Overview
Since 1991 the Anthropology
Department has offered classes in several Native American languages. Currently, Creek (CREK), Choctaw (CHOC), and Cherokee (CHER) l,
II, and III are offered in both fall and spring semesters. Kiowa
(KIOW) I and III are offered each fall. Kiowa Il is offered in
the spring. Occasionally classes are offered during the summer.
The classes are taught by native speakers with training in linguistics.
These languages satisfy both the College of Arts & Sciences'
and the University's language proficiency requirements.
The language courses combine lessons in the grammar of the
language with vocabulary lessons and supplementary material and
activities designed to situate language learning in cultural and
historical context. Students in the beginning classes work
with simple sentences and then, in the more advanced classes,
with increasingly complex sentences with more than one clause.
At first, the student masters frequently used forms and then progresses
to less frequently used forms. Considerable class time is spent
on conversation, but the students also learn to read and write
in the language. Students learn at least 1000 lexical items during
the three-semester series. Students also work with language tapes
in the language lab.
