Choctaw

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A language of United States

ISO 639-3
cho
Autonym
Chahta, Chahta Anumpa
User Population

9,640 (2015 census), decreasing. Ethnic population: 20,000 (Golla 2007). In Oklahoma.

Location

Louisiana; Mississippi: east central; Oklahoma: McCurtain county; Tennessee.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened). Language of registered tribe: Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana.

Classification
Muskogean, Western Muskogean
Dialects

None known. Choctaw find Chickasaw [cic] unintelligible.

Language Use

Prominent in church. Some young people, all adults. All ages in Mississippi, middle-aged and older in Oklahoma. Most also use English [eng]. Used as L2 by Koasati [cku].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L1: 5%–10%. Literacy rate in L2: 75%–100%. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 1848. Language preservation activities emphasize distance learning (Golla 2007).

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Choctaw
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

The Houma are 12,000 racially mixed descendants of a Choctaw subgroup in southern Louisiana who speak a dialect of Cajun French [frc], and no longer speak Choctaw.