Chitimacha

Chitimacha was a language isolate once spoken in United States.

Chitimacha · 30.3°N 90.9°W

An isolate: no relationship to any other known language has been demonstrated.

Chitimacha ( CHIT-i-mə-SHAH or chit-i-MAH-shə, Sitimaxa) is a language isolate historically spoken by the Chitimacha people of Louisiana, United States. It became extinct in 1940 with the death of the last fluent speaker, Delphine Ducloux.

Although no longer spoken, it is fairly extensively documented by the linguists' work (mostly unpublished) of Morris Swadesh and John R. Swanton. Swadesh, in particular, wrote a full grammar and dictionary and collected numerous texts from the last two speakers although none of that has been published.

Language revitalization efforts are underway to teach the language to a new generation of speakers. Tribal members have received Rosetta Stone software to learn the language. As of 2015, a new Chitimacha dictionary is in preparation, and classes are being taught on the Chitimacha reservation.

From Wikipedia · Chitimacha language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Chitimacha

Meaning	Word	Romanization
woman	kitca
person	pan*
ear	waS*
nose	SiS*
tooth	i*
tongue	wen*
hand	waSi*
blood	uipi*
bone	kaci*
knee	mokun*
breast	mi*
liver	kesi*
water	kuq
stone	nuS*
tree	SuS*
leaf	CiS*
night	Cima*
fish	makS*
louse	cat*
one	unku*
two	upa*
I	iS*
you	him*
we	hus*
drink	kaC*
hear	wop*
die	nupi*
come	ahi*
path	miS*
full	hop*