Structure of Muskogean Languages

The Muskogean languages of the southeastern U.S. include Choctaw, Chickasaw, Alabama, Koasati, Mikasuki, and Muskogee. This course focuses on central theoretical challenges in describing these languages: grammatical tone and aspectual grades; agentive/nonagentive person marking; verbal number suppletion; grammatical relations; and switch-reference. All the languages in the family are endangered: we will spend time surveying the status of each language and community efforts to revitalize them.