Anybody know anyone who can speak the Choctaw Native American language "Chata"?

Question

The language is probably classified as a dead language as it is said that there are about 300 people in the world that know it. If not, is there any way whatsoever I can learn it - I myself am half Choctaw Native American and I want to preserve the culture.

Answer 1

I'm 3/4 and most of my family is full blood. My church is practically based on the language and sing Choctaw hymns every Sunday. There are many churches like this, and for sure more than 300 people that know the language. This I know for a fact, because I myself speak it and I live in the Choctaw region of Oklahoma.

Answer 2

I doubt if it's a dead language...maybe endangered like some other tribes/Nation's languages now. Hopefully those will all manage to bounce back.

Best thing you can probably do is manage to find some legitimate people online (like via real NDN web sites not wannabe) that you can connect with and later might be open to helping you learn a bit about the culture and the language. There is L/Dakota on my father's side and I've learned some of it that way after I came across a nice site and a few great people there that grew up in their culture.

We never knew much of anything about my mom's father's family, his mother died when they were young, but we recently found out a little info through a cousin and found there is some Choctaw in there. I haven't looked too far into it at this point, but the amount I have looked I haven't come across anything as of yet. If I do I will add it in or stick it in the comments later.

(Chata is likely their pronunciation for Choctaw, so it's probably the people in general and not just the language, but don't totally quote me on that.)

Answer 3

Maybe this site can help.

http://www.choctawnation.com/

Answer 4

YEAH