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Sauk language

Sauk
Language codes
ISO 639-3sac
Glottologmesk1242  Meskwaki
sacc1239  Sac

Sauk is either a dialect of the Fox language or a distinct language, one of the many Algonquian languages. It is very closely related to the dialects spoken by the Meskwaki and the Kickapoo tribes. Each of the dialects contains archaisms and innovations that distinguish them from each other. Sauk and Meskwaki appear to be the most closely related of the three, reflecting the peoples' long relationship.[1] Sauk is considered to be mutually intelligible, to a point, with Fox.

In their own language, the Sauk at one time called themselves asakiwaki [a-'sak-i-wa-ki], "people of the outlet".[2] The Sauk people have a syllabic orthography for their language. They published a Primer Book in 1975,[3] based on a "traditional" syllabary that existed in 1906. It is intended to help modern-day Sauk to learn to write and speak their ancestral tongue. A newer orthography was proposed around 1994 to aid in language revival. The former syllabary was aimed at remaining native speakers of Sauk; the more recent orthography was developed for native English speakers, as many Sauk grow up with English as their first language.[4]

Sauk has so few speakers that it is considered an endangered language, as are numerous others native to North America.

In 2005, A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language was published using the Algonquianist Standard Roman Orthography.[5]

In 2012, Shawnee High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma, began to offer a Sauk language course.[6]

  1. ^ Goddard, Ives. "Central Algonquin languages". In Sturtevant, William C.; Trigger, Bruce G. (eds.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 583–587.
  2. ^ Bonvillain, Nancy (1995). The Sac and Fox. Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 13, 17. ISBN 978-0-7910-1684-8. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  3. ^ McCormick, Mary F., ed. (1975). Sac and Fox Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma Primer Book Sac and Fox Language.
  4. ^ Reinschmidt, Kerstin Müller (1995). "Language Preservation with the Help of Written Language: The Sauk Language of the Sac and Fox of Oklahoma". Papers of the Twenty-Sixth Algonquin Conference: 413–430. ISSN 0831-5671. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  5. ^ Whittaker, Gordon (2005). A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language (PDF). The Sac & Fox National Public Library.
  6. ^ Carmen Bourlon (11 August 2012). "Shawnee High School to offer new course on endangered Sauk language". The Shawnee News-Star. Shawnee, OK. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013.

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