Choctaw Phonetics

In a collaboration with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma School of Choctaw Language and the OSU Center for Sovereign Nations, this project examines the phonetics of the Choctaw language.

 

Choctaw is unusual in having both vowel length and consonant length distinctions. Choctaw citizen and CDIS major Adrianna Curnutt conducted a pilot study to measure how much longer the geminate (or "double-length") sounds are. So far, it looks like long vowels are closer to 1.5 times the length of their short counterparts, but long consonants are almost twice as long as short ones.

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Papers

• *Curnutt, A. (2019). Choctaw consonant and vowel length. Pilot study for Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

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Student Corner

Data Source

• Recordings of elders provided by the School of Choctaw Language: words, sentences, and narratives to accompany an introductory course workbook.

Project Ideas

• The School of Choctaw Language would be most interested in tools to enhance language teaching and learning.

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Chahtah Anumpa is a sacred part of Choctaw culture, and we respect the rights of the Choctaw elders to protect it. We will work closely with the School and obtain approval before engaging in any formal study of the Choctaw language.