tongue of about 20,000 Americans, although most of those who speak it use it only as a second language. Cherokee has had several recognized dialects in the past. The two main dialects today are the North Carolina, spoken on the Qualla Reservation by about 3,000 persons, and the Oklahoma, or Western, which is a consensus of the different ways of speech among the Cherokees mingled there after their removal from the East in the 1830's. This book uses the Oklahoma dialect.

Recent increased interest has created a demand for Amerindian language courses. Many Cherokees who ignored past opportunities to learn the language from their families are now regretting the loss. Parents who once believed that such knowledge would only be a disadvantage to their children have changed their minds. Youths who have now concluded that their ancestors had much to offer are anxious to investigate the language for themselves. Those who do not have time to spare for organized study would often like to have a convenient source book on the Cherokee language and its syllabary. Beginning Cherokee was written to fill these needs. It will help everyone who uses this book, whether Cherokee or not, to understand that Indian tribes are contemporary people with an enduring heritage. The Cherokee language frames an outlook and an intellect that can contribute much to civilization in the future, as it has in the past.

A precedent-setting, updated dictionary, and grammar guide for the Indigenous Classic Taíno Language developed by Indigenous Taíno leaders. The publication features historical review on the development of the Classic Taíno Language, in-depth comparative analysis with related and unrelated regional Indigenous languages, introductory grammar and syntax, detailed tables for focused study, a comprehensive word listing featuring simplified spelling, phonetic pronunciations, botanical information, updated taxonomic identifiers for plants and animals, an Indigenous-centered presentation of word definitions, and word source information for each entry. The publication also includes a brief focus on sentence phrasing, an English to Taíno index, and reference pages. Gu'ahia Taíno is the culmination of almost a decade of collaboration between Kasike (Chief) R. Múkaro Agueibaná Borrero and the United Confederation of Taíno People's Taíno Language Committee. The Taino were the first Indigenous Peoples of the Americas to be called Indians and their descendants remain throughout the Caribbean and the Diaspora today.

This monumental new edition celebrates the vitality of the Lakota language today and will be a valuable resource for students and teachers alike.

The most complete and up-to-date dictionary of Lakota available, this new edition of Eugene Buechel's classic dictionary contains over thirty thousand entries and will serve as an essential resource for everyone interested in preserving, speaking, and writing the Lakota language today.

This new comprehensive edition has been reorganized to follow a standard dictionary format and offers a range of useful features: both Lakota-to-English and English-to-Lakota sections; the grouping of principal parts of verbs; the translation of all examples of Lakota word usage; the syllabification of each entry word, followed by its pronunciation; and a lucid overview of Lakota grammar.

A warm, witty, passionate cry for living, vital, indigenous languages and the people who speak them.

Despite the more than 200 Indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, including 63 that are officially recognized and celebrated by the Mexican government, linguistic diversity is and has been under attack in a larger culture that says bilingual is good when it means Spanish and English, but bad when it means Nahuatl and Spanish. Yásnaya Aguilar, a linguist and native Mixe speaker, asks what is lost, for everyone, when the contradictions inherent in Mexico's relationship with its many Indigenous languages mean official protection and actual contempt at worst, and ignorance at best. What does it mean to have a prize for Indigenous literature when different Indigenous languages are as far from each other as they are from Japanese? What impact does considering Tzotzil cultural heritage have on our idea of it, when it is still being used, and refreshed, and changed (like every other language) today? How does the idea of Indigeneity stand up, when you consider Indigenous peoples outside of the frame of colonialism?Personal, anecdotal, and full of vivid examples, Aguilar does more than advocate for the importance of resistance by native peoples: she offers everyone the opportunity to value and enjoy a world in which culture, language, and community is delighted in, not flattened. We have sacrificed Mexico in favor of creating the idea of Mexico she says. This Mouth Is Mine is an invitation to take it back.

Compiled nearly 150 years ago, this dictionary remains the most comprehensive and accurate lexicon available of the Ojibway language.

This dictionary is written for three audiences: first, native speakers of Ojibwa, Chippewa, and Ottawa who would like to have a consistent way to write their language, especially those who are engaged in teaching their language to others; second, students of the Ojibwa, Chippewa, and Ottawa language who need a reference work they can turn to; and finally, the scholarly world in general, particularly Algonquianists and linguists.

Explore Native American culture and learn Hand Talk, also known as Plains Indian Sign Language, Plains Sign Talk, and First Nation Sign Language.

In Talking with Hands, professional Native American dancer, storyteller, and educator Mike Pahsetopah reveals the beauty of Plains Indian Sign Language, which was once used as a common language between the Indigenous peoples of the region now generally known as the Great Plains of North America. The language was used for trade, but also for storytelling and by the Deaf community, making it a very common and useful tool in society. Today, only a few native speakers remain.

This beautifully designed book makes practicing Plains Indian Sign Language easy and engaging. Learn the proper positions and motions of this now-rare language with photos and descriptions throughout the pages. Follow along with diagrams to perfect your abilities.

Learn how to use your hands to convey the meanings of over 200 common words. In this detailed guide, you will learn to sign words like:

• Hungry
• Camp
• Evening
• Angry
• Fire
• Owl
• Together
• Brave
• And more

Honor and carry on the culture of the Plains peoples by learning the sign language they shared.

An indispensable resource designed to enhance everyday conversation and contribute to the scholarship of the Dakota language and its dialects.

John Williamson (1835-1917), son of missionary Dr. Thomas S. Williamson, grew up speaking both English and Dakota and spent most of his adult life on the Santee Reservation of northeastern Nebraska. In 1902 he made his contribution to the world's collection of lexicons by producing this English-Dakota dictionary.

the 90= american= and= as= best-known= br= by= cherokee= cherokees= complete= explained= first= fully= grammar= have= high= in= invented= is= it= leading= literacy= made= native= nineteenth-century= of= oldest= only= percent.= public= published= rapidly= rates= sequoyah= states.= system= the= this= throughout= to= united= used= was= writing=>The Cherokees have the oldest and best-known Native American writing system in the United States. Invented by Sequoyah and made public in 1821, it was rapidly adopted, leading to nineteenth-century Cherokee literacy rates as high as 90 percent. This writing system, the Cherokee syllabary, is fully explained and used throughout this volume, the first and only complete published grammar of the Cherokee language.

Although the Cherokee Reference Grammar focuses on the dialect spoken by the Cherokees in Oklahoma--the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians--it provides the grammatical foundation upon which all the dialects are based. In his introduction, author Brad Montgomery-Anderson offers a brief account of Cherokee history and language revitalization initiatives, as well as instructions for using this grammar. The book then delves into an explanation of Cherokee pronunciation, orthography, parts of speech, and syntax.

While the book is intended as a reference grammar for experienced scholars, Montgomery-Anderson presents the information in accessible stages, moving from easier examples to more complex linguistic structures. Examples are taken from a variety of sources, including many from the Cherokee Phoenix. Audio clips of various text examples throughout can be found on the accompanying CDs. The volume also includes three appendices: a glossary keyed to the text; a typescript for the audio component; and a collection of literary texts: two traditional stories and a historical account of a search party traveling up the Arkansas River.

The Cherokee Nation, as the second-largest tribe in the United States and the largest in Oklahoma, along with the United Keetoowah Band and the Eastern band of Cherokees, have a large number of people who speak their native language. Like other tribes, they have seen a sharp decline in the number of native speakers, particularly among the young, but they have responded with ambitious programs for preserving and revitalizing Cherokee culture and language. Cherokee Reference Grammar will serve as a vital resource in advancing these efforts to understand Cherokee history, language, and culture on their own terms.
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Plains Indians from different tribes speaking different languages were nevertheless able to communicate facts and feelings of considerable complexity when they met. They used a language composed of gestures made almost entirely with the hands and fingers, probably the most highly developed gesture language to be found in any part of the world.
With this book, you will find it simple to use this language, which the author learned in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, principally from Sioux Indians in Wyoming. Drawings and short descriptions make clear the proper positions and motions of the hands to convey the meaning of over 870 alphabetically arranged common words -- hungry, camp, evening, angry, fire, laugh, owl, cat, many times, brave, cold, heart, rain, spotted, together, river, etc. The words are then used in sample sentences. There are also brief sections on the pictography and ideography of the Sioux and Ojibway tribes, and on smoke signals.
This is a book for anyone who wants to learn or teach Indian sign language -- scouts, school teachers, camp counselors, scout leaders, parents, linguists, and students of Indian culture. To help counselors and teachers, the last chapters give instructions on how to conduct the Indian ceremony for opening a council fire, an Indian initiation ceremony, and suggestions for sign language tests and exercises.

Learn Nahuatl, the language used by the Mexica (Aztec) civilization and still preserved by over a million people in Mexico. This guide is not written for the expert linguist, but rather for the beginner. Included are hundreds of examples and dozens of practice sets. An emphasis is placed on the Huasteca variety of Chicontepec, Veracruz. This second edition presents with improved updates, more vocabulary sections, larger reference dictionary, and new included grammar sections.

Based on extensive research and pedagogy on the Rosebud Reservation, this elementary grammar of Lakota, one of the three languages spoken by the Sioux nation, is the first written by a native Lakota speaker. It presents the Sicangu dialect using an orthography developed by Lakota in 1982 and which is now supplanting older systems provided by linguists and missionaries. This new approach represents a powerful act of self-determination for Indian education.

Though Reading and Writing the Lakota Language is thorough in its inclusion of conjugation, syntax, and sentence, it emphasizes vocabulary and pronunciation. Author Albert White Hat Sr. presents Lakota philosophy as it applies to specific grammar lessons. Moreover, he documents the impact of the acculturation process on the language, showing how Lakota evolved as a result of non-Indian influences. The textual example offers new information and interpretation of Lakota society, even to scholars who specialize n Plains cultures. Beyond language instruction, readers will value the book for its cultural insights, humorous stories, and its entertaining tone.

Cáw Pawá Láakni / They Are Not Forgotten is a book like none other. This ethnogeographic atlas of Native place names presents a compelling account of interactions between a homeland and its people. A project of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation - composed of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Tribes in eastern Oregon - Cáw Pawá Láakni documents and describes more than four hundred place names. The full-color, detailed maps and the narrative that introduces and supports them paint a picture of a way of life. This meticulous assemblage of memory and meaning echoes cultural and geographical information that has all but disappeared from common knowledge.

To create this historical and cultural atlas of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla homeland, which spans the Columbia River and its tributaries from southeastern Washington to northeastern Oregon, ethnographic, traditional, and institutional knowledge was gathered together and incorporated into a GIS database to produce customized maps that present this knowledge. Many of the accounts are from the individuals who traveled on horseback, lived in and saw these places, and possessed knowledge that can no longer be replicated. In presenting these place-names, the Tribes strive to ensure the vitality of this communal knowledge into the future.

In Cáw Pawá Láakni, places named in Indian languages are juxtaposed with sites that are central to the colonial period in the West, such as those described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition and those given to fur-trading posts, missions, and places on the Oregon Trail. The atlas adds a needed and vivid Native perspective to the written history and geography of Oregon and the West.

Learn Nahuatl, the language used by the Mexica (Aztec) civilization and still preserved by over a million people in Mexico. This guide is not written for the expert linguist, but rather for the beginner. Included are hundreds of examples and dozens of practice sets. An emphasis is placed on the Huasteca variety of Chicontepec, Veracruz.

An essential book on California's Indigenous languages, updated for the first time in over 25 years.

Before outsiders arrived, about one hundred distinct Indigenous languages were spoken in California, and many of them are in use today. Since its original publication in 1994, Flutes of Fire has become one of the classic books about California's many Native languages. It is written to be approachable, entertaining, and informative--useful for people doing language revitalization work in their own communities, for linguists, and for a general readership interested in California's rich cultural heritage. With significant updates by the author, this is the first new edition of Flutes of Fire in over 25 years. New chapters highlight the exciting efforts of language activists in recent times, as well as contemporary writing in several of California's Native languages. Both a practical guide and a joy to read, Flutes of Fire is an essential book for anyone who cares about the Indigenous languages of California and their flourishing for many generations to come.

This book is a source of vocabulary and grammatical information that is indispensable for teachers and students of the Navajo language. Beginning with an explanation of the Navajo sound system, the publication is followed by a 125 page long outline of Navajo grammar. The work presented is also composed of a two part dictionary: 247 pages Navajo - English and 101 pages English - Navajo. Young and Morgan have used painstaking care in gathering, arranging and describing the numberless complex details of Navajo language. Originally published in 1943, it was supplemented with 'The Vocabulary of Colloquial Navajo' in 1950, using a wealth of sentence examples for each verb entry. Both publications are now once more made available by Native Child Din tah.