CHIKASA 1889

A team of Chickasaw linguistic experts explore their nation’s language in this edited anthology of two 19th-century works.

A Methodist minister, politician, and educator, Judson Dwight Collins was a central figure in mid-to-late-19th-century Chickasaw history. In addition to serving in various high-profile roles within the Chickasaw government, including its Supreme Court, as well as overseeing the Collins Institute school, he also collaborated with Swiss ethnologist and linguist Albert Samuel Gatschet to document the Chikashshanompa’ language. The duo published two manuscripts: Words, Phrases and Grammatic Elements of the Chicasa Language Obtained from Judson Dwight Collins and Chikasa: Lexical and Syntactical Collection Obtained from J.D. Collins. Published together here, these two documents “are the earliest to contain whole narratives and examples of complete, interconnected speech in sentence form” of the language, as well as vocabulary lists, verb declensions, and archaic and novel words that do not appear in Chickasaw dictionaries. Housed at the Smithsonian Institution since the 1920s, the manuscripts are offered to a general audience in this groundbreaking anthology. Seeking to maintain the eclectic transcription style of Gatschet, the book provides high-resolution scans of the original, handwritten manuscripts on the right page, with a typed and annotated version provided on the left. Beyond offering the full versions of both manuscripts, the authors provide several essays that introduce readers to the historical context of the documents and discuss their linguistic methodology. All editors are experts on the Chickasaw nation’s linguistic history and have Ph.D.s centered on Indigenous languages; most have served in leading positions within the Chickasaw Nation Language Preservation Division. The work includes an academic bibliography and ample footnotes that complement the translations. And while the book’s goal is the continued preservation and study of Chikashshanompa’ among the scholarly community, it remains accessible to nonexperts by offering an approachable introduction to the language. The inclusion of photographs, newspaper clippings, and other visual elements makes for an intellectually stimulating and visually stunning work.

An important, well-researched look into the printed history of an Indigenous language.