Stoney language

Stoney's closest linguistic relative is Assiniboine. The two have often been confused with each other due to their close historical and linguistic relationship, but they are not mutually intelligible. Stoney either developed from Assiniboine, or both Stoney and Assiniboine developed from a common ancestor language. ==Phonology==

Very little linguistic documentation and descriptive research has been done on Stoney. However, Stoney varieties demonstrate broad phonological similarity with some important divergences. Mînî Thnî Dialect For example, the following phonemes are reportedly found in Mînî Thnî Stoney, spoken primarily in Mînî Thnî . Alexis Dialect For comparison, these phonemes reportedly characterize the Stoney spoken at Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, which maintains the common Siouan three-way contrast ==Writing system==

Stoney alphabet (Stoney Nakoda First Nation) {{hlist Note: • Vowel lengthening is relatively rare in Mînî Thnî Stoney. When two vowels occur in sequence, they are normally broken up with a predictable glottal stop. To distinguish between /ɑː/ and /ɑʔɑ/, three new letters have been proposed: , , and . Stoney alphabet (Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation) == Word set (includes numbers) ==

• One — • Two — • Three — • Four — • Five — • Man — • Woman — • Sun — • Moon — • Water — == Phonetic differences from other Dakotan languages ==

The following table shows some of the main phonetic differences between Stoney, Assiniboine, and the three dialects (Lakota, Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee-Sisseton) of Sioux. == References ==