Reply To: Slower Native American speech?

#47685

Kenny A.
Member

As a Native American who works with a lot of other Native Americans, I would like to answer your question. I see quite a few of the older Native Americans (mostly fullblood) who speak very slowly and deliberately. It is more the way they were brought up than anything. If, for instance, they are Choctaw like I am and grew up in a household where Choctaw is spoken, then they will have the ‘Indian’ accent and way of speaking. I grew up where my language was not spoken as often, and I am not fluent. I sound like most everyone else here in my part of Oklahoma: a hillbilly. The reason some Choctaws speak slower is that the Choctaw language has a radically different sentence structure than English. In Choctaw, the noun is spoken first, then any adjectives, then the verb. the sentence ‘chahta sia hoke’ which means ‘I am Choctaw’, directly translated would be something like ‘choctaw, I am.’ People who are used to talking in this manner have to think about how to structure sentences when they speak English. It makes them sound like they are deliberatley choosing their words. They are. I hope this answers your question. I just found this web site and I think it is a good one. I will try to answer any questions about Native Americans. Don’t be afraid to ask – the only dumb question is the one not asked.

User Detail :  

Name : Kenny A., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : American Indian, Religion : Native American, Age : 36, City : Talihina, State : OK, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class,