Chickasaw Language Resources

This page compiles various resources for learning or learning about Chikashshanompa’ (Chickasaw language) and its reclamation. * indicates a Chickasaw author

Online Chickasaw Course

Other Online Chickasaw Resources

Chickasaw Dictionaries

  • *Humes, J., & *Humes, V. M. J. (1972). A Chickasaw dictionary. University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Humes, J., & *Humes, V. M. J. (2015). A concise Chickasaw dictionary (*J. D. Hinson). Chickasaw Press.
  • Munro, P., & *Willmond, C. (1994). Chickasaw: An analytical dictionary. University of Oklahoma Press.

Chickasaw Textbooks and Workbooks

  • *Cooke, M. with the Chickasaw Language Committee. (2016). Chickasaw basic language workbook I. Chickasaw Press.
  • *Cooke, M. with the Chickasaw Language Committee. (2018). Chickasaw basic language workbook I. Chickasaw Press.
  • Munro, P., & *Willmond, C. (2008). Chikashshanompa’ kilanompoli’: Let’s speak Chickasaw. University of Oklahoma Press.

Books in Chickasaw

  • *Begay, S., *Chew, K. A. B., & *Cochran, S. (2019). Koni (D. Courtney-Welch, Illus.). Chickasaw Press.
  • *Chickasaw Language Committee with *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh), Dyson, J. P., & Munro, P. (2012). Anompilbashsha’ asilhha’ holisso: Chickasaw prayer book. Chickasaw Press.
  • *Chickasaw Nation. Chikasha Chahta oklaat wihat tanó̲wattook: The migration story of the Chickasaw and Choctaw People (L. John, Illus.). Chickasaw Press.
  • *Humes, V. M. (2019). Chikasha holisso holba: Chickasaw picture & coloring book (V. M. Humes, Illus.). Chickasaw Press.
  • *Galvin, G. (2011). Chikasha stories volume one: Shared spirit (J. Barbour, Illus.). Chickasaw Press.
  • *Galvin, G. (2012). Chikasha stories volume two: Shared voices (J. Barbour, Illus.). Chickasaw Press.
  • *Galvin, G. (2013). Chikasha stories volume three: Shared wisdom (J. Barbour, Illus.). Chickasaw Press.

Books about Chickasaw

  • *Davis, J. L. (2018). Talking Indian: Identity and language revitalization in the Chickasaw renaissance. University of Arizona Press.

Theses & Dissertations about Chickasaw

  • *Chew, K. A. B. (2016). Chikashshanompa’ ilanompohó̲li bíyyi’ka’chi [We will always speak the Chickasaw language]: Considering the vitality and efficacy of Chickasaw language reclamation [Doctoral dissertation, the University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621788
  • *Davis, J. L. (2013). Learning to “talk Indian”: Ethnolinguistic identity and language revitalization in the Chickasaw renaissance [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Colorado.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (2007). To’li’ Chikashsha inaafokha: Chickasaw stickball regalia [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of New Mexico.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh). (2019). Nanna ittonchololi’ ilaliichi [We are cultivating new growth]: Twenty years in Chikashshanompa’ revitalization [Doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma]. SHAREOK. https://hdl.handle.net/11244/323267
  • *Lewis (Chew), K. A. (2011). Pomanompa’ kilanompolika̲ chokma (It is good that we speak our language): Motivations to revitalize Chikashshanompa’ (Chickasaw language) across generations [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of California at Los Angeles.
  • Morgan, J. (2017). The learner varieties of the Chikasha Academy: Chickasaw adult language acquisition, change, and revitalization [Doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma]. SHAREOK. https://hdl.handle.net/11244/50825
  • Ozbolt, I. (2014). Community perspectives, language ideologies, and learner motivation in Chickasaw language programs [Doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma]. SHAREOK. https://hdl.handle.net/11244/13883
  • Scott, J. E. (1981). Comparative constructions in Chickasaw [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of California at Los Angeles.
  • Walker, C. A. (2000). Chickasaw conversation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of California at Los Angeles.

Additional Scholarship about Chickasaw

  • *Chew, K. A. B. (2022). Chikashshanompaat bílli’ya: The Chickasaw language is forever. In J. Garcia, V. Shirley, and H. Kulago (Eds.), Indigenizing education: Transformative theories and possibilities in Indigenous communities America (pp. 105–120). Information Age Publishing. [post-print version]
  • *Chew, K. A. B., *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh), & Morgan, J. (2022). Centering relationality in online Indigenous language learning: Reflecting on the creation and use of Rosetta Stone Chickasaw. Language Documentation & Conservation, 16, 228–258. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/74679
  • *Chew, K. A. B., & *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh). (2022). Chikashsha alhihaat Chikashshanompa’ anompoli katihma: Chickasaws are still speaking Chikashshanompa’. Living Languages/Lenguas Vivas/Línguas Vivas, 1(1), 24–40. https://doi.org/10.7275/qch7-0m35
  • *Chew, K. A. B., & *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) (2021). Chikashshaat asilhlhat holissochi [Chickasaws are asking and writing]: Enacting Indigenous protocols in academic research and writing. Native American Indigenous Studies, 8(2), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.5749/natiindistudj.8.2.0001 [post-print version]
  • *Chew, K. A. B. (2019). Weaving words: Conceptualizing language reclamation through culturally-significant metaphor. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 41(1), 168–185. https://doi.org/10.14288/cjne.v41i1.196608
  • *Chew, K. A. B. (2015). Family at the heart of Chickasaw language reclamation. American Indian Quarterly, 39(2), 154–179. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/578010 [post-print version]
  • *Chew, K. A. B. (2014). Chikashshanompa’ ilanompola’chi [We will speak Chickasaw]: The significance of Chickasaw language decline and revitalization. The Journal of Chickasaw History and Culture, 16(2), 26–29. https://www.proquest.com/openview/6434c4bf05407e8a1a78b100307cd13c [read here]
  • Dyson, J. P. (2015). Chikashshahi’: Chickasaw horses, plums, roses, lima beans, and… potatoes? The Journal of Chickasaw History and Culture, 17(1), 4-15.
  • Fitzgerald, C. M., & *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) (2013). Ilittibaatoksali: We are working together: Perspectives on our Chickasaw tribal-academic collaboration [Conference paper]. Foundation for Endangered Languages, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
  • Fitzgerald, C. M., & *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) (2015). Using listening workshops to integrate phonology into language revitalization: Learner training in Chickasaw pronunciation [Conference paper]. 4th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation, Honolulu, HI, United States. https://hdl.handle.net/10125/35354
  • Fitzgerald, C. M., & *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) (2016). Collecting texts in endangered languages: The Chickasaw narrative bootcamp. Language Documentation and Conservation, 10, 522–547. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24717
  • Fitzgerald, C. M. (2016). Morphology in the Muskogean languages. Language and Linguistics Compass, 10(12), 681-700. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12227
  • Gatschet, A. S. (1884). Chickasa: Lexical and syntactic collection obtained from Judson Dwight Collins. Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology.
  • Gordon, M. K. (1996). The intonational structure of Chickasaw. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 100, 2825–2825.
  • Gordon, M., Munro, P., & Ladefoged, P. (2000). Some phonetic structures of Chickasaw. Anthropological linguistics, 42, 366-400.
  • Gordon, M., Munro, P., & Ladefoged, P. (2001). Chickasaw. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31(2), 287-290.
  • Gordon, M. (2003). The phonology of pitch accents in Chickasaw. Phonology, 20(2), 173-218.
  • Gordon, M. (2004). A phonological and phonetic study of word-level stress in Chickasaw. International journal of American linguistics, 70(1), 1-32.
  • Gordon, M., & Munro, P. (2007). A phonetic study of final vowel lengthening in Chickasaw. International Journal of American Linguistics, 73(3), 293-330.
  • Gordon, M. (2008). The intonational realization of contrastive focus in Chickasaw. In C. Lee, M. Gordon, D. Büring (Eds.), Topic and focus: Studies in linguistics and philosophy, vol. 82 (pp. 69-82). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4796-1_4
  • Gordon, L., & Munro, P. (2017). Relative clauses in Western Muskogean languages. Glossa: A journal of general linguistics, 2(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.184
  • Gibson, A. M. (1971). Chickasaw ethnography: An ethnohistorical reconstruction. Ethnohistory, 18, 99–118.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) (2008). Chikashsha imithana’ (Chickasaw knowledge). The Journal of Chickasaw History and Culture, 11(3), 56.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) & *Ellis, J. (2008). Master Apprenticeship Program at the Chickasaw Nation. NIEA News, 22.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh) (2014). Growing our language. The Journal of Chickasaw History and Culture, 34-35.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh). (2016). Chickasaw oral literature. In M. Haag (Ed.), A listening wind: Native literature from the southeast (pp. 105–114). University of Nebraska Press.
  • *Hinson, J. D. (Lokosh). (2017). Nannano̲li’ ilimaaithana (We’re learning from stories): Transforming narrative documentation into adult immersion curriculum [Conference paper]. 5th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conversation, Honolulu, HI, United States.
  • Lillehaugen, B. D., & Munro, P. (2006). Prepositions and relational nouns in a typology of component part locatives [Conference paper]. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, United States.
  • Martin, J., & Munro, P. (2005). Proto-Muskogean morphology. In H. K. Hardy and J. Scancarelli (Eds.), Native languages of the southeastern United States (pp. 299–320). University of Nebraska Press.
  • *Morris, T. L. (2015). An example of excellence: Chickasaw language revitalization through technology. In Indigenous people and mobile technologies (pp. 307-318). Routledge.
  • Munro, P. (1982). Syntactic relations in Western Muskogean: A typological perspective. Language 58, 81–115.
  • Munro, P. (1983). When “same” is not “not different”. In J. Haiman & P. Munro (Eds.), Switch-reference and Universal Grammar (pp. 223–243). Benjamins.
  • Munro, P. (1984). On the Western Muskogean source for Mobilian. International Journal of American
    Linguistics, 50    , 438–450.
  • Munro, P., & Ulrich, C. H. (1984). Structure-preservation and Western Muskogean rhythmic lengthening. In M. Cobler (Ed.), Proceedings of the Third Annual West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (pp. 191-202). Stanford Linguistics Association.
  • Munro, P. (1984). The syntactic status of object possessor raising in Western Muskogean. In C. Brugman & M. Macaulay (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (pp. 634–649). Berkeley Linguistics Society. https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/BLS/article/viewFile/1967/1739
  • Munro, P. (1985). Chickasaw accent and verb grades. In Studia linguistica diachronica et synchronica:
    Werner Winter sexagenario     (pp. 581–593). Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Munro, P. (1985). Muskogean LI and li deletion [Conference paper]. Conference on American Indian Languages, Washington, D.C., United States.
  • Munro, P. (1987). Some morphological differences between Chickasaw and Choctaw. In P. Munro (Ed.), Muskogean linguistics (pp. 119–133). UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics.
  • Munro, P. (1989). Chickasaw applicative verb prefixes [Conference paper]. Conference on American Indian Languages, Washington, D.C., United States.
  • Munro, P. (1993). The Muskogean II prefixes and their significance for classification. International Journal of American Linguistics, 59, 374–404.
  • Munro, P. (1998). Chickasaw expressive “say” constructions. In L. Hinton (Ed.), Studies in American Indian languages: Description and theory (pp. 180–186). University of California Press.
  • Munro, P. (1999). Chickasaw subjecthood. In D. Payne & I. Barshi (Eds.), External possession (pp. 251–289). John Benjamins.
  • Munro, P. (2000). The leaky grammar of the Chickasaw applicatives. Chicago Linguistics Society 36: The Main Session, 285–310.
  • Munro, P. (2002). Entries for verbs in American Indian language dictionaries. In W. Frawley, K. C. Hill, & P. Munro (Eds.), Making dictionaries: preserving indigenous languages of the Americas (pp. 86-107). University of California Press.
  • Munro, P. (2003). ‘But’ without switch-reference. In B. L. M. Bauer (Ed.), Language in time and space: A festschrift for Werner Winter on the occasion of his 80th birthday (pp. 293-312). Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Munro, P. (2005). Chickasaw. In J. Scancarelli & H. K. Hardy (Eds.), Native Languages of the Southeastern United States (pp. 114–156). University of Nebraska Press.
  • Munro, P. (2006). Chickasaw positional verbs [Conference paper]. SSILA, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States.
  • Munro, P. (2007). From parts of speech to the grammar. In T. E. Payne & D. J. Weber (Eds.), Perspectives on grammar writing (pp. 71-111). Benjamins Current Topics. https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.11.06mun
  • Munro, P. (2011). On the avoidance of abstract nominalizations. Rivista di Linguistica, 23(1), 23–38.
  • Munro, P. (2016). Chickasaw switch-reference revisited. In R. can Gijn & J. Hammond (Eds.), Switch reference 2.0 (pp. 377-424). John Benjamins.
  • Munro, P. (2017). Chickasaw quantifiers. In D. Paperno & E. Keenan (Eds.), Handbook of quantifiers in natural language: Volume II (pp. 113-201). Dordrecht.
  • Payne, D. (1980). Switch-reference in Chickasaw. In P. Munro (Ed.), Studies of switch-reference (pp. 89–118). Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles.
  • Payne, D. (1982). Chickasaw agreement morphology: A functional explanation. In P. Hopper & S. Thompson (Eds), Studies in transitivity (pp. 351–379). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368903_019
  • Pulte, W. (1975). The position of Chickasaw in Western Muskogean. In J. Crawford (Ed.), Studies in southeastern Indian languages (pp. 251–63). University of Georgia Press.
  • Swanton, J. R. (2006). Chickasaw society and religion. University of Nebraska Press.
  • Walker, C. (1999). Paragraph-level switch-reference markers in Chickasaw conversation. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 24, 45-70.