Comments on: Secret Warriors: The Choctaw Code Talkers

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:52:24 +0000

I never knew that Choctaws used their language as a wartime code; you tend to hear about the Diné/Navajos in WW2.

This is especially interesting to me as I’m studying the Creek language, and am interested in taking a course in Choctaw, which is closely related. Creek is spoken by maybe two or three thousand people in the entire world, but Choctaw is doing much better — spoken by about eight thousand people in Mississippi alone, according to the tribal government’s estimate. I suppose there are at least as many in Oklahoma.

I have a PDF of Loughridge’s Choctaw-English dictionary and have picked up a few words. The Oklahoma Choctaw nation has a distance-learning language course, but it hasn’t gotten to Alabama yet.

BTW I still refer often to James Mooney’s book on the Cherokees, which I remember was a gift from you two. I’ve about worn that thing out with repeated readings, margin notes, and so on.

By: E.V. Land

E.V. Land — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:10:26 +0000

It is good to see the contributions of Indian people highlighted. There are so many holidays, events and memorials for almost every other group in America but almost no recognition for the forgotten Indian. If there was a more widespread appreciation for the true history of Indians in America maybe something would be done about the injustices to Indian people that are continuing today.

By: Robin S

Robin S — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:47:44 +0000

Fascinating history lesson!

By: Glen Alan Graham

Glen Alan Graham — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:42:51 +0000

Wow! Thanks for this fascinating account of an all-but-forgottne page of the history of these United States! I’d known for years (possibly since Army ROTC at the University of Idaho, early 1970s) about the Diné (Navajo) code talkers in WW II and how these native Americans helped us beat the Japs by simply passing messages in their birth tongue. But these Choctaw code talkers did the trick a generatione earlier!

Talk about the native “code talkers” often gets me thinking about “code switchers”. They are people who easily slip from one language to a second during conversations — and may do it even in mid-sentence. Members of La Raza (Chicanos or Mexican-Americans) who live in south Texas are famous for code-switching. When I lived in Devine and then in San Antonio it fascinated me, and I got to where I could code-switch, too (tho’ not as “fluently” — or better put, “fluidly”). Some who overhear code-switching think it indicates a language handicap. But linguists and myself know that, on the contrary, it shows that the speaker has such a grasp of the two languages that she/he knows which one best expresses what they’re trying to say at any given moment.

“Code talkers” and “code-switchers” both are strong reasons for my firm objection to “English-only” proposals.