Chickasaw (ISO 639-3 code: [cic]), is a severely endangered language in the Muskogean family, with 70 or so fluent first language speakers remaining. The Muskogean languages have extraordinarily complex verbs, especially with regard to the intersection of their morphology (word structure) and phonology (sound system). Chickasaw is prosodically complex, with long vowels, geminate consonants, laryngeals (consonants produced with constriction near the glottis), pitch accent, nasalization and rhythmic lengthening, all of which intersect with a rich morphology that includes prefixes, suffixes and an elaborate system of internal changes known as verb grades. This project will investigate these elements of Muskogean verbs. Verb morphology is vulnerable to loss through language attrition and since all of the Muskogean languages are either highly endangered or no longer spoken, it is important to document the verb information now.
The project is a unique collaboration between the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program (CLRP) located in Ada, Oklahoma, and The University of Texas at Arlington. Linguist Colleen Fitzgerald of UT Arlington and CLRP Director Joshua Hinson have designed a documentation project that will increase our understanding of the Chickasaw verb and make available a significantly-sized database of verbs, both in number of verbs and in the number of inflected forms per verb. This project will collect verbs in paradigms and connected speech (e.g. narratives). Analyzing paradigms will increase knowledge of Muskogean verbal structure, theoretically important for linguistics. Documenting and analyzing texts will record Chickasaw speakers' traditional knowledge and experiences in context, essential to indigenous language revitalization.
