Choctaw
PrintA language of United States
ISO 639-3
Population
10,400 (2010 census), decreasing. Ethnic population: 120,400 including 111,400 in Oklahoma (1998 Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). 20,000 in Oklahoma (Golla 2007).
Location
Southeast Oklahoma, McCurtain county; east central Mississippi; some in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Language Maps
Language Status
6b (Threatened).
Classification
Dialects
Choctaw find Chickasaw [cic] unintelligible.
Language Use
Language preservation activities emphasize distance learning. Prominent in church. All ages in Mississippi, middle-aged and older in Oklahoma.
Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 5%–10%. Literacy rate in L2: 75%–100%. NT: 1848.
Language Resources
Writing
Latin script.
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.