Choctaw Language Research Paper

Jakob Hanlon
113886222
Language Across Cultures
The Choctaw Language

Every word that is spoken has a deep and rich history. Words that are commonplace today may have first been used thousands of years ago, and thousand miles away. Words and languages are very important pieces to history, they allow us to relate to our ancestors and their struggles as well as their triumphs. This is especially true in Oklahoma, which is home to many Indian tribes. Oklahoma actually started as “Indian Territory” after most Indians were sequestered here following their removal. One tribe that is especially important to the history of Oklahoma is the Choctaw tribe, and more importantly the Choctaw language. Most scholars believe that ancestors of the Choctaw

They were forced to walk to the southeastern part of the Indian Territory, which would later become southeastern Oklahoma, on a journey that was aptly named the “Choctaw Trail of Tears”. The Choctaw Indians have been treated unfairly by the US government, they were forced by Andrew Jackson to sign over all of their land. However with the passing of Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, the US government finally began to make amends with the Choctaw people. The bill allows the tribes to be largely in charge of their own education, tribal healthcare, and other social service programs. (Canby) The Choctaw tribe also owns its own gaming commission that includes casinos, and bingo halls. The Choctaw tribe also invented the first field sport game, named Choctaw stickball. Choctaw Stickball was the primary way that the Choctaws solved arguments, however now it is just a game. The Choctaw Nation headquarters is currently located in Durant, Oklahoma. It is estimated that the Choctaw tribe contains around 160,000 that have a Choctaw lineage according to the most current

The language has both inflectional and derived elements. According to the Choctaw nation of Oklahoma, Verbs can be manipulated in order to make something similar to adjectives in English. This is interesting that adjectives are formed off of a verb in Choctaw, when in English and adjective is used to describe a noun. Most, if not all Choctaw words end in a consonant. The Choctaw nation states that the Choctaw language consists of only eighteen letters. The three basis vowels in Choctaw are: a, I, and o. The letter “a” is pronounced like the “a” in the English word father. The letter “I” is pronounced the same as the “I” in the English word big. Finally the letter “o” is pronounced like the letter “o” in the English word go It seems as though there are three different pronunciations of these vowels: a nasal pronunciation, and also short and long pronunciations. In the simplest of Choctaw sentences, such as “o̱batok” (it rained) the endings imply the subject, either it/we/he/she/us/ect. However in more complex sentences the subject always precede the verb ex. “Hoshiyat apatok” (The birds ate them). Verbal prefixes always indicate the relationship between the verbs and its arguments. However in Choctaw there is no agreement for person-number arguments. (Choctaw