Koasati language
| Koasati | |
|---|---|
| Kowassá:ti | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Elton, Louisiana and Livingston, Texas |
| Ethnicity | Koasati people |
|
Native speakers
|
200 (2000) |
|
Muskogean
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | koas1236 |
 |
|
Koasati (also Coushatta) is a Native American language of Muskogean origin. The language is spoken by the Coushatta people, most of whom live in Allen Parish north of the town of Elton, Louisiana, though a smaller number share a reservation near Livingston, Texas, with the Alabama people. In 1991, linguist Geoffrey Kimball estimated the number of speakers of the language at around 400 people, of whom approximately 350 live in Louisiana. The exact number of current speakers is unclear, but Coushatta Tribe officials claim that most tribe members over 20 speak Koasati. In 2007, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, in collaboration with McNeese State University and the College of William and Mary, began the Koasati (Coushatta) Language Project as a part of broader language revitalization efforts with National Science Foundation grant money under the Documenting Endangered Languages program.
Koasati is most closely related to the Alabama language but, though the Coushatta and Alabama have historically lived near each other, their languages are no longer mutually intelligible without extensive exposure. The language is also related to the Mikasuki language; some native speakers of Coushatta report they can understand Mikasuki without previous exposure to the language.
Koasati has three vowels, all of which occur as short and long and can be nasalized. The following chart is based on Kimball's work. It should be noted that Kimball describes what is normally the close-mid back vowel /o/ as "high back" vowel, hence its placement in the chart below. He notes that /o/ sometimes has the allophone [u] and is raised to [ʊ] in closed word-final syllables.
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