Choctaw language

Choctaw
Chahta'
Native to United States
Region Southeastern Oklahoma and east central Mississippi, and into Louisiana and Tennessee
Ethnicity 20,000 Choctaw (2007)[1]
Native speakers
 10,400 and decreasing  (2010 census)[1]
L2 by Koasati[1]
Muskogean

  • Western

    • Choctaw
Language codes
ISO 639-2 cho
ISO 639-3 cho
Glottolog choc1276[2]

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The Choctaw language, traditionally spoken by the Native American Choctaw people of the southeastern United States, is a member of the Muskogean family. Although Chickasaw is sometimes listed as a dialect of Choctaw, more extensive documentation of Chickasaw has shown that Choctaw and Chickasaw are best treated as separate but closely related languages.[3]

Orthography

The written Choctaw language is based upon English version of the Roman alphabet and was developed in conjunction with the civilization program of the United States in the early 19th century. Although there are other variations of the Choctaw alphabet, the three most commonly seen are the Byington (Original), Byington/Swanton (Linguistic), and Modern (Mississippi Choctaw).

Byington (Original)

The Choctaw "Speller" alphabet as found in the Chahta Holisso Ai Isht Ia Vmmona, 1800s.

Byington/Swanton (Linguistic)

The Choctaw linguistic alphabet as found in the Choctaw Language Dictionary by Cyrus Byington and edited by John Swanton, 1909.

Modern (Mississippi Choctaw)

The Modern Choctaw alphabet as used by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Present.

Modern (linguistic variant)

Rev. Cyrus Byington worked nearly 50 years translating the Bible into Choctaw. He stayed with the Choctaws in Mississippi before removal and followed them to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) after their 'removal'.

Many publications by linguists about the Choctaw language use a slight variant of the "modern (Mississippi Choctaw)" orthography listed here, where long vowels are written as doubled. In the "linguistic" version, the acute accent shows the position of the pitch accent, rather than the length of the vowel.
The discussion of Choctaw grammar below uses the linguistic variant of the orthography.

Dialects

There are three dialects of Choctaw (Mithun 1999):

  1. "Native" Choctaw on the Choctaw Nation in southeastern Oklahoma
  2. Mississippi Choctaw of Oklahoma on Chickasaw Nation of south central Oklahoma (near Durwood)
  3. Choctaw of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians near Philadelphia, Mississippi

Other speakers live near Tallahassee, Florida, and with the Koasati in Louisiana, and also a few speakers live in Texas and California.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral
Nasal m n
Stop1 p   b t k ʔ2
Affricate tʃ
Fricative f s3 ɬ ʃ3 h
Approximant l j w
  1. ^ The only voiced stop is /b/. The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ may become partially voiced between vowels, especially /k/ and especially for male speakers. Additionally, the voiceless stops are slightly aspirated at the onset of words[4] and before stressed syllables, behaving like English voiceless plosives.
  2. ^ According to one analysis, all words must end in a consonant.[4] Words apparently ending in a vowel actually have either a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a glottal fricative /h/ as the final consonant. These consonants become realized when suffixes are attached.
  3. ^ The phonemes /s/ and /ʃ/ are neutralized at the end of words.

Free variation

  1. /ɬ/, the voiceless lateral fricative, is pronounced as a voiceless dental fricative /θ/.[4]
/ɬ/→[θ]
  1. The voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ is pronounced as a voiceless bilabial fricative /ɸ/.[4]
/f/→[ɸ]

Phonological processes of consonants

/k/→[ɣ]/V_V
imofi-aki-lih→imofiy-əɣə̃:-lih
/h/→[ç]/_tʃ
katihchish→katiçtʃiʃ

Vowels

Short1 Long Nasal2
Close front i iː ĩː
Close-mid back o oː õː
Open central a aː ãː
  1. ^ In closed syllables, [ɪ], [ʊ], and [ə] occur as allophonic variants of /i/, /o/, and /a/. Traditional orthography distinguishes the lax allophones from the tense vowels but failed to distinguish phonemic long vowels from phonemic short ones.
  2. ^ Nasal vowels are not distinguished by duration as are oral vowels. However, nasal vowels are phonetically long, suggesting an underlying phoneme /N/.

Pitch

  1. In Choctaw, there are almost no minimal pairs distinguished only by pitch accent.[4] Nouns in Choctaw will have pitch realization at the penultimate syllable or the ultimate syllable.[4] Verbs in Choctaw will have pitch realization at morphemes indicating tense, however pitch can directly precede the tense morpheme on occasion.[4]

Syllable structure

Syllables of Choctaw[4]

Syllable Type Example
V Light a.bih
CV Light no.sih
VV Heavy ii.chih
CVV Heavy pii.ni'
V Heavy a.chi'
CV Heavy ta.chi'
VC Heavy ish.ki'
CVC Heavy ha.bish.ko'
VVC Super Heavy óok.cha-cha
CVVC Super Heavy náaf.ka'
VC Super Heavy at
CVC Super Heavy ok.hish
*(C)VCC Super Heavy tablit.tapt
*CCV Super Heavy ski.tii.nnih
  1. As seen in the chart above, there are three syllable structure types in Choctaw: Light, Heavy and Super Heavy. And all the possible syllables in Choctaw must contain at least one vowel of any quality.[4]
  2. Syllables cannot end with a consonant clusters, CC. However, there is an exception with the structure *(C)VCC which occurs when a word in Choctaw ends with the suffix /-t/.[4]
  3. Syllables do not begin with consonant clusters, CC, however, there is an exception to this rule described below in initial /i-/ deletion that will result with a syllable *CCV .[4]

Rhythmic lengthening

CV-CV-CVC→CV-CV:-CVC
salahatok→sala:hatok

The smallest possible word

a:t
*bih → a-bih

Phonological processes

Glide insertion

  1. Where V: is oo
  2. boo-a-h→bóowah
  1. Where V: can be either ii or aa
  2. talaa-a-h→talaayah

/i-/ deletion

/i/→∅ / #____
Part 1: /i + C/→∅ + /C/ / #____
Part 2: /∅ + C/→∅ / #____
ippókni'→ppókni'→pókni'

/-l-/ infix assimilation

l → {h, tʃ, ɬ} /_C[-voice]
ho-l-tinah → ho-ɬ-tinah

The phonological processes of the suffix /-li/

/l/→/f, ɫ, h, m, n, w/ / /f, ɫ, h, m, n, w/____
/kobaf-li-h/→ kobaaffih
/l/→/b/ / /b/____
/atob-li-h/→ atobbih
/p/→/b/ / /b/____
/tap-li-h/→ tablih
/t/→/l/ / ____/l/
/palhat-li-h/→ pallalih
/li/→∅ / ____/tʃi/
balii-li-chi-h→balii-chi-h
/li/→∅ / ____/t/
balii-li--h→balii-t

Schwa insertion

∅→/ə/ / /h/____[+voiced] consonant
∅→/ə/ / /k/____[+voiced] consonant
'ahnih'→/ahənih/

Vowel deletion

  1. For the majority of vowel deletion cases, the preceding short vowel is deleted at the morpheme boundary.[4]
V→∅ / ____V
/baliili-aatʃĩ-h/→baliilaatʃĩh
  1. In the case when a class II suffix attaches to a word that results with two short vowels occurring together, the short vowel that follows the class II suffix will be deleted.[4]
V→∅ / V____
/sa-ibaa-waʃoohah/→sabaa-waʃoohah

Morphology and grammar

Verbal morphology

Choctaw verbs display a wide range of inflectional and derivational morphology. In Choctaw, the category of verb may also include words that would be categorized as adjectives or quantifiers in English. Verbs may be preceded by up to three prefixes and followed by as many as five suffixes. In addition, verb roots may contain infixes that convey aspectual information.

Verb prefixes

The verbal prefixes convey information about the arguments of the verb—how many there are and their person and number features. The prefixes can be divided into three sorts: agreement markers, applicative markers, and anaphors (reflexives and reciprocals). These prefixes occur in the following order:

Agreement-Anaphor-Applicative-Verb Stem
Agreement affixes

The agreement affixes are shown in the following chart. All but one of them are prefixes, only (-li) is a suffix.[5]

I II III N
1st sg. (-li) sa- am-/a̱- ak-
2nd sg ish- chi- chim-/chi̱- chik-
1st pl. il-/ii- pi- pim-/pi̱- kil-/kii-
2nd pl. hash- hachi- hachim-/hachi̱- hachik-
unmarked ∅ ∅ im/i̱- ik-

I, II, and III are neutral labels for the three person marking paradigms. Some authors (Ulrich 1986, Davies, 1986) have called them actor–patient–dative or nominative–accusative–dative.

The 1sg I agreement marker is /-li/, the only suffix among the agreement markers. It is discussed in this section along with the other agreement markers.

I, II, and III agreement are conditioned by various kinds of arguments. Transitive active verbs show the most predictable pattern. With a typical transitive active verb, the subject will take I agreement, the direct object will take II agreement, and the indirect object will take III agreement.

As the chart above shows, there is no person-number agreement for third person arguments. Consider the following paradigms:

When a transitive verb occurs with more than one agreement prefix, I prefixes precede II and III prefixes:

Iichipí̱satok.
Ii-chi-pí̱sa-tok
1pI-2sII-see⟨NGR⟩-PT
'We saw you.'
Ishpimanoolitok.
Ish-pim-anooli-tok.
2sI-1pIII-tell-PT
'You told us.'

Intransitive verbs show more complicated patterns of agreement. For intransitive verbs, the subjects of active verbs typically trigger I agreement, the subjects of stative verbs typically trigger II agreement, and III agreement is found with the subjects of some psychological verbs.[6]

Baliililitok.
Baliili-li-tok
run-1sI-PT
'I ran.'
Saniyah.
Sa-niya-h.
1sII-fat-TNS
'I am fat.'
a̱ponnah.
a̱-ponna-h.
1sIII-skilled-TNS
'I am skilled.'

This type of morphology is generally referred to as active–stative.

Negatives

The set of agreement markers labelled N above is used with negatives.[7] Negation is multiply marked, requiring that an agreement marker from the N set replace the ordinary I agreement, the verb appear in the lengthened grade (see discussion below), and that the suffix /-o(k)-/ follow the verb, with deletion of the preceding final vowel. The optional suffix /-kii/ may be added after /-o(k)-/. Consider the following example:

Compare this with the affirmative counterpart:

To make this example negative, the 1sI suffix /-li/ is replaced by the 1sN prefix /ak-/; the verb root iya is lengthened and accented to yield íiya; the suffix /-o/ is added, the final vowel of iiya is deleted, and the suffix /-kii/ is added.

Anaphoric prefixes

Reflexives are indicated with the /ili-/ prefix, and reciprocals with /itti-/:[8]

Verb suffixes

While the verbal prefixes indicate relations between the verb and its arguments, the suffixes cover a wider semantic range, including information about valence, modality, tense and evidentiality.

The following examples show modal and tense suffixes like /-aachii̱/ 'irrealis'(approximately equal to future), /-tok/ 'past tense', /-h/ 'default tenses':[9]

Baliilih.
Baliili-h.
run-TNS
'She runs.'
Baliilaachi̱h.
Baliili-aachi̱-h.
run-IRR-TNS
'She will run.'

There are also suffixes that show evidentiality, or the source of evidence for a statement, as in the following pair:[10]

Nipi’ awashlihli.
Nipi’ awashli-hli
meat fry-first:hand
'She fried the meat.' (I saw/heard/smelled her do it.)
Nipi’ awashlitoka̱sha.
Nipi’ awashli-tok-a̱sha
meat fry-PT-guess
'She fried the meat.' (I guess)

There are also suffixes of illocutionary force which may indicate that the sentence is a question, an exclamation, or a command:[11]

Awashlitoko̱?
Awashli-tok-o̱
fry-PT-Q
'Did she fry it?'
Chahta’ siahokii!
Chahta’ si-a-h-okii
Choctaw 1sII-be-TNS-EXCL
'I'm Choctaw!' or 'I certainly am a Choctaw!'

Verbal infixes

Choctaw verb stems have various infixes that indicate their aspect.[12] These stem variants are traditionally referred to as 'grades'. The table below shows the grades of Choctaw, along with their main usage.

Name of Grade How it is formed When it is used
n-grade infix n in the next to last (penultimate) syllable; put accent on this syllable to show that the action is durative (lasts some definite length of time)
l-grade put accent on next to last (penultimate) syllable; lengthen the vowel if the syllable is open before a few common suffixes, such as the negative /-o(k)/ and the switch-reference markers /-cha/ and /-na/
hn-grade insert a new syllable /-hV̱/ after the (original) next to last (penultimate) syllable. V̱ is a nasalized copy of the vowel that precedes it. to show that the action of the verb repeats
y-grade insert -Vyy- before the next to last (penultimate) syllable to show delayed inception
g-grade formed by lengthening the penultimate vowel of the stem, accenting the antepenultimate vowel, and geminating the consonant that follows the antepenult. to show delayed inception
h-grade insert -h- after the penultimate vowel of the stem. to show sudden action

Some examples that show the grades follow:

In this example the l-grade appears because of the suffixes /-na/ 'different subject' and /-o(k)/ 'negative':

... lowat táahana falaamat akíiyokiittook.
lowa-t táaha-na falaama-t ak-íiya-o-kii-ttook
burn-SS complete⟨LGR⟩-DS return-SS 1sN-go⟨LGR⟩-NEG-NEG-DPAST
'... (the school) burned down and I didn't go back.'

The g-grade and y-grade typically get translated into English as "finally VERB-ed":

Taloowah.
Taloowa-h
sing-TNS
'He sang.'
Tálloowah.
Tálloowa-h
sing⟨GGR⟩-TNS
'He finally sang.'

The hn-grade is usually translated as 'kept on VERBing':

Ohó̱bana nittak pókkooli’ oshtattook.
Ohó̱ba-na nittak pókkooli’ oshta-ttook
rain⟨HNGR⟩-DS day ten four-DPAST
'It kept on raining for forty days.'

The h-grade is usually translated "just VERB-ed" or "VERB-ed for a short time":

Nóhsih.
Nóhsi-h
sleep⟨HGR⟩-TNS
'He took a quick nap.

Nominal morphology

Noun prefixes

Nouns have prefixes that show agreement with a possessor.[13] Agreement markers from class II are used on a lexically specified closed class of nouns, which includes many (but not all) of the kinship terms and body parts. This is the class that is generally labeled inalienable.

sanoshkobo’ 'my head'
sa-noshkobo’
1sII-head
chinoshkobo’ 'your head'
chi-noshkobo’
2sII-head
noshkobo’ 'his/her/its/their head'
noshkobo’
head
sashki’ 'my mother'
sa-ishki’
1sII-mother
chishki’ 'your mother'
chi-ishki’
2sII-mother

Nouns that are not lexically specified for II agreement use the III agreement markers:

a̱ki’ 'my father'
a̱-ki’
1sIII-father
amofi’ 'my dog'
am-ofi’
1sIII-dog

Although systems of this type are generally described with the terms alienable and inalienable, this terminology is not particularly appropriate for Choctaw, since alienability implies a semantic distinction between types of nouns. The morphological distinction between nouns taking II agreement and III agreement in Choctaw only partly coincides with the semantic notion of alienability.

Noun suffixes

Choctaw nouns can be followed by various determiner and case-marking suffixes, as in the following examples, where we see determiners such as /-ma/ 'that', /-pa/ 'this', and /-akoo/ 'contrast' and case-markers /-(y)at/ 'nominative' and /-(y)a̱/ 'accusative':[14]

alla’ naknimat
alla’ nakni-m-at
child male-that-NOM
'that boy (nominative)'
Hoshiit itti chaahamako̱ o̱biniilih.
Hoshi’-at itti’ chaaha-m-ako̱ o̱-biniili-h
bird-NOM tree tall-that-CNTR:ACC SUPERESSIVE-sit-TNS
'The bird is sitting on that tall tree.' (Not on the short one.)

The last example shows that nasalizing the last vowel of the preceding N is a common way to show the accusative case.

Word order and case marking

The simplest sentences in Choctaw consist of a verb and a tense marker, as in the following examples:[15]
o̱batok.
o̱ba-tok
rain-PT
'It rained.'
Niyah.
niya-h
fat-TNS
'She/he/it is fat, they are fat.'
Pí̱satok.
pí̱sa-tok
see⟨NGR⟩-PT
'She/he/it/they saw her/him/it/them.'
As these examples show, there are no obligatory noun phrases in a Choctaw sentence, nor is there any verbal agreement that indicates a third person subject or object. There is no indication of grammatical gender, and for third person arguments there is no indication of number. (There are, however, some verbs with suppletive forms that indicate the number of a subject or object, e.g. iyah 'to go (sg.)', ittiyaachih 'to go (du.)', and ilhkolih 'to go (pl)'.)

When there is an overt subject, it is obligatorily marked with the nominative case /-at/. Subjects precede the verb

Hoshiyat apatok.
hoshi'-at apa-tok
bird-NOM eat-PT
'The birds ate them.'

When there is an overt object, it is optionally marked with the accusative case /-a̱/

Hoshiyat sho̱shi(-ya̱) apatok.
hoshi'-at sho̱shi'(-a̱) apa-tok.
bird-NOM bug-(ACC) eat-PT
'The birds ate the bugs.'

The Choctaw sentence is normally verb-final, and so the head of the sentence is last.

Some other phrases in Choctaw also have their head at the end. Possessors precede the possessed noun in the Noun Phrase:

ofi' hohchifo'
dog name
'the dog's name'

Choctaw has postpositional phrases with the postposition after its object:

tamaaha' bili̱ka
town near
'near a town'

Examples

Chocktaw Man in Louisiana in the 1840s, by Boisseau

Some common Choctaw phrases (written in the "Modern" orthography):

Other Choctaw words:

Counting to twenty:

At " Native Nashville " web , there is an Online Choctaw Language Tutor, with Pronunciation Guide and four lessons: Small Talk, Animals, Food and Numbers.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Choctaw at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Choctaw". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Munro 1984
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.26 4.27 4.28 4.29 Broadwell, George Aaron (2006). A Choctaw Reference Grammar. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-8032-1315-8.
  5. ↑ Broadwell (2006:137-140)
  6. ↑ Broadwell (2006:140-142)
  7. ↑ Broadwell (2006:148-152)
  8. ↑ Broadwell (2006:98-99)
  9. ↑ Broadwell (2006:169-183)
  10. ↑ Broadwell (2006:184-190)
  11. ↑ Broadwell (2006:191-193)
  12. ↑ Broadwell (2006:161-168)
  13. ↑ Broadwell (2006:52-63)
  14. ↑ Broadwell (2006:64-92)
  15. ↑ Broadwell (2006:32)

References

External links

Choctaw language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator