Dakota (Sioux, Lakota)

Dakota is spoken in the United States, mainly in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Montana, and in Canada in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Dakota belongs to the Siouan family. It is one of the closely related varieties of the Sioux language: Dakota (the eastern dialects, Santee-Sisseton and Yankton-Yanktonai), Lakota (the western dialect, spoken by the Teton Sioux), and the related Nakota. The name Dakota means "friends" or "allies." Like other North American Indian languages it declined sharply in the 20th century, and today most fluent speakers are elderly, although immersion schools and language programs are teaching it to children.