News & Recent Events

Lakota Language Weekend In New York

Mark your calendars! We are officially announcing the dates for the upcoming in-person New York Lakota Language Weekend at the American Indian Community House on February 25th & 26th, 2023. If you have attended the NYC Lakota Language Weekend in the past registration will open to you later today, February 6th through a special newsletter! Registration will open for everyone else on February 10th. Keep an eye on our socials and in your inbox for more information!

All are welcome and as usual, we will be prioritizing Lakota people to attend this event. Scholarships are available to Lakota participants who email info@lakhota.org for more information.

98th Annual Linguistic Society of America

The Lakota Language Consortium (LLC) was happy to travel with The Language Conservancy and to be a part of this year’s Linguistic Society Of America meeting in Denver. It was wonderful to gather with so many professionals and linguists working on indigenous languages. It was extra special to finally be in person again after the last few years. Leadership and members of the LLC Board Alex FireThunder, Tipiziwin Tolman (pictured), Wil Meya, and Šišókaduta attended this meeting and were excited to be some of the voices to contribute to the ongoing conversation around Indigenous Language Documentation.

Stoney Education Authority Launch

LLC Deputy Director Alex Fire Thunder was able to attend the materials launch of the Stoney Education Authority in Canada last month. They released a Student Dictionary in print, the Level 2 Textbook & Stoney Podcast! We would like to send our congratulations to the Stoney Education Authority for their successful launch and wish them well in their continued work in language use and documentation! Read more about the event below!

Board Member Highlight

We are excited to announce our voice of the month LLC Board Vice-Chair Ben Black Bear Jr.! You may know him as the voice of Papa Bear in The Lakota Berenstain Bears or as the male voice in the NLD. Ben is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and is the current Director of Indian Studies for the St. Francis Mission. He is the former Executive Director of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Tribal Land Enterprise and Tribal Vice President. As a fluent native speaker of Lakota and early Director of the Lakota Language Department at Siŋté Glešká College, he has been involved with various aspects of Lakota language teaching for five decades. He has set out to produce language materials to be used to document and teach the Lakota language and after five decades of work he has accomplished what he has intended to do. Ben has been the Vice-Chair for the LLC Board since 2008. He has been a consistent part of our social media channels and we are excited to continue to share more of his contributions! Visit us on social media for more!