Scrabble reveals Native American edition game

[Ironhorse]

AGENCY VILLAGE, S.D. - The game-maker Hasbro has teamed up
with an American Indian official in South Dakota to produce
the first Scrabble game in the Sioux language known as
Dakota. Only 127 American Indians in Minnesota and South
Dakota speak the Sioux language, said Tammy DeCoteau,
director of the Native Language Program for the Association
of American Indian Affairs, the Orange County (Calif.)
Register reported. By that count, Dakota is in stark danger
of extinction since when the elders die, the language could
die too. DeCoteau said she hopes Scrabble will help keep
the language -- which even she cannot speak fluently --
alive. "If I spoke, I'd sound like a child who just learned
English," she said. "I'd be speaking broken Dakota." The
Dakota were one of three Sioux tribes and the first to be
pushed from their homeland in the mid-1800s. When they
revolted in 1862, 38 were hanged in the largest mass
executions in U.S. history.

[Coldwolf]

I wonder how you resolve those arguments about "thats not really a word" and "thats not how you spell tatonka".

[monkey]

Originally posted by Coldwolf:
"thats not how you spell tatonka".

You crack me up! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

[beautiful_mess38]

Is there enough of the Dakota Indians around to play the game?
And is there enough words in thier language to play the game?
Interesting.

[Ironhorse]

I don't know, I saw another article on this before and in it, they said they are encouraging the kids on the reservations, and adults to play the game in order to help them learn the language. Not sure of the success, but I think it's neat that Hasbro has come up with this way to help them preserve and teach their language.

[Ironhorse]

Via Patrick Hall's Blogamundo comes news of Scrabble being used to promote the learning of Dakota Sioux. Patrick wonders if the makers of the game "rebuilt distribution and points on the tiles to correspond to Dakota frequencies." I don't know about that, but the original article about the debut of Dakota Scrabble (shortened for the AP wire) notes that the tiles have all the appropriate orthographic markings, as each set is hand-crafted by tribal members. Organizers got backing from Hasbro to make the Dakota version of Scrabble (along with the 207-page Official Dakota Scrabble Dictionary), and they also received support from the Association on American Indian Affairs and Sisseton-Wahpeton College. The AAIA and the college have supported previous efforts to revitalize the language, such as the recording of Dakota rap songs last year.

[Ironhorse]

Reservation students play Scrabble in Dakota language


Associated Press

HANKINSON, N.D. - Teams from Sioux reservation schools in North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba have been competing in Scrabble, using the Dakota Sioux language.

The tournament made its debut Friday at the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe's Dakota Magic Casino pavilion near Hankinson.

The game is part of the tribe's campaign to revitalize the Dakota language, now spoken fluently by a dwindling number of elders. One survey predicted the last fluent Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota speaker would die in 2025.

"With these efforts, we'll try to prolong that," Darell DeCoteau, a school board member of the Enemy Swim Day School, said as he gestured to a nearby Scrabble board. "This will probably push that back a little bit."

"Start in the middle," David Seaboy told a group of middle-school students from the Enemy Swim Day School at Waubay, S.D. "Everybody help somebody make a word."

The first word to take shape was sa, pronounced "shah" - the color red.

After a few minutes of frantic consultation with "The Official Dakotah Scrabble Dictionary, a team built on the base to form the word sapa, pronounced "shah-pa," or dirty, a word worth seven points.

"This is a good stimulant for the mind," said Seaboy, 63, one of a group of Sisseton-Wahpeton elders, all fluent in the language, who wrote the 207-page Dakota dictionary.

The Dakota Scrabble initiative was authorized by Hasbro, the maker of Scrabble, and supported financially by the company's chairman, Alan Hassenfeld.

Hasbro gave permission for 30 educational versions of the game. Each set was hand crafted by tribal members. The tiles were made of stone mined from a quarry near Milbank, S.D.

Unable to find a maker of a leather board, the creators settled on a vinyl version made in Fargo. Otherwise, all the materials are natural and native to the area.

Project organizers got permission from Hasbro to make up to 500 home versions of Dakota Scrabble, Tammy DeCoteau said. There has been much interest in the game on reservations, she said.

Seaboy, who grew up with Dakota as his first language, was pleased by what he saw Friday. The Scrabble tournament was the culmination of a scholastic Dakota language bowl, now in its fourth year.

"What strikes me is the reaction of the kids," he said, "how hungry they are to learn and understand their native language."

[beautiful_mess38]

Thats pretty cool.

I'm glad someone is helping to preserve the Indian culture.

[CatdaBrat]

was just thinking about native american "rap" music ... which i take it, is a blending of cultures, not that it's a bad thing ....

there could conceivably be a reciprocation in the form of perhaps a class called "smoke signals from the ghetto." Actually, that sounds like a good blog title.

[rimalicious]

called "smoke signals from the ghetto." Actually, that sounds like a good blog title.

Or band name http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/lol.gif