Koasati language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Koasati
Kowassá:ti
Native to	United States
Region	Elton, Louisiana and Livingston, Texas
Ethnicity	Koasati people
Native speakers	approx. 370  (2015 census)e21
Language family	Muskogean Eastern Alabama–Koasati Koasati
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Koasati (also called Coushatta) is a Native American language. It comes from the Muskogean language family. The Coushatta people speak Koasati. Most of them live in Allen Parish, Louisiana. A smaller group lives on a reservation near Livingston, Texas. They share this reservation with the Alabama people.

In 1991, a language expert named Geoffrey Kimball thought about 400 people spoke Koasati. Around 350 of these speakers lived in Louisiana. Today, the exact number of speakers is not clear. But officials from the Coushatta Tribe say that most tribe members over 20 years old speak Koasati.

In 2007, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana started the Koasati Language Project. They worked with McNeese State University and the College of William and Mary. This project helps keep the language alive. It is part of a bigger effort to save languages that are in danger of disappearing. They received money from the National Science Foundation for this important work.

Koasati is most like the Alabama language. Even though the Coushatta and Alabama people have lived close to each other for a long time, their languages are not easy to understand for each other anymore. Koasati is also related to the Mikasuki language. Some Koasati speakers say they can understand Mikasuki without learning it first.

Sounds of Koasati (Phonology)

Every language has its own special sounds. Koasati has interesting sounds, including vowels and consonants.

Vowel Sounds

Koasati has three main vowel sounds. Think of them like the "a," "i," and "o" sounds. Each of these can be:

• Short or long: This means you say the sound for a shorter or longer time.
• Nasalized: This means some air comes out of your nose when you say the vowel.

Here's a simple look at the main vowel sounds:

In 2007, the Coushatta Tribe created their own way to write these sounds. This is called an orthography.

• Long vowels are written by doubling the letter. For example, the long "a" sound is written as aa.
• Nasalized vowels are underlined. For example, a nasalized "o" sound is written as o.

The length of a vowel can change the meaning of a word! For example:

• palana means "bean"
• palaana means "plate"

Also, choba means "big," but chooba means "horse." This shows how important vowel length is in Koasati.

Consonant Sounds

Koasati has many consonant sounds, like "p," "t," "k," "m," and "n." Some sounds are written differently than they might sound in English. For example, the "th" sound in Koasati is not like the "th" in "the." It's a special sound called a lateral fricative. The "c" sound is like "ch" in "chair."

Here are some of the consonants:

In the Tribe's official writing system, the sound [ɬ] is written as th. The sound [t͡ʃ] is written as ch.

Syllable Structure

A syllable is a part of a word, like "syl-la-ble." In Koasati, words are often made of syllables that follow a pattern. For example, the word holihtá "fence" follows the pattern CV.CVC.CV. This means a consonant-vowel, then a consonant-vowel-consonant, then a consonant-vowel.

Tone

Koasati uses different pitch accents, or tones, when speaking. This means the pitch of your voice (how high or low it is) can change the meaning of a word.

• There are low, high, and high rising-falling tones.
• There's also a normal mid-level tone.

These tones can change what a word means. For example:

• sakihpǫ́ means 'It is a mink.' (high tone)
• sakíhpǫ means 'It is not air-dried.' (low tone)

This is similar to how some other languages use tones to tell words apart.

How Words Are Built (Morphology)

Koasati is a polysynthetic language. This means words, especially verbs, can have many small parts added to them. These parts are called prefixes (added to the beginning) and suffixes (added to the end). They change the word's meaning.

Nouns

Nouns are words for people, places, or things. In Koasati, you add prefixes to nouns to show who owns them. It's like adding "my" or "your" in English. For example, to say "my" or "your" with a noun, you use different prefixes:

These prefixes can also show who is doing something to you or for you. For example, to say "a photograph of me," you would add a prefix to the verb root for "photograph":

Verbs

Verbs are action words. Koasati verbs can have many prefixes and suffixes. These small parts can tell you:

• Who is doing the action.
• Where the action is happening (like "on the ground" or "in water").
• How the action is done (like "regularly" or "shyly").
• When the action happened (past, present, future).

For example, some prefixes tell you where an action takes place:

• itta- means "action on the ground"
• o:-/o:w- means "action in water"
• pa:- means "action on a raised surface"

Verbal Number

Koasati verbs can show if one person, two people, or many people are doing the action. This is called a three-way number distinction: singular, dual, and plural. Sometimes, the whole verb changes completely for these different numbers.

Here are some examples:

• To dwell (meaning "to live"):

* áata-l means 'I dwell' (one person) * a⟩lí⟨sw means 'we two dwell' (two people) * ís-tílka means 'we all dwell' (many people)

• To go about:

* aaya-l means 'I go about' (one person) * a⟩lí⟨iy means 'we two go about' (two people) * yomah-híl means 'we-all go about' (many people)

Verb Grades

Koasati also has "verb grades." This is a special system where small changes to a verb, like adding a sound or changing a vowel, can change its meaning.

• H-grade: This grade is used to make a polite command or to show a sequence of actions. For example, if you want to politely say "Come on over!" you would use the h-grade. It can also show that one action happened, and then another action happened right after it.

• N-grade: This grade is less common. It adds emphasis, meaning "completely" or "to continue." For example, if a sprout is "completely green and tender," you would use the n-grade.

Repeating Parts of Words (Reduplication)

Koasati uses reduplication, which means repeating part of a word. This shows that an action is repeated.

• If you repeat the first consonant and vowel of a verb, it shows a quick, repeated action. For example, míslin "to blink" becomes mismíhlin "to flutter the eyelids."
• If you repeat a different part of the verb, it shows a longer, repeated action. For example, molápkan "to gleam" becomes molalápkan "to flash."

The Glottal Stop

The glottal stop sound (like the break in "uh-oh") is used to ask questions in Koasati. It's added into the middle of a verb. For example, ishí:c "you see it" becomes ishíʔcá "Do you see it?" when you add the glottal stop.

Sentence Structure (Syntax)

Word Order

In English, we usually say "Subject-Verb-Object" (SVO), like "The dog chased the ball." Koasati sentences usually follow a different order: "Subject-Object-Verb" (SOV). So, it would be like saying "The dog the ball chased."

• SOV Example:

If there's an indirect object (like "to him"), the order is often Subject, Indirect Object, Verb (SIoV). If there are both a direct and indirect object, it can be Subject, Object, Verb, Indirect Object (SOVIo).

• SOVIo Example:

Words can sometimes be moved around in a sentence to put more emphasis on certain parts.

Case Marking

Koasati uses something called "case marking." This means that small endings are added to nouns to show their role in a sentence (like if they are the subject, the object, or showing location). There are seven different cases in Koasati.

Here are some of the cases and what they do:

Different types of nouns (like living things, places, or names) use these cases in slightly different ways.