Language

The Chitimacha Tribe’s language is unique and is an isolate, unrelated to any other language. Our language has been highly documented by many ethnographers dating back to the late 1800s. The majority of the work on our language comes from two Tribal members as sources, Chief Benjamin Paul and Mrs. Delphine Decloux Stouff, the last two fluent speakers of our language. Chief Paul died in 1932 and Mrs. Stouff in 1940. Morris Swadesh recorded over 200 hours of conversations with these two tribal members who were dedicated to preserving our language. Without the work of these individuals, the memories of current tribal elders, dedicated tribal member employees and the linguists the Tribe has worked with, we would not have been able to revive our sleeping language, which is now being taught at our tribal school, early learning center and through a grant from the RosettaStone company, to all interested tribal members around the globe who have requested the software.