YouTube features fluent Chickasaw speakers and storytellers | Local News | theadanews.com

Speakers fluent in the Chickasaw language are featured sharing stories on YouTube.Formally called “Documenting Endangered Languages/National Science Foundation grant,” the project features many fluent Chickasaw speakers telling childhood stories and recollections.English subtitles are included in the videos. The late Jerry Imotichey (1938-2016) shares a story from his childhood about the sighting of a Lhofa’, or Bigfoot.Imotichey was a longtime collaborator with the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program. He was a skilled teacher of the language as well as a prodigious translator who worked on many projects, including language publications for the Chickasaw Press.Geneva Holman, Chickasaw Language Committee member, shares a story from her childhood about an event at a church meeting when families would camp during the weekend. Holman grew up near Boiling Springs Church in Allen, Oklahoma, and currently resides in Ada. She is a wonderful storyteller and happily shares her knowledge with new speakers of Chikashshanompa’.The late Vera Tims (1945-2021) shares a story about her grandfather. She was a longtime tribal employee and spent the latter part of her career as a youth language educator focused on early childhood and childcare programs.Chickasaw speaker JoAnn Ellis tells a shikonno’pa’ (a traditional animal story) about Buzzard and Rabbit. Ellis is a…
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