Choctaw (language)
| Choctaw | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
United States | |
| speaker | approx. 9200 | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
cho |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
cho |
|
The Choctaw or Chahta Anumpa (often simply Chahta ), the language of the Choctaw (Chahta) , a once powerful Indian people in the southeastern woodlands in the southeastern United States , is one of the Western Muskogee languages . The Chahta language was well known as the lingua franca among frontier men of the early 19th century, including Presidents Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison .
The language is very closely related to the Chikasha language (Chickasaw) . Some linguists consider them to be two dialects of a single language, although recent reports suggest that Chahta speakers consider Chikasha incomprehensible.
Other related languages include the following Eastern Muskogee languages: Alabama (Alibamu or Albaamo innaaɬiilka) , Coushatta (Koasati or Kowassá: ti) , Creek (Maskoki or Mvskoke) and Hitchiti-Mikasuki .
Dialects
There are three Chahta dialects (Mithun 1999):
- "Original" Chahta of the Chahta Nation in southeast Oklahoma
- Mississippi Chahta of the Oklahoma Chahta in the Chikasha Nation of south- central Oklahoma (near Durwood, Oklahoma )
- Mississippi -Chahta near Philadelphia (Mississippi)
Other Chahta-speakers live in Tallahassee , Florida , and in the Koasati (people) in Louisiana .
Phonology
Consonants
| Labials | Alveolar | Postalveolare | Velare | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives | p, b | t | k | ||
| Affricates | ʧ | ||||
| Fricatives | f | s | ʃ | H | |
| Nasals | m | n | |||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| lateral fricatives | ɬ | ||||
| Half vowel | w | j |
Some spells use <š> and <č> for / ʃ / and / ʧ / ; others the diagraphs <sh> and <ch>. <y> is pronounced / j /, and most modern orthographies use <lh> to represent the lateral fricative.
Vowels
| front | central | back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| closed | i, iː , ĩː | ||
| closed, central | o, oː , õː | ||
| open | a, aː , ãː |
Appear in closed syllables [ ɪ ] , [ ʊ ] and [ ə ] as allophone variants of / i /, / o /, and / a /. In orthography, nasal vowels are usually indicated to underline the vowel (e.g. < o > represents / õː / represents). The allophone [ ʊ ] is often written <u>. To the lax allophones of the short / a / and / o / display use some spells <v> and <u>, that is [ ə ] and [ ʊ ] . These orthographies also use <e> to use some cases of / iː / and <i> for others and also <a>, <i> and <o> to describe the long and short phonemes of / a /, / i / and / o / to represent both.
Syllabary
The Chahta syllabary was adapted from Sequoyah's Cherokee syllabary .
Examples
Some common chahta phrases:
- hello: halito
- thanks: yokoke
- what's your name ?: Chi hohchifo nanta?
- my name is ... sa hohchifo ut ...
- yes: a
- no: keyu
- I do not understand: Ak akostinincho
- Do you speak Chahta ?: Chahta imanumpa ish anumpola hinla h o ?
Web links
literature
- George Aaron Broadwell: Speaker and self in Choctaw. In: International Journal of American Linguistics , 57, 1991, pp. 411-425.
- Cyrus Byington: A dictionary of the Choctaw language . In: JR Swanton, HS Halbert (Ed.): Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin , 46. United States Government Printing Office, Washington DC 1915 (Reprinted 1973 & 1978).
- Todd Downing: Chahta anompa: An introduction to the Choctaw language (3rd edition). OK Durant: Choctaw Bilingual Education Program, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 1974.
- Jeffrey Heath: Choctaw cases. In: Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistic Society. 3, 1977, pp. 204-213.
- Jeffrey Heath: Choctaw suppletive verbs and derivational morphology. 1980
- Gregg Howard, Richard Eby, Charles G. Jones: Introduction to Choctaw: A primer for learning to speak, read and write the Choctaw language . VIP Pub., Fayetteville AR 1991
- Betty Jacob: Choctaw and Chickasaw. Abstract of paper delivered at the 1978 Muskogean conference. In: International Journal of American Linguistics , 46, 1980, p. 43.
- Betty Jacob, Thurston Dale Nicklas, Betty Lou, Spencer: Introduction to Choctaw . OK Durant: Choctaw Bilingual Education Program, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 1977
- Marianne Mithun: The languages of Native North America . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X .
- Pamela Munro: Some morphological differences between Chickasaw and Choctaw. In: P. Munro (Ed.): Muskogean linguistics . University of California at Los Angeles, Department of Linguistics, Los Angeles 1987, pp. 119-133.
- Pamela Munro (Ed.): Muskogean linguistics . UCLA occasional papers in linguistics (No. 6). University of California at Los Angeles, Department of Linguistics, Los Angeles 1987
- Thurston Dale Nicklas: The elements of Choctaw. Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1974.
- Thurston Dale Nicklas: Choctaw morphophonemics. In: J. Crawford (Ed.): Studies in southeastern Indian languages . University of Georgia, Athens 1975, pp. 237-249.
- Thurston Dale Nicklas: Reference grammar of the Choctaw language . OK Durant: Choctaw Bilingual Education Program, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 1979.
- William Pulte: The position of Chickasaw in Western Muskogean. In: J. Crawford (Ed.): Studies in southeastern Indian languages. University of Georgia, Athens 1975, pp. 251-263.
- Charles H Ulrich: Choctaw morphophonology. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles 1986.
- Charles H Ulrich: Choctaw g-grades and y-grades. In: P. Munro (Ed.): Muskogean linguistics ´. University of California at Los Angeles, Department of Linguistics, Los Angeles 1987, pp. 171-178.
- Charles H Ulrich: Choctaw verb grades and the nature of syllabification. In: A. Bosch, B. Need, E. Schiller (Eds.): Papers from the 23rd annual regional meeting . Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago 1987.
- Charles H Ulrich: The morphophonology of Choctaw verb roots and valence suffixes. In: W. Shipley (Ed.): In honor of Mary Haas: From the Haas Festival conference on Native American linguistics . Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin 1988, ISBN 0-89925-281-8 , pp. 805-818.
- Charles H Ulrich: A unified account of Choctaw intensives. In: Phonology , 2, 1994, pp. 325-370.
- Ben Watkins: Complete Choctaw definer: English with Choctaw definition . JW Baldwin, Van Buren AR 1892 (Reprinted 1972).
- Allen Wright: Chahta leksikon: A Choctaw in English definition for the Choctaw academies and schools . Presbyterian Publishing Co., St. Louis 1880.