Building a new generation of speakers

The Chikasha Academy Adult Immersion Program will soon graduate five highly motivated students who will then teach the Chickasaw language to others. They include, front row from left, Faithlyn Seawright, Briana Mason, and Jason Morgan. Back row from left, Jared Walker, Elias Brown and language instructor Ric Greenwood.

Three important textbooks are included in the Chikasha Academy Adult Immersion Program. “A Chickasaw Dictionary,” was written in the 1960s by the late Rev. Jesse Humes and Vinnie May Humes. Fluent Chickasaw speaker Catherine Willmond and University of California Los Angeles linguistics professor Pamela Munro produced “Chikashshanompaat Holisso Toba'chi, Chickasaw: An Analytical Dictionary” in 1994, and “Let's Speak Chickasaw: Chikashshanompa' Kilanompoli',” followed in 2009.