Post by Deleted on May 8, 2017 7:23:14 GMT -5
George Sword asserted that, "The young Oglala do not understand a formal talk by an old Lakota because the white people have changed the Lakota language, and the young people speak it as the white people have written it."
James Riley Walker understood the assertion that George Sword made and clarified it, "This legend of The Stone Boy was written in Lakota by Sword [...] and is of special interest because he usually wrote in the old form of the Siouan dialect as it was spoken by the Oglalas before it was of its modern form. He knew that few can translate or even interpret the old form of this language into English; and, for this reason, he attempted to write this legend in the modern form and mixed the forms in such a manner as to exemplify the transition of the old into the new form. For instance, he has written the phrase hi-na-zin and the word hinazin to express the same concept. The phrase is of the old form, hi being a verb meaning comes, na a conjunction meaning and, and zin a verb meaning stands. The word hinazin is of the new form, a verbal noun meaning to come and stand. The phrase and the word express the same concept, and the difference between them would be of only academic interest were the phrase a fixed form. But it was only conventional and could be altered at will by the speaker by introducing into it various other words to modify the concept expressed by the phrase as here given. The word hinazin is fixed and can be modified only by introducing into it other words. Sword contended, and was confirmed by other old Oglalas that in the Lakota as it was spoken before contact with white people, there was no such word as hinazin and that this word was constructed by white people [who wrote] hi-na-zin as if it were a word and then educated the younger Oglalas to accept the written instead of the spoken language."
Elaine A. Jahner understood the assertion that George Sword made and further clarified it, "Beyond describing linguistic attitudes among people first confronting the impact of writing, Sword's efforts reveal his conscious concern with details of presentation, [...] we learn from Walker's record of Sword's concern with language that Sword was willing to write the Stone Boy story in the form of Lakota that would be the most accessible. He apparently wanted others to pay attention to his story. [...] Sword objected to combining the notions of arriving and standing into one word, hinazin; and a case can be made to show that arrival and standing carry separate connotative meanings in the context of the story. Furthermore, these separate meanings add to the effect of the entire story, guiding at least one approach to interpretation. Lakota verbs of movement differ from the English in that they mark the nature of point-to-point movement very precisely. Eugene Buechel explains the verb hi as meaning 'arrival at a place not one's own with the fact mentioned at that place.' Generally the idea of purpose, intention to arrive at a particular point, is part of the verb's meaning. The Lakota version of the Stone Boy story, then, does not have the sense of some straggler coming haphazardly upon the tipi. Rather it conveys the idea of someone deliberately deciding to join the group. The woman comes to the boundary of the brothers' organized living, the tipi. That is as far as her own powers permit her to go without some response from the brothers. Then she must stand. The next move is theirs. [...] Sword's emphasis on the separation between the notions of arriving and standing may not have had much linguistic significance, but such separation is a definite help in setting the initial pace and tone of the story, which has, as one of its themes, the significance of arrivals and entries into the world of social organization."
Raymond J. DeMallie understood the assertion that George Sword made and further clarified it, "Sword felt that as the language was formerly spoken -- and as it was still spoken in ceremonies and formal speeches -- each syllable was a distinct unit of meaning. Sequences of syllables [...] accepted as equivalents for English words were really phrases [...] But the younger Oglala had come to accept the newer view and the language had changed to the extent that younger men could no longer understand the old formal speech."
Justin Randolph Gage understood the assertion that George Sword made and further clarified it, "The use of written Native language also changed the spoken language. George Sword, an Oglala Lakota at the Pine Ridge Agency, thought that the white missionaries’ written version of Dakota eventually altered the way his people spoke. Before the younger generations began using the written language, each syllable in the Lakota language had a distinct meaning, but missionaries combined those syllables to form English words, not compound phrases. Because of the written language, those monosyllabic words were, over time, formed into compound words when spoken. According to Sword, the 'young people' began to speak 'as the white people have written it.' [...] Sword also noted how the written language was changing Lakota religion, because the old 'holy' language was only know by the 'holy men' and there were no 'holy men among the young people,' 'the people do not understand the meaning of any words in the holy language.'"
Delphine Red Shirt understood the assertion that George Sword made and further asserted that, "Indeed, in the Lakota language there are approximately five hundred syllables that form all words (Buechel, A Grammar 129): of these approximately twenty percent are complete words, of the rest, many are stems only, some are prefixes or suffixes, and a few are used as stems, prefixes, or suffixes (Buechel, A Grammar 129)."
arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/311217/1/azu_etd_13116_sip1_m.pdf
James Riley Walker understood the assertion that George Sword made and clarified it, "This legend of The Stone Boy was written in Lakota by Sword [...] and is of special interest because he usually wrote in the old form of the Siouan dialect as it was spoken by the Oglalas before it was of its modern form. He knew that few can translate or even interpret the old form of this language into English; and, for this reason, he attempted to write this legend in the modern form and mixed the forms in such a manner as to exemplify the transition of the old into the new form. For instance, he has written the phrase hi-na-zin and the word hinazin to express the same concept. The phrase is of the old form, hi being a verb meaning comes, na a conjunction meaning and, and zin a verb meaning stands. The word hinazin is of the new form, a verbal noun meaning to come and stand. The phrase and the word express the same concept, and the difference between them would be of only academic interest were the phrase a fixed form. But it was only conventional and could be altered at will by the speaker by introducing into it various other words to modify the concept expressed by the phrase as here given. The word hinazin is fixed and can be modified only by introducing into it other words. Sword contended, and was confirmed by other old Oglalas that in the Lakota as it was spoken before contact with white people, there was no such word as hinazin and that this word was constructed by white people [who wrote] hi-na-zin as if it were a word and then educated the younger Oglalas to accept the written instead of the spoken language."
Elaine A. Jahner understood the assertion that George Sword made and further clarified it, "Beyond describing linguistic attitudes among people first confronting the impact of writing, Sword's efforts reveal his conscious concern with details of presentation, [...] we learn from Walker's record of Sword's concern with language that Sword was willing to write the Stone Boy story in the form of Lakota that would be the most accessible. He apparently wanted others to pay attention to his story. [...] Sword objected to combining the notions of arriving and standing into one word, hinazin; and a case can be made to show that arrival and standing carry separate connotative meanings in the context of the story. Furthermore, these separate meanings add to the effect of the entire story, guiding at least one approach to interpretation. Lakota verbs of movement differ from the English in that they mark the nature of point-to-point movement very precisely. Eugene Buechel explains the verb hi as meaning 'arrival at a place not one's own with the fact mentioned at that place.' Generally the idea of purpose, intention to arrive at a particular point, is part of the verb's meaning. The Lakota version of the Stone Boy story, then, does not have the sense of some straggler coming haphazardly upon the tipi. Rather it conveys the idea of someone deliberately deciding to join the group. The woman comes to the boundary of the brothers' organized living, the tipi. That is as far as her own powers permit her to go without some response from the brothers. Then she must stand. The next move is theirs. [...] Sword's emphasis on the separation between the notions of arriving and standing may not have had much linguistic significance, but such separation is a definite help in setting the initial pace and tone of the story, which has, as one of its themes, the significance of arrivals and entries into the world of social organization."
Raymond J. DeMallie understood the assertion that George Sword made and further clarified it, "Sword felt that as the language was formerly spoken -- and as it was still spoken in ceremonies and formal speeches -- each syllable was a distinct unit of meaning. Sequences of syllables [...] accepted as equivalents for English words were really phrases [...] But the younger Oglala had come to accept the newer view and the language had changed to the extent that younger men could no longer understand the old formal speech."
Justin Randolph Gage understood the assertion that George Sword made and further clarified it, "The use of written Native language also changed the spoken language. George Sword, an Oglala Lakota at the Pine Ridge Agency, thought that the white missionaries’ written version of Dakota eventually altered the way his people spoke. Before the younger generations began using the written language, each syllable in the Lakota language had a distinct meaning, but missionaries combined those syllables to form English words, not compound phrases. Because of the written language, those monosyllabic words were, over time, formed into compound words when spoken. According to Sword, the 'young people' began to speak 'as the white people have written it.' [...] Sword also noted how the written language was changing Lakota religion, because the old 'holy' language was only know by the 'holy men' and there were no 'holy men among the young people,' 'the people do not understand the meaning of any words in the holy language.'"
Delphine Red Shirt understood the assertion that George Sword made and further asserted that, "Indeed, in the Lakota language there are approximately five hundred syllables that form all words (Buechel, A Grammar 129): of these approximately twenty percent are complete words, of the rest, many are stems only, some are prefixes or suffixes, and a few are used as stems, prefixes, or suffixes (Buechel, A Grammar 129)."
arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/311217/1/azu_etd_13116_sip1_m.pdf
