Koasati and Language Practices of the Coushatta Tribe

Language	Koasati
Depositor	Stephanie Hasselbacher
Affiliation	College of William and Mary
Location	United States
Deposit ID	0075
Grant ID	IGS0138
Funding Body	ELDP
Collection Status	Collection online

 

Summary of the deposit

Koasati is the language of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana (Muskogean family). It is still spoken fluently by approximately 200 people, many of whom live on or near the Coushatta Reservation outside Elton, Louisiana. This project began as a collaborative documentation and revitalization effort between the Coushatta Heritage Department and The College of William and Mary. Its goals were to transcribe, annotate, and archive historical Koasati materials in a way that is accessible to the Coushatta community, as well as create audio and video documentation of informal language practices that will assist language learners with contemporary, context-dependent Koasati language use.

 

Group represented

Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana

 

Language information

Also known as Coushatta, member of the Muskogean family, Koasati is spoken mostly on and around the Coushatta Reservation outside Elton, Louisiana, United States.

Although the target language is Koasati, several varieties of English as spoken in Louisiana are also represented.

 

Deposit contents

This deposit contains 62 audio files (.wav format) and 22 video files (.mp4 format), with accompanying transcriptions and translations, documenting the Koasati language. The majority of the files are semi-structured interviews, conducted by fluent Koasati speakers and/or the depositor, focusing on language practices, metalinguistic awareness, the history of education in the community, and cultural change on the Coushatta Reservation. Other genres include storytelling, cooking lessons, and casual conversation.

 

Acknowledgement and citation

To refer to any data from the collection, please cite as follows:

Hasselbacher, Stephanie. 2012. Koasati and Language Practices of the Coushatta Tribe. London: SOAS University of London, Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/00-0000-0000-0001-9B26-F. Accessed on [insert date here].