Apisa Achuffa

"Lesson One"
Charley Jones

Enunication Of HL As A Consonant :

There are tuchina   "three" enunciations of an HL consonant. Traditional anumpa ikbi asahoyechi   "aged teller of tales" will use "thl" where hitak himaka   "the moderns" will use "th" as in English "think."

  hlampko (traditional: thlamp-ko) - strong
  hlampko (modern: thamp-ko) - strong

Enunication Of Double Consonants :

Easy ahnit   "to remember" this rule! Double letters, double length! Do listen with care to Charley to learn how ahnit   "to say" these example double consonant Chahta anumpa. Double consonants are given an extended sound, most logical, yes?

  homma (hoem-mah) - red
  issi (es-seh) - deer
  iyi (ee-yeh) - foot
  ibbak (eb-bach) - hand
  chukka (chew-kah) - house
  nittak (neh-tach) - day

It is very nana fehna   "important" to remember Chahta is not a translated language but rather an interpreted language. Very few Chahta anumpa   "Choctaw words" have literal translations. American Indian languages are highly context sensitive, are affected by enunciation and very often, a single Chahta anumpa enjoys many different meanings, each meaning given or assigned by immediate conversation, current topic and acknowledged context.

Ohoyo himmita!  "Girls!" (young female virgin) you will appreciate and remember this Chahta anumpa, yammi   (yuhm-meh) which enjoys many meanings such as full, sweetened, salted, or impregnated! Some simply say chakali   "pregnant."

Alla nakni!   "Boys!" (boys are not virgins for long) an anumpa which you will easily remember. Hopoba which has numerous meanings, both as a verb and as a noun, "hunger" or "famine" along with "impotency" which strikes fear in many masculine minds!

So you see, yammi and hopoba can both mean many things, take on meanings as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs. Chahta is not translated; it is interpretated based highly on context. Should I glance at a young woman who is obviously pregnant, motion with my hands in front of my belly, a motion of great fullness, then say, "Ohoyo himmita chakali!" clearly this would be a humorous statement, controlled by the context of both my glance and my hand motions, "girl young virgin pregnant" or in English, "A pregnant virgin." Within a different context, after passing a peace pipe and respectfully acknowledging "our" topic is Christianity, my Chahta expression would or could reference the Virgin Mary.

Interpretation is an nana fehna   "important" point to remember, and you will be reminded during these lessons, Chahta is not a written language. Chahta is a spoken interpreted language. Only in na hollo imanumpa is Chahta written. Do you recall the meaning of "na hollo imanumpa?" Previously you learned this means, "language of white men." Traditional Chahta Okla, learn Chahta by listening and speaking, not by writing nor reading.

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