Dakota Grammar, Texts and Ethnography: Volume IX

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."

-Dakota Indian Proverb

Dakota Grammar, Texts and Ethnography (1852) is the ninth volume of a nine-part series, Contributions to North American Ethnology (all available from Cosimo Classics). This book is organized into three parts: Part I provides an extensive description of three elements of the grammar of the Dakota language: phonology, morphology, and syntax; Part II contains ten stories written as told by native speakers and including full English translations, along with two Christian prayers; and Part III is an ethnography consisting of seven chapters that discuss various aspects of the Dakota history and culture. This book offers a critical contribution to the history of Native Americans and is a must-read for anthropologists, linguists, and students of Native American history.

STEPHEN RETURN RIGGS (1812-1883) was a missionary and linguist who spent his entire career, starting at the age of 25, living and working among the Dakota Sioux tribes in the territory that is now Minnesota.