In Canada, Assiniboine people are known as Stoney Indians, while they called themselves Nakota or Nakoda, meaning 'allies'.

Some scholars argue that the D-N-L classification system may not be totally accurate due to the non-rigidness of the substitution form.

[6] Siouan Indians live on an expansive continuum such that the distinction between different languages does not manifest in a rigid, clear-cutting criterion.

This example of lexical difference between the languages of the Siouan group illustrates another possible distinction besides the D-N-L variations.

Assiniboine has no definite or indefinite articles, no nominal case system, and no verbal tense marking.

Possible onset clusters are given in the following table:[14] ptąptąotterpsįpsįricepšApšAsneezenapcAnapcAswallowtkAtkAheavykpamnikpamniservektektekillksuyAksuyAhurtkšikšAkšikšAcurlypakcApakcAcombkmųkAkmųkAsnareknikniarrivespayAspayAwetstustAstustAtiredskąskąmeltscuscubashfulsmunasmunafinesnisnicoldšpąšpącookedštuštAštuštAsaltyškatAškatAplayšcųkašcųkalazyšmašmadeepšnošnomeltxpąxpąsoakedxtayetuxtayetueveningxcinaxcinatatteredxmaxmasleepyxnixnihave a soremnAmnAsmellMorphological processes for Assiniboine language are primarily agglutinating.

[15] Contraction->When two syllabics come into contact they contract as in: ápa+íyapi>ápayapiápa + íyapi > ápayapimorning + {they go} > {they stayed awake until morning}nakóta+iápi>nakótiapinakóta + iápi > nakótiapially + {they speak} > {a little Indian (to speak)}ohómini+íyapi>(a) óhominiyapiohómini + íyapi > {(a) óhominiyapi}circle + {they go} > {they circle}wicá+úkkupica>wicúkkupicawicá + úkkupica > wicúkkupicathem + {we give} > {we give them}Phoneme loss: Syllabics when /a/ is in medial position between /k/ and /h/: waníyaka+hi>waníyakshiwaníyaka + hi > waníyakshi{to see you} + {he comes} > {he came to see you}when /o/ is in the medial position between /i/ and /k/: ukíce+okáxniga>ukícaxnigapiukíce + okáxniga > ukícaxnigapi{we ourselves} + {to understand} > {we understand each other}when /e/ is in medial position between /p/ and /k/: napé+kóza>napkózanapé + kóza > napkózahand + {to wave} > {to beckon}Phoneme loss: semi-syllabics mn+yuhá>mnuhámn + yuhá > mnuháI + {to have} > {I have}Phoneme loss: non-syllabics /k/ is in medial position between /u/ and /k/ or /u/ and /h/ or /u/ and /n/ or /u/ and /y/ uk+kágapi>ukágapiuk + kágapi > ukágapiwe + {they make} > {we make}uk+ya+naxú>nauyaxúpiuk + ya + naxú > nauyaxúpiwe + you + {to hear} > {you hear us}Phoneme shift: syllabics awáci+ni>awácaniawáci + ni > awácani{to think} + you > {you think}Phoneme shift: non-syllabics When /a/--/e/ is in medial position between /g/ and /š/ okáxnige+-ši>owákaxnixešiokáxnige + -ši > owákaxnixeši{to understand} + -NEG > {I don't understand}When /a/--/e/ is in medial position between /g/ and /c/ okáxniga+-ce+wa>owákaxnixaceokáxniga + -ce + wa > owákaxnixace{to understand} + -ITER + I > {I understand}When /g/ is in medial position between /a/ and /y/ icáge+-ya>icáxyaicáge + -ya > icáxya{to grow} + -CAUS > {to cause to grow}Nasalization loss exists as follows: mázą+ska>mazáskamázą + ska > mazáskairon + white > moneySyllable loss occurs as follows: Syntactic contraction: personal inflectional morphemes kku+ci+-kta>cicútakku + ci + -kta > cicúta{to give} + {I... you} + -FUT > {I will give you}Syntactic contraction with verbal themes occurs as follows: i+kahíta>icáhitai + kahíta > icáhita{with something} + {to sweep} > broomSyntactic alternation wamnáka>wamnákewamnáka > wamnáke{I saw} > {I saw}skúya>skúyeskúya > skúyesweet > sweetwicákkupikta>wicákkupiktewicákkupikta > wicákkupikte{they will be given} > {they will be given}Assiniboine has SOV word order.

Focused element sentences are highly marked, and practically, a strange semantic reading is preferred over an interpretation of OSV.

For example, the following sentence was interpreted as 'A banana ate the boy' by a native speaker, and to get the OSV reading out of it the object must be stressed, for example if the sentence was given as a reply to the question 'What did the boy eat?'.