Koasati language

Koasati, also called Coushatta, is a Native American language from the Muskogean family. It is spoken by the Coushatta people. Most of them live in Allen Parish north of Elton, Louisiana. A smaller group lives near Livingston, Texas with the Alabama people.

Koasati is closest to the Alabama language. Even though the Coushatta and Alabama people have lived near each other for a long time, their languages are not easy to understand without learning them well. The Koasati language is also related to the Mikasuki language.

In 2007, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana worked with McNeese State University and the College of William and Mary to start the Koasati Language Project. This project was part of bigger efforts to bring back the language. It was supported by money from the National Science Foundation through its Documenting Endangered Languages program.

Phonology

Vowels

Koasati has three vowels, which can be short or long and can also be nasalized. In 2007, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana made their own writing system. In this system, long vowels are written by repeating the vowel (like "aa" for a long "a"), and nasalized vowels are underlined (like "o̱" for a nasalized "o").

Vowel length can change the meaning of words. For example, "palana" means "bean" and "palaana" means "plate". Vowel nasalization often happens at the end of a phrase to show the end of the sentence.

Consonants

Koasati has many consonants. The Coushatta Tribe writes some sounds as "th" and "ch". There are special sounds that happen in certain places in words.

Syllable structure

Koasati words can have light syllables (like CV or V) and heavy syllables (like CVC). Words usually end in light syllables, and most often have a heavy syllable before the end.

Tone

Koasati has different tones, which are ways of saying words that change their meaning. Nouns always have one high tone syllable. The place of this high tone depends on the word. Verbs can have high, low, or high rising–falling tones.

Phonological processes

There are some sounds in Koasati that change depending on where they are in a word. For example, some sounds can change when they are next to certain other sounds.

Morphology

Koasati is a polysynthetic language with many prefixes and suffixes added to verbs.

Nouns

Koasati uses two sets of prefixes to show who owns what. The am-set is for things you can trade, like toys, and some family members and body parts. The ca-set is for things you can’t trade, like most family members and body parts. These prefixes show who owns what and how many there are.

Verbs

Position classes

Kimball describes where prefixes and suffixes can go when added to Koasati verb roots:

• Prefixes
  • Position 1: prefixes for the subject
  • Position 2: a locative prefix or a prefix for actions on skin
  • Position 3: other locative prefixes
  • Position 4: prefixes for indirect objects
  • Position 5: prefixes for direct objects
  • Position 6: prefixes for repeated actions
  • Position 7: prefixes for tools used
  • Position 8: prefixes for direction
  • Position 9: words for “something” or “someone”
• Root
• Suffixes
  • Position 1: adverbs
  • Position 2: small or big
  • Position 3: regular habits
  • Position 4: intention
  • Position 5: ability
  • Position 6: real or imaginary
  • Position 7: guessing
  • Position 8: mood
  • Position 9: doubt
  • Position 10: heard from others
  • Position 11: heard by ear
  • Position 12: time
  • Position 13: results
  • Position 14: conversation style
  • Position 15: extra endings

Prefixes

The general locative prefix a- (Position 2) is becoming less common. Positions 4 and 5 relate to the am- and ca- sets for nouns. They show direct and indirect objects of verbs and can also show possession on verbs turned into nouns.

A few specific locative prefixes of Position 3 are:

• itta- “action on the ground; action in fire”
• o꞉-/o꞉w- “action in water”
• pa꞉- “action on a raised, artificial, or non-ground surface”
• on- “action on a vertical surface or in a vertical plane”
• itta- “action in the middle of something”
• ibi꞉- “action on the human face”
• ico꞉- “action on or in the human mouth”
• no꞉- “action on the human neck”
• nok- “action in the human throat”

Suffixes

Kimball recorded over seventy suffixes for the fifteen suffix positions. Almost all of these suffixes can be used together as long as they don’t take the same position.

One example of many suffixes together is:

/ostohimilá꞉cihalpí꞉salaho꞉limá꞉mimpayon incayínkǫ/

o-st-oh-im-ilá-꞉ci-halpí꞉sa-laho-꞉li-má꞉mi-mpa-y-on

go:&-INSTR-DISTR-3.DAT-arrive-PL-ABIL-IRR-DEDUC-HSY-CNSQ-SW:FOC

im-ca-yím-ko-˛

3.STAT.OBJ-1SG.STAT-believe-3.NEG(1A)-PHR:TERM

o-st-oh-im-ilá-꞉ci-halpí꞉sa-laho-꞉li-má꞉mi-mpa-y-on im-ca-yím-ko-˛

go:&-INSTR-DISTR-3.DAT-arrive-PL-ABIL-IRR-DEDUC-HSY-CNSQ-SW:FOC 3.STAT.OBJ-1SG.STAT-believe-3.NEG(1A)-PHR:TERM

"They say that they all might be able to go and bring it to him, but on the contrary, I do not believe them."

In the first word, all units that follow the root -ilá- "arrive" are suffixes filling the various position classes.

A sample of Position 5 suffixes of ability are:

• -bá꞉no- "regularly, occasionally"
• -bí꞉no- "reluctantly, shyly"
• -halpi꞉sa- "to be able to"
• -yáhli- "be obliged to, really”

Kimball notes that of these, only -halpi꞉sa- "to be able to" is used frequently.

Verbal number

Muskogean languages such as Koasati have three numbers in their verbs: singular, dual, and plural. Some of these forms are different words. For example,

'To dwell', in the first person, with full difference (singular aat, dual asw, plural is):

'To smell' is the same word hofn:

'To go about', partly different words (SG/DU aay, PL yomahl):

'To run', partly different words (SG waliik, DU/PL tołk):

Verb grades

Like other Muskogean languages, Koasati changes verbs to show meaning using ablaut, which changes vowels and adds sounds.

H-grade

In Koasati, the h-grade makes a polite command and shows a series of actions. To make a command, h is added before the last syllable of the verb root. For example, the verb óntin "to come" (singular, dual subject) changes to the command ónhtįh "Come on over!" with the h-grade. The h-grade can also show sequence.

N-grade

In Koasati, the n-grade is used sometimes to add emphasis, meaning “completely” or “to continue” depending on the verb. To form the n-grade, the vowel of the verb root’s second-to-last syllable is changed and accented. For example:

/olfák walǫ´hloscok/

olfá-k

sprout

waló  hl-o꞉siV´hco-k

green:&:tender **** -DIM-HAB-SS

olfá-k waló  hl-o꞉siV´hco-k

sprout green:&:tender **** -DIM-HAB-SS

"The sprout is completely green and tender."

Reduplication

Koasati repeats part of a verb to show that an action is repeated. With punctual reduplication, the verb’s first consonant and vowel (or consonant and o if no vowel is present) are copied and placed before the last syllable of the root. For example, míslin "to blink" becomes mismíhlin "to flutter the eyelids". With iterative reduplication, the consonant and vowel of the second-to-last syllable of the root are copied and placed before the last syllable of the root. For example, molápkan "to gleam" becomes molalápkan "to flash". The iterative can also be formed using the Position 6 iterative prefixes ohoh- and hoho-.

The glottal stop

The glottal stop [ʔ] is used to ask questions by placing [ʔ] before a verb's second-to-last syllable. This replaces any long vowel before it and adds high pitch to the syllables before and after the glottal stop. For example, /ishí꞉c/ "you see it" changes to the question /ishíʔcá/ "Do you see it?".

Syntax

Koasati sentences usually follow a pattern where the person doing the action comes first, then what they are acting on, and finally the action itself. For example, "The leader threw the ball." If there is someone the action is for, they come after the person doing the action but before the action word.

The language has special endings on words that show if the same person is doing more than one action or if a new person is doing the next action. This helps make the sentences clear.