Current Situation and Endangerment

According to the Endangered Languages Project, there are 9,000-11,000 native speakers of Choctaw worldwide.  As listed on that same website, the 2010 Census puts that number at 10,400, out of a population of 20,000 who identify as Choctaw.  The ELP also states that while many members of the community primarily speak Choctaw at home, and the language is used in some non-official contexts, the speaker population is gradually decreasing.  Most speakers are adults or elderly people.

Grenoble and Whaley define two categories for variables affecting language endangerment:  micro- and macro-variables.  The micro-level includes factors that are specific to a particular speaker population, while the macro-level deals with variables affecting an entire region (Grenoble & Whaley 27).  There are several factors at both the micro- and macro-levels that continue to threaten the Choctaw language.  These include:

• Contact with English (macro-level):  Choctaw has had a long history of contact with English, and tribal leaders have historically been in favor of sending children to schools where they would learn English in order to survive amongst European settlers.  Both of those factors combined have resulted in language shift.  Today, English is still a threat to Choctaw; it is the most spoken language in the United States, with about 231,122,908 speakers.  As it is so heavily used as the main language in nearly all contexts, it is difficult to avoid using it.  Some people may wonder what the point of using Choctaw is when English is more broadly understood.  As Elizabeth Christine McClour states, this is especially problematic for the younger generation, for whom "the value of the heritage language is subjugated by a more dominant majority language" as they enter the broader world of their peers and schoolmates (46).  If most people at a child's school understand and speaks English, it is likely that the child will speak English rather than Choctaw.
• Education (micro-level):  Although Choctaw is taught in 43 public high schools, it is not a required course.  Without being required to learn the language, younger generations may not end up learning it at all.  In addition, comparatively few programs exist for kids younger than high-school-age -- 14 Head Start centers and 2 elementary schools have Choctaw classes.  While some kids may be exposed to the language at home, others might not be.  Having so few programs denies those kids the opportunity of learning their language in school.
• History of discrimination and systemic racism (micro-level):  The Choctaw and other Native American tribes experienced much discrimination and racism at the hands of the United States government, the impacts of which are still being felt to this day.  The boarding schools that many children attended in the 19th century, genocide over land rights, and the Trail of Tears all played a role in reducing the speaker population, either via death or forced assimilation into the majority culture.  Today, Native Americans are disproportionately affected by food insecurity, as well as medical conditions such as Type II Diabetes (Freeman 865).  Unfortunately, tribal elders are particularly affected by food insecurity, as they do not qualify for food boxes from the USDA (Freeman 868).  As the elders are the ones who are often most knowledgeable about the language, it is concerning that they often cannot get access to meals.  Without more transmission to younger generations, the loss of tribal elders in this way could lead to the eventual extinction of the language.
• The COVID-19 pandemic (macro-level):  The Pulitzer Center reported in September that the Mississippi Choctaw Band of Indians has one of the highest coronavirus infection rates among Native American tribes.  One in 10 out of the 10,000 tribal members have tested positive, and Choctaws have accounted for more than half of all COVID cases and almost two-thirds of the deaths in Neshoba County, MS, despite making up only 18% of the population.  While it is not clear how many (if any) of those that died were Choctaw speakers, COVID nonetheless represents a major threat to the speaker population.