Stoney language

{{Short description|Siouan language spoken in Alberta, Canada}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Stoney

| nativename = {{lang|sto|Nakoda, Nakota, Isga, Îyethka Îabi, Îyethka wîchoîe, Isga Iʔabi}}

| states = Canada

| region = Alberta

| ethnicity = Nakota: Stoney

| speakers = 3,025

| date = 2016

| ref = {{cite web |title=Census Profile, 2016 Census |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Language&TABID=1&type=0 |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=13 December 2020}}

| familycolor = American

| fam1 = Siouan

| fam2 = Western Siouan

| fam3 = Mississippi Valley Siouan

| fam4 = Dakotan

| fam5 = Nakoda

| iso3 = sto

| glotto = ston1242

| glottorefname = Stoney

| map = Stoney lang.png

| mapcaption = The location of Stoney / Nakoda

| map2 = Lang Status 80-VU.svg

| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Stoney is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}

| altname = Nakoda

}}

{{Infobox ethnonym|root=Nakota / Nakoda // Îyârhe{{cite web |title=Mountain |url=https://dictionary.stoneynakoda.org/#/E/mountain |website=Stoney Nakoda Dictionary Online |publisher=Stoney Education Authority |access-date=30 December 2023}}
"ally / friend" // "mountain"|person=Îyethka{{cite web |title=Stoney Nakoda |url=https://dictionary.stoneynakoda.org/#/E/stoney%20nakoda |website=Stoney Nakoda Dictionary Online |publisher=Stoney Education Authority |access-date=30 December 2023}}|people=Îyethkabi
(Îyethka Oyade)|language=Îyethka Îabi / wîchoîe
Îyethka Wowîhâ{{cite web |title=wowîhâ |url=https://dictionary.stoneynakoda.org/#/L/wow%C3%AEh%C3%A2 |website=Stoney Nakoda Dictionary Online |publisher=Stoney Education Authority |access-date=30 December 2023}}|country=Îyethka Makóce}}

Stoney—also called Nakota, Nakoda, Isga, and formerly Alberta Assiniboine—is a member of the Dakota subgroup of the Mississippi Valley grouping of the Siouan languages.{{cite book |last1= Parks|first1= Douglas R. |author2=Rankin, Robert L. |year=2001|chapter= Siouan languages|editor1-last= DeMaille |editor1-first= Raymond J. |editor2-last= Sturtevant|editor2-first= William C. |title= Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13: Plains|publisher= Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution|pages= 94–114}} The Dakotan languages constitute a dialect continuum consisting of Santee-Sisseton (Dakota), Yankton-Yanktonai (Dakota), Teton (Lakota), Assiniboine, and Stoney.{{Cite journal |last1=Parks |first1=Douglas R. |last2=DeMallie |first2=Raymond J. |date=1992 |title=Sioux, Assiniboine, and Stoney Dialects: A Classification |jstor=30028376 |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |volume=34 |issue=1/4 |pages=233–255}}

Stoney is the most linguistically divergent of the Dakotan dialects{{cite journal|last=Taylor |first= Alan R. |year=1981|title=Variation in Canadian Assiniboine |journal=Siouan and Caddoan Linguistics Newsletter}} and has been described as "on the verge of becoming a separate language."{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} Ullrich considers Stoney and Assiniboine distinct languages, saying "The Nakoda language spoken by the Assiniboine is not intelligible to Lakota and Dakota speakers, unless they have been exposed to it extensively. The Stoney form of the Nakoda language is completely unintelligible to Lakota and Dakota speakers. As such, the two Nakoda languages cannot be considered dialects of the Lakota and Dakota language."{{cite book |last=Ullrich |first=Jan |title=New Lakota Dictionary (Incorporating the Dakota Dialects of Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee-Sisseton) |publisher=Lakota Language Consortium |year=2008 |pages=2, 4 |isbn=978-0-9761082-9-0}} The Stoneys are the only Siouan people that live entirely in Canada, and the Stoney language is spoken by five groups in Alberta.{{cite thesis |last= Andersen |first= Raoul R. |date= 1968 |title=An inquiry into the political and economic structures of the Alexis band of Wood Stoney Indians, 1880-1964 |location=Columbia |publisher=University of Missouri |type=PhD dissertation}} No official language survey has been undertaken for every community where Stoney is spoken, but the language may be spoken by as many as a few thousand people, primarily at the Mînî Thnî community (renamed from Morley in 2024).{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Eung-Do |last2=Owens |first2=Camille C. |year=1991 |chapter=Conservative and innovative features in Alexis Stoney |title=Papers from the American Indian Languages Conferences Held at the University of California, Santa Cruz, July and August 1991 |pages= 135–146 |location=Carbondale |publisher=Southern Illinois University}}{{Cite news |last=Jeffrey |first=Andrew |date=Aug 30, 2024 |title=Stoney Nakoda reclaim traditional Mînî Thnî name for community |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/stoney-nakoda-mini-thni-morley-name-1.7309775 |access-date=2024-12-30 |work=CBC News}}