What are the traditional gender differences embedded within the Lakota language?
What are the traditional gender roles within Lakota society?
How do the gender language differences impact or support the gender societal roles in Lakota culture? In what ways are roles and language connected concerning gender?
How are “inter-tribal” relations impacting the preservation of traditional Lakota language?
Why is there an upsurge today of Lakota women using Lakota language patters that were traditionally reserved for Lakota men?
How much change in Lakota language usage and culture is simply the sign of a “living, dynamic” language and society, and how much indicates a true loss of language and culture? who decides this? Who is able to decide this?
What implication to Lakota society are created by Lakota women using words like “hau” or “hoka hey”?
What are some of the other (besides language) traditional Lakota gender markers? How much have those markers changed? How controversial are those other changes in the estimation of traditional Lakota elders?
How many of these changes are done intentionally by fluent Lakota speakers? How many are done unintentionally by less than fluent Lakota speakers? How much difference does intentionality make?
How much current Lakota language us is actually non-Lakota thought patterns translated into Lakota words (like Hinhanni waste)?
How many current Lakota language teachers are fluent first language speakers and how many know Lakota as a “second language”?
How much is the Lakota version of the Berenstain Bears being used in schools? What are the various viewpoints concerning the value and/or danger of this?
What Lakota language learning tools are being developed around traditional stories like the Iktome stories?
Learn FROM
(deep listening, information)
What “gender markers” in language or in other areas are you familiar with?
When you were growing up, what did you learn concerning “boys do this..girls do this?
Have those things changed in the broader society? Have your perceptions of them changed?
How do you balance necessary change with the value of traditional perspectives in your own life?
Have you “broken” some societal rule on accident before? What happened?
Have you ever “broken” a societal rule intentionally to make a point? How did that turn out?
How do you find a balance between conformity and non-conformity?
What might be a good personal rule for discovering NEW ways while giving honor to the TRADITIONAL ways?
How do you feel about the current changes in societal attitudes concerning gender roles and other roles?
Can you think of examples of how the “thought patterns” behind traditional language or cultural practice have changed?
Are there some changes in society that concern you? What are they and why are you concerned?
Are there some changes in language or society that you see now that may cause us to lose or forget something very important over time? What are those changes? What might be done about this?
Can you think of any stories that recently go a “retelling or an “updated version” that you dint’ like for some reason what bothered you about the updated version?
What ideas do YOU have for insuring that indigenous languages don’t disappear? What do you think would be most useful?
