Primarily focused on updating and adding Dakota/Lakota place names in the historic homelands of these native communities, with an emphasis on consistent orthography to accurately reflect how modern speakers of this language (in communities that are very much still here!) actually pronounce these words.

I am an advanced-year student at a university Dakota Language program and have studied the language for several years, but am not a first-language speaker. Significant amounts of Dakota/Lakota map content have been scaffolded in in the past by editors who are not speakers of the language at any level, and this content benefits from a followup review by someone with any level of real understanding - even that of a second-language speaker who feels humbled every time a first-language speaker talks for thirty seconds.

I also do Lakota (and hopefully eventually Dakota) OSM interface localization over at Translatewiki. If you have questions about the logic behind a translation I did on the map or in the interface, imawaƞġa wo (please ask me about it) and I’ll try to respond.

Some basic notes on my process:

1. I write Dakota (:dak) place names in the UMN Orthography developed by Carrie Schommer et al. at the University of Minnesota. This orthography is used by Dakota communities in Minnesota and language programs in Sisseton Wahpeton and Wipazoka Wakpa. As is typical for this orthography, I note syllable emphasis only when it is not on the second syllable.
2. I write Lakota (:lkt) place names in the Standard Lakota Orthography used by the New Lakota Dictionary, Lakota Grammar Handbook, and related resources. As is typical for this orthography, I note syllable emphasis on every multi-syllable word.
3. I use these orthographies because they fully explain how to correctly pronounce the words that make up these place names. Speakers vary in how much pronunciation information they include in their day-to-day writing (since not everyone has access to - or wants to use - special keyboard marks), but a reference resource like OSM should start with more information, not less.
4. Dakota and Lakota are two dialects of one language, and share the vast majority of their vocabulary. Most words that differ between these dialects differ in predictable, formulaic ways that do not represent any difference in meaning (e.g. Oṭuƞwe vs Otȟúŋwahe or Bde vs Ble). I will typically try to add names in both dialects as long as a place name is composed entirely of words that are thus “identical” between the dialects. This is not always possible, but it is usually possible.