Even though there are hundreds of indigenous languages still spoken across the North American continent, including all throughout the United States and Canada, most people are only familiar with the biggest names: Navajo, Cree, Cherokee, Lakota, and the like. Indeed, we’re proud to provide translation services for these languages, but there exist a whole host of other, equally important indigenous languages that usually fly under the radar. One such language is Stoney, or Nakota, which is closely related to Lakota.
Roughly 3,000 people speak Stoney as their first language, which makes Stoney one of the biggest indigenous languages among those in the US and Canada. That being said, the language is classified as endangered, although its status remains more stable than many other indigenous languages in North America. Most Nakota people speak English, and the prestige and dominance of English constitutes a persistent threat to the vitality of the Stoney language. That’s why it’s so hard to locate translation services for the language, but at TranslationServices.com, we’re proud to debut our new Stoney translation team.
Ask about a free quote for our Stoney translation services in a message today!
Stoney: the unique outlier of the Dakota language grouping
Stoney, which is also known as Nakota, Nakoda, Isga, and formerly Alberta Assiniboine, is part of the Dakotan grouping of languages within the Siouan family, and it constitutes the only Dakotan language spoken entirely within Canada. They’re native to the western Canadian province of Alberta, and perhaps as a result of the distance from the other Dakotan tribes, their language is notably distinct from the other Dakotan tongues (which are Lakota, Dakota, and Assiniboine). Stoney is most closely related to Assiniboine, and in fact, the two tribes are often confused with each other, but their languages are not mutually intelligible.
Stoney is a grammatically complex language filled with inflection, which is common among the indigenous languages of North America, despite their vastly different lineages. The language uses a default word order of subject-object-verb, with markers for the subject and object built into the verb. In transitive verbs, which contain both a subject and object, the object comes before the subject, making for an object-subject-verb order within the verb itself. Adjectives or other states are expressed through verbs inflected with an object marker—for example, to say “I’m cold” in Stoney, you must say makhata, where ma- is the object form of the first-person singular marker and khata means “to be cold.” Confused? It’s okay—with the native-speaking Stoney translators on our team, you have nothing to worry about.
Translating your Stoney project the way you want
We’ve hired the best Stoney translators we could find to provide you with accurate, high-quality, comprehensive Stoney translation services. Our translators are passionate about their language and heritage, eager to share their culture with the world and to broaden the body of content available in the Nakota language. With specialists for translation into Stoney as well as translation from Stoney, we ensure that anyone looking for Stoney translation services can access the specialists they need.
Are you looking to produce educational materials in Stoney that can help native Nakota children learn in their ancestral language? Are you part of a business or organization targeting the Nakota people and you want to offer messaging and resources in the Stoney language? Are you seeking to spread appreciation of the Nakota culture by spreading Stoney-language stories? Or are you a language activist who wants to enrich the body of work available in Stoney by translating great books, stories, poems, games, and apps into Stoney? Our team works with all these different types of clients to produce top-notch Stoney translation services.
Place an order for Stoney translation services today and see the difference our team can make!