Lakota (Lakȟótiyapi) belongs to the Siouan family, within the Mississippi Valley Siouan branch, and forms part of the Sioux dialect continuum together with Dakota and Nakota. Its speakers make up the Seven Council Fires confederation (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ), and the language is largely mutually intelligible with Dakota. Historically, the Sioux peoples moved from more eastern regions onto the Northern Great Plains.

The Lakota people today live mainly on reservations in South and North Dakota, such as Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, and Cheyenne River. After adopting the horse, they developed an equestrian Plains culture centered on bison hunting and a rich ceremonial life. The language is estimated to have a few thousand speakers, many of them elderly, placing it in an endangered situation.

During the 19th century, the Lakota were central figures in Great Plains history, with leaders such as Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake) and Crazy Horse (Tȟašúŋke Witkó). They resisted U.S. expansion in encounters such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876) but suffered the loss of the Black Hills and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. Subsequently, reservation and boarding-school policies sought to suppress their language and religious practices.

Lakota is classified as an endangered language, with greatly reduced intergenerational transmission. In response, initiatives have emerged such as the Lakota Language Consortium, which produces standardized dictionaries and teaching materials, and immersion schools like Wičhákini Owáyawa at Standing Rock. Tribal universities and digital apps complement these efforts to raise new generations of speakers.