User:Kmack

Wiktionary:Babel
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Update 2024

I'm back to editing Choctaw. I reconnected with my Choctaw family members (my sister-in-law and nephews) and that really motivated me to get started again.

Looking back at some of my work from years past and I feel like I now have a much better idea of how to incorporate Choctaw on Wiktionary.

The multiple Choctaw orthographies are still a challenge. There's potentially three that are most important:

• traditional (vowels ʋ, e, u; long consonants rarely doubled)
• modern traditional (vowels ʋ, e, u; long consonants consistently doubled except digraphs)
• modern (no vowels ʋ, e, u; long consonants consistently doubled).

The goal will be to create entries for all three inasmuch as an attestation exists. Novel words won't necessarily have traditional forms and archaic words won't necessarily have modern forms.

Main entries should avoid special characters that cannot easily be typed on a standard English keyboard (ʋ, a, i, o, ā, ī, ō). Instead these should be incorporated into the headword.

The goal for now will be to clean up existing entries, create more entries, and add etymology and pronunciation to existing entries.

Down the line, I would also like to update existing possession and declension tables. Possession is the most straightforward. Declension is a little daunting. I'm still contemplating how best to create declension and conjugation tables. On the one hand, it makes sense to me to create tables indicating forms with yʋt, mʋt, pʋt, kʋt, kōsh, hako, etc. But on the other hand, is this really declension or are these just particles? Even if they're just particles it would still be helpful to present it in a table. The accusative/oblique forms are also used nominatively to contrast subjects.

I also want to incorporate example sentences and more grammatical information in the headword. Nouns and verbs should include their class agreement. The headword for verbs could contain a transitive form (to clarify class agreement), past, future and conditional forms.

Update 2019

I stopped using this account eight years ago. I had kind of hoped that Choctaw would have been much more developed on Wiktionary since then. At the time, I didn't understand Choctaw well enough to contribute much more than adding lemmas I could find from various sources. The Byington/Swanton dictionary is out of copyright and free on Google Books. Its idiosyncratic transcription of Choctaw as well as its archaic and obsolete vocabulary make it a challenging source.

Orthography is one of the most intimidating and confounding aspects of incorporating Choctaw. Native American linguistics in general is extremely bogged down by everyone feeling the need to create their own writing system. You wouldn't begin a grammar of French by inventing your own French orthography. Why do you feel the need to do it with Choctaw? Yes, the spelling systems are defective and ambiguous. But so is English and most other languages.

I'm starting to realize that final apostrophes, final h's and double vowels are strictly restricted to academic writing. (Not to mention superscript n and dot under a.) As far as I can tell, there really are two Choctaw orthographies. One is traditional which is fairly standardized. The other is modern which consistently indicates geminate consonants and replaces vowels e, u, v with i, o, a with long vowels indicated with an acute or a macron.

My ideal would have all lemmas under the modern orthography, with vowel length and pitch indicated in the headword just like nasalization, kind of like how Latin entries don't include macrons in the lemmas.

AS I keep adding Choctaw entries, I'm figuring new and better ways to incorporate and present Choctaw. My goal is to be comprehensive and informative.

Broadwell criticizes the editors of the Byington dictionary for something he did himself:

This yields an unfortunate situation in which this, the largest dictionary of Choctaw, is written in an orthography which does not match any of the orthographies in general use.

Choctaw headwords

Inalienable nouns mostly use class II possessive prefixes, but they also use class III prefixes. For some reason, references treat the class III inalienable nouns as either first-person (anki "my father") or as non-lexical morphemes (-ki "father"). There is no justification for this distinction. The lemma form of ishki isn't sashki or -shki.

Orthography table

I made a table comparing the various Choctaw orthography standards:

Moved to Appendix:Choctaw orthography

Proto-Muscogean

IPA reconstructed	Choctaw-Chickasaw	Koasati-Alabama	Mikasuki-Hitchiti	Creek-Seminole
/b/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/tʃ/	chi-	chi-	chi-	chi-
/ts/	sa-, nusi	cha-, nuci	cha-	cha-, nucita
/f/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/h/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/k/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/kʷ/	bihi	bihicuba	Example	ki
/l/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/ɬ/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/n̥/	nani	ɬaɬo	lhaalhi	rvro
/m/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/n/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/p/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/s/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/t/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/w/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/j/	Example	Example	Example	Example
Vowels
/a/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/o/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/i/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/aː/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/oː/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/iː/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/ãː/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/õː/	Example	Example	Example	Example
/ĩː/	Example	Example	Example	Example

Declension (work in progress

There are at least three distinct paradigms: final consonant, final vowel with glottal stop, final vowel with glottal fricative. Hattak, ofi and koni are representatives of each. One challenge is that the determiners can be stacked, as many as three at a time. I'm not sure it's necessary to include them in a declension table.

Final consonant

	Case marker	with determiners
		distal -ma(k) "that"	proximal -pa(k) "this"	contrastive -akoo	focus -oo	-kia "too, also"	pejorative -akhii
ommitted	hattak	hattakma	hattakpa	hattakakoo	hattakoo	-
nominative	hattakat	hattakmat	hattakpat	hattakakoosh	hattakoosh	-	hattakakhiit
accusative	hattaka	hattakma	hattakpa	hattakako	hattako	-	hattakakhi
nominative2	hattakato	hattakmato	hattakpato	-	-	-	hattakakhiito
accusative2	hattakano	hattakmano	hattakpano	-	-	-	hattakakhiino
oblique	hattakak	hattakmak	hattakpak	hattakakoo	hattakoo	hattakkia
oblique + -kia "also, too"	hattakakkia

Kinship terms (work in progress)

Choctaw kinship terms

		of a man	of a woman	of your mother	of your father
brother	older	-anni -tikba	-tikba	-oshi	-ki
	younger	nakfish	nakfi
sister	older	-tikba tik	-anni -tikba	-shki	-hokni
	younger	tik	nakfish
niece	of your brother	oshitik iklanna	ibbitik	obsolete	obsolete
	of your sister	ibbitik	oshitik iklanna	obsolete	-hokni
nephew	of a brother	oshi iklanna	sabbayyi	cousin	(obsolete)
	of your sister	sabayyi	oshi iklanna

Conjugation tables (work in progress)

• Different paradigms: initial vowel, initial s, initial consonant.
• Verbs have several grades, modes and aspects. There are also particles. These tables could get HUGE.

Active intransitive

bila ("to thaw")

	first-person		second-person		third-person
	singular	plural	singular	plural
present	bilalih	ībilah	ishbilah	hashbilah	bilah
negative	akbíiloh	iibíiloh	chikbíiloh	hachikbíiloh	ikbíilloh
imperative	akbilah	iibilah	chikbila	hachikbilah	ikbilah
interrogative	bilaloh	ībiloh	ishbiloh	hashbiloh	biloh
Tense
default	past	distant past	embedded	nomic	-hattok
bilah	bilatok	bilattōk	bilak	bila	bilahattok
Aspect
n-grade durative	h-grade	hn-grade iterative	l-grade	g-grade delayed inception	y-grade delayed inception
bila	bihíla	bihila	bī́la	?	bíyyila

Active transitive

bilachi ("to make thaw")

DIRECT OBJECT SUBJECT		first-person			second-person		third-person
		singular	paucal	plural	singular	plural
first-person	singular	sa-bilachi-lih	pi-bi-lachi-lih	hapi-bilachi-lih	chi-bilachi-lih	hachi-bilachi-lih	bilachi-lih
	plural	ī-sa-bilachih	ī-pi-bilachih	ī-hapi-bilachih	ī-chi-bilachih	ī-hachi-bilachih	ī-bilachih
second-person	singular	issabilachih	ishpibilachih	ishhapibilachih	ishchibilachih	ishhachibilachih	ishbilachih
	plural	hassabilachih	hashpibilachih	hashhapibilachih	hashchibilachih	hashhachibilachih	hashbilachih
third-person		bilachih

Active transitive affective (class I-class III agreement)

achi ("to say")

Present tense
direct object subject		first-person			second-person		third-person
		singular	paucal	plural	singular	plural
first-person	singular	am-áchi-lih	pim-áchi-lih	hapim-áchi-lih	chim-áchi-lih	hachm-áchi-lih	im-áchi-lih
	plural	il-am-áchih	ī-pim-áchih	ī-hapim-áchih	ī-chim-áchih	ī-hachim-áchih	il-im-áchih
second-person	singular	ishamáchih	ishpimáchih	ishhapimáchih	ishchimáchih	ishhachimáchih	ishimáchih
	plural	hashamáchih	hashpimáchih	hashhapimáchih	hashchimáchih	hashhachimáchih	hashimáchih
third-person		imáchih
Past tense

Stative transitive (class II-III agreement)

nokowa ("to be angry at")

DIRECT OBJECT SUBJECT		first-person			second-person		third-person
		singular	paucal	plural	singular	plural
first-person	singular	a-sa-nokowa-h	a-pi-nokowa-h	a-hapi-nokowa-h	a-chi-nokowa-h	a-hachi-nokowa-h	a-nowkowa-h
	paucal	pi-sa-nokowah	pi-pi-nokowah	pi-hapi-nokowah	pi-chi-nokowah	pi-hachi-nokowah	pi-nokowah
	plural	hapi-sa-nokowah	hapi-hapi-nokowah	hapi-hapi-nokowah	hapi-chi-nokowah	hapi-hachi-nokowah	hapi-nokowah
second-person	singular	chisanokowah	chi-pi-nokowah	chi-hapi-nokowah	chi-chi-nokowah	chi-hachi-nokowah	chi-nokowah
	plural	hachisanokowah	hachi-pi-nokowah	hachi-hapi-nokowah	hachi-chi-nokowah	hachi-hachi-nokowah	hachi-nokowah
third-person		inokowah

Active ditransitive

Oh, boy.

pila ("to throw (direct object) to (indirect object)")

SUBJECT		DIRECT OBJECT INDIRECT OBJECT		first-person			second-person		third-person
				singular	paucal	plural	singular	plural
first-person	singular	first-person	singular	a-sa-pila-lih	a-pi-pila-lih	a-hapi-pila-lih	a-chi-pila-lih	a-hachi-pila-lih	a-pila-lih
			paucal	pi-sa-pilah	pi-pi-pilah	pi-hapi-pilah	pi-chi-pilah	pi-hachi-pilah	pi-pilah
			plural	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
		second-person	singular	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
			plural	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
		third-person		hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
	plural	first-person	singular	a-sa-pila-lih	a-pi-pila-lih	a-hapi-pila-lih	a-chi-pila-lih	a-hachi-pila-lih	a-pila-lih
			paucal	pi-sa-pilah	pi-pi-pilah	pi-hapi-pilah	pi-chi-pilah	pi-hachi-pilah	pi-pilah
			plural	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
		second-person	singular	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
			plural	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
		third-person		hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
second-person	singular	first-person	singular	a-sa-pila-lih	a-pi-pila-lih	a-hapi-pila-lih	a-chi-pila-lih	a-hachi-pila-lih	a-pila-lih
			paucal	pi-sa-pilah	pi-pi-pilah	pi-hapi-pilah	pi-chi-pilah	pi-hachi-pilah	pi-pilah
			plural	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
		second-person	singular	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
			plural	hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
		third-person		hapi-sa-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-hapi-pilah	hapi-chi-pilah	hapi-hachi-pilah	hapi-pilah
	plural	first-person	singular	hashasapilah	hashpisapilah	hapisapilah	hashchisapilah	hashhachisapilah	hashisapilah
			paucal	hashapipilah	hashpipipilah	hashhapipipilah	hashchipipilah	hashhachipipilah	hashipipilah
			plural	hashahapipilah	hashpihapipilah	hashhapihapipilah	hashchihapipilah	hashhachihapipilah	hashihapipilah
		second-person	singular	hashachipilah	hashpichipilah	hashhapichipilah	hashchichipilah	hashhachichipilah	hashichipilah
			plural	hashahachipilah	hashpihachipilah	hashhapihachipilah	hashchihachipilah	hashhachihachipilah	hashihachipilah
		third-person		hashapilah	hashpipipilah	hashhapipilah	hashchipilah	hashhachipilah	hashipilah
third-person		first-person	singular	asapilah	pisapilah	hapisapilah	chisapilah	hachisapilah	isapilah
			paucal	apipilah	pipipilah	hapipipilah	chipipilah	hachipipilah	ipipilah
			plural	ahapipilah	pihapipilah	hapihapipilah	chihapipilah	hachihapipilah	ihapipilah
		second-person	singular	achipilah	pichipilah	hapichipilah	chichipilah	hachichipilah	ichipilah
			plural	ahachipilah	pihachipilah	hapihachipilah	chihachipilah	hachihachipilah	ihachipilah
		third-person		apilah	pipipilah	hapipilah	chipilah	hachipilah	ipilah

Stative intransitive (class II subject)

yoppa ("to be happy")		declarative	past	future
first-person	singular	sa-yoppa	sa-yoppatok	sa-yoppāchih
	paucal	pi-yoppah	pi-yoppah	pi-yoppāchih
	plural	hapi-yoppah	hapi-yoppah	hapi-yoppāchih
second-person	singular	chiyoppah	chiyoppah	chiyoppāchih
	plural	hachiyoppah	hachiyoppah	hachiyoppāchih
third-person		yoppah

Stative intransitive affective (class III subject)

		declarative	past	future
first-person	singular	am-achokmah	am-achokmatok	am-achokmāchih
	paucal	pim-achokmah	pim-achokmah
	plural	hapim-achokmah	hapim-achokmatok	hapim-achokmāchih
second-person	singular	chim-achokmah	chim-achokmatok	chim-achokmāchih
	plural	hachim-achokmah	hachim-achokmatok	hachim-achokmāchih
third-person		im-achokmah	im-achokmatok	im-achokmāchih