Weaving Words: Conceptualizing Language Reclamation through a Culturally-Significant Metaphor

Abstract

When the Creater called us to our homelands to become a distinct people, Chickasaws received the gift of our language—Chikashshanom pa’—with which to speak to each other, the land, the plants, the animals, and the Creator. Chickasaws have held sacred the gift of our living language, passing it from generation to generation for thousands of years.