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A World of Variety: Arikara (Caddoan)
Posted Thu, February 26, 2009 - 8:29 PM
language, nativeamerica
Arikara is a severely endangered language spoken only on the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota. It's one of the last remaining representatives of the Caddoan languages, which were, in pre-contact times, widespread in the south central U.S., primarily in what is now Oklahoma. The Arikara moved north and joined with the Hidatsa and Mandan to form the "Three Affiliated Tribes".
Unfortunately, I've been unable to find any audio samples of Arikara - I'll keep looking. Meanwhile, here's a portion of a traditional story, told by Ella P. Waters and recorded/transcribed by Douglas R. Parks. From University of Indiana AISRI.
Now I'm going to tell a story of a girl becoming a bear. There was this Arikara village. While the children were playing with one another, they found a bear hide. Then they began to put it on and chase each other around. They pretended that they were being chased by a bear. They did this every day.
They were playing in the morning, and they used the hide to pretend they were being chased by a bear. And one girl said "Now it's my turn. I'll wear the bear [hide]."
I smoothed out the English translation; the original gloss is at the source site.