Dakota is a Siouan language

Siouan languages

The Western Siouan languages, also called Siouan proper or simply Siouan, are a Native American language family of North America, and the second largest indigenous language family in North America, after Algonquian...

 spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language

Lakota language

Lakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. While generally taught and considered by speakers as a separate language, Lakota is mutually understandable with the other two languages , and is considered by most linguists one of the three major varieties of the Sioux...

.

Dialects

Dakota has two major dialects with two sub-dialects each (and minor variants, too):

1. Eastern Dakota ( Santee-Sisseton or Dakhóta)
   • Santee (Isáŋyáthi: Bdewákhatuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute)
   • Sisseton (Sisítuŋwaŋ, Waȟpétuŋwaŋ)
2. Western Dakota ( Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta)
   • Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ)
   • Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna)
     • Upper Yanktonai (Wičhíyena)

The two dialects differ phonologically, grammatically, and to a large extent, also lexically. They are mutually intelligible to a high extent, although Western Dakota is lexically closer to the Lakota language

Lakota language

Lakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. While generally taught and considered by speakers as a separate language, Lakota is mutually understandable with the other two languages , and is considered by most linguists one of the three major varieties of the Sioux...

 with which it has higher mutual intelligibility.

Writing systems

For a comparative table of the various writing systems conceived over time for the Sioux languages, cf. the specific section of the article Sioux language

Sioux language

Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 33,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit and Ojibwe.-Regional variation:...

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Vowels

Dakota has five oral vowels, /a e i o u/, and three nasal vowels, /aŋ iŋ uŋ/.

		Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...	Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...	Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
high	oral	i		u
	nasal	iŋ		uŋ
mid		e		o
low	oral		a
	nasal		aŋ

Consonants

		Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...	Post-alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...	Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....	Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...	Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...		[m]	[n]
Plosive	unaspirated	[p]	[t]	[tʃ]		[k]		[ʔ]
	voiced	[b]	[d]			[ɡ]
	aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...	ph [pʰ] / pȟ [pˣ]	th [tʰ] / tȟ [tˣ]	čh [tʃʰ]		kh [kʰ] / kȟ [kˣ]
	ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...	[pʔ]	[tʔ]	[tʃʔ]		[kʔ]
Fricative	voiceless		[s]	[ʃ]			[χ]
	voiced		[z]	[ʒ]			[ʁ]
	ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...		[sʔ]	[ʃʔ]			[χʔ]
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...		[w]			[j]			[h]

Phonological differences

In respect to phonology Eastern and Western Dakota differ particularly in consonant clusters. The table below gives the possible consonant clusters and shows the differences between the dialects:

Dakota consonant clusters
								Santee Sisseton	Yankton	Yanktonai
b	ȟ	k	m	p	s	š	t	h	k	g
bd	ȟč	kč	mn	pč	sč	šk	tk	hm	km	gm
	ȟd	kp		ps	sk	šd		hn	kn	gn
	ȟm	ks		pš	sd	šb		hd	kd	gd
	ȟn	kš		pt	sm	šn		hb	kb	gb
	ȟp	kt			sn	šp
	ȟt				sp	št
	ȟb				st	šb
					sb

The two dialects also differ in the diminutive suffix (-da in Santee, and -na in Yankton-Yanktonai and in Sisseton) and in a number of other phonetic issues that are harder to categorize. The following table gives examples of words that differ in their phonology.

Eastern Dakota		Western Dakota		gloss
Santee	Sisseton	Yankton	Yanktonai
hokšída	hokšína	hokšína		boy
nína		nína	nína / dína	very
hdá		kdá	gdá	to go back
hbéza		kbéza	gbéza	ridged
hnayáŋ		knayáŋ	gnayáŋ	to deceive
hmúŋka		kmúŋka	gmúŋka	to trap
ahdéškada	ahdéškana	akdéškana	agdéškana	lizzard

Lexical differences

There are also numerous lexical differences between the two Dakota dialects as well as between the sub-dialects. Yankton-Yanktonai is in fact lexically closer to the Lakota language than it is to Santee-Sisseton. The following table gives some examples:

English gloss	Santee-Sisseton	Yankton-Yanktonai	Lakota
			Northern Lakota	Southern Lakota
child	šičéča	wakȟáŋyeža	wakȟáŋyeža
knee	hupáhu	čhaŋkpé	čhaŋkpé
knife	isáŋ / mína	mína	míla
kidneys	phakšíŋ	ažúŋtka	ažúŋtka
hat	wapháha	wapȟóštaŋ	wapȟóštaŋ
still	hináȟ	naháŋȟčiŋ	naháŋȟčiŋ
man	wičhášta	wičháša	wičháša
hungry	wótehda	dočhíŋ	ločhíŋ
morning	haŋȟ’áŋna	híŋhaŋna	híŋhaŋna	híŋhaŋni
to shave	kasáŋ	kasáŋ	kasáŋ	glak’óǧa

Grammatical differences

Yankton-Yanktonai has the same three ablaut

Apophony

In linguistics, apophony is the alternation of sounds within a word that indicates grammatical information .-Description:Apophony is...

grades as Lakota (a, e, iŋ), while in Santee-Sisseton there are only two (a, e). This significantly impacts word forms, especially in fast speech and it is another reason why Yankton-Yanktonai has better mutual intelligibility with Lakota than with Santee-Sisseton.

Some examples:

English gloss	to go	I shall go	to go back	he/she/it will go back
santee-sisseton	yá	bdé kte	hdá	hdé kte
yankton-yanktonai	yá	mníŋ kte	kdá/gdá	kníŋ/gníŋ kte
lakota	yá	mníŋ kte	glá	gníŋ kte

There are other grammatical differences between the dialects.