Chickasaw language revitalization program

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Please answer these questions to register. Required for IDP credit. Less than 20 languages spoken by tribes in the United States are projected to survive another years. In , the estimated number of fluent Chikashshanompa' speakers was less than 1, Today, there are less than 75 speakers, with the vast majority older than age The value of speaking the language has been realized and several programs and services have been established over the years to revitalize the Chickasaw language.

Tribal employees and Chickasaws of all ages are participating in community language classes, language camps and clubs, the Chickasaw Master-Apprentice program as well as learning through self-study programs, language classes on Chickasaw.

The Chickasaw language is an oral one, meaning it is transmitted through speaking from generation to generation. Chickasaw was not a formally written language until the twentieth century, though Chickasaw speakers wrote it as they saw fit before that time. Humes and his wife Vinnie May James Humes. Accompanying the dictionary is a CD that assists with hearing the pronunciation of the language. Disregarding all rules of orthography, we made an effort to spell the words as they sound, in the hope that anyone using the list could pronounce them.

In addition, vowel and consonant length, vowel nasalization, and other important distinctions are given. Humes spells the short a sound like in the English word father with a u , whereas Munro-Willmond uses a. Both systems use lh to represent a Chickasaw consonant sound that sounds something like Klondike pronounced without the initial K , or like ilth in the English word filth , but without the t.

The Chickasaw Language Revitalization program uses both spelling systems. It is an oral language, so ultimately it is up to each Chickasaw person to determine how they want to spell and speak their language. The Chickasaw language revitalization program began in and the department of Chickasaw language was founded in The Chickasaw language is viewed as a gift from the ancestors for all Chickasaw people.

Winter, marked by hunger, months of limited food and long nights filled with tribal stories, is today understood to encompass the horrors of Removal to Indian Territory beginning in , the struggles of reestablishing our nation in these new lands, the losses of the Civil War, and the heartbreak of allotment, as our tribal government was for all intents and purposes terminated and our tribal lands broken up into individual allotments.

Winter continues into the lean years of the early to mid-twentieth century, as we struggled to survive without a functioning government, limited financial resources, and a population increasingly forced to leave traditional communities in order to find work. Spring, traditionally marked by the return of ball play, dances, and the first growth of wild onions, is today understood to encompass our present Chickasaw cultural and political renaissance.

Mounting a full-scale revitalization effort, the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program has instituted an astonishing number of projects.

They have students in each of their classes. Hinson has organized a Master-Apprentice program with six teams of speakers and their language apprentices. Additionally, a group master-apprentice class meets regularly. They learn vocabulary words based on themes but also learn pieces that will be performed in competition at the annual Youth Language Fair, hosted by the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma contact Mary Linn for more information.

Employee language classes give special attention to those who represent Chickasaw Nation. Chickasaw Country. Chickasaw Foundation. Chickasaw Kids. Chickasaw Nation Industries. Chickasaw Nation Productions. Chickasaw Outpost. Chickasaw Press. Chickasaw Times. Chickasaw TV.

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