Over the years, knowledge about the Lakota language has decreased drastically. Professor David Rood, a linguist at the University of Colorado in Boulder and a leading Lakota scholar in the U.S., describes Lakota as "endangered." The language desperately needed revitalization after boarding schools caused massive destruction to indigenous culture.
Boarding schools came about in the early 1870s. The institutions were designed to "save the man, kill the Indian," meaning the indigenous youth who were brought there were deprived of their culture. This occurred through a number of ways, including being forced to cut their hair, not being allowed to speak their language, and being forbidden to do anything related to the indigenous culture. Children as young as five years old were taken away from their families to live in the poor conditions found at the boarding schools.
