Koasati (Kowassaati)

Koasati is a Muskogean language spoken mainly on the Koasati Reservation near Elton in Louisiana. There are also speakers on the Alabama-Koasati Reservation near Livingstone in Texas. Koasati is spoken by about 370 people, and according to officials of the Coushatta tribe, the majority of tribal members over 20 speak the language.

Koasati is also known as Coushatta, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti. It is a language of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. It is related to Mikasuki and Alabama, and there is apparently considerable mutually intelligibility between Koasati and Mikasuki, though not with Alabama.

In 2007 a program to revitalize the Koasati language was started by the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana in collaboration with McNeese State University in Louisiana and the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Koasati is written with the Latin script. An official orthography was developed by the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana in 2007. Other spelling systems are available, including one used by Geoffrey Kimball in his Koasati Grammar (1991).

Koasati alphabet

Koasati alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

In closed syllables (ending with a consonant), i is pronounced [ɪ] and o is pronounced [ʊ]. Sometimes they are pronounced [ɛ] and [u].
When h appears before ch it is pronounced [ɦ], e.g. hahchi [haɦtʃí] (river).
k is sometimes pronounced [kʷ] before o
l is sometimes pronounced [n], or [r] between vowels
s is pronounced [ʃ] before o and between vowels. At the end of a word is sometimes pronounced [r]
According to Geoffrey Kimball k, p and t are aspirated in initial and medial positions. However, according to the Koasati Language Project, these letters are never aspirated.
Tones are not marked in the official orthography, but are in Kimballʼs Grammar

Download an alphabet chart for Koasati (Excel)

Hear the Kosati alphabet:

Sample text in Koasati

Kowassaati sapha ahitchaachit ittillokkoohilaho.
Abachokkooli atchakkit,
Ittooyat ittillokkoolit,
Ittooyat chayaalit,
Ittooyat schaffahkaasit istilkalaho.
Kowassaati aatiha kosnap.

Translation

We pledge allegiance to our Coushatta flag.
Following God,
We will all stand together,
We will all walk together,
We will all stay together as one.
We are Coushatta.
(The Coushatta Pledge)

Sample videos

Information about Koasati | Numbers

Link

Information about the Koasati language
https://www.coushatta.org/our-language/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koasati_language
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/cku
http://www.native-languages.org/koasati.htm
https://koasati.azurewebsites.net/
https://docslib.org/doc/3349033/kowassaaton-ilhaalos-let-us-hear-koasati-developing-and-implementing-the-koasati-language-project

Muskogean languages

Alabama, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Koasati, Mikasuki, Muscogee (Creek-Seminole)

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 01.06.25

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