Family division The Muskogean family consists of
Alabama,
Chickasaw,
Choctaw,
Muscogee (or Creek),
Koasati,
Apalachee, and
Hitchiti-Mikasuki.
Hitchiti is generally considered a dialect of Mikasuki. "Seminole" is sometimes used for either a dialect of Muscogee spoken in Oklahoma, or to refer to the Mikasuki which is the ancestral language of most Florida Seminoles, while "Cow Creek Seminole" more specifically refers to a dialect of Muscogee spoken by a minority of
Seminoles in Florida. The major subdivisions of the family have long been controversial, but the following lower-level groups are universally accepted: Choctaw–Chickasaw, Alabama–Koasati, Hitchiti–Mikasuki, and Muscogee. Apalachee is
no longer spoken; its precise relationship to the other languages is uncertain, but
Mary Haas and
Pamela Munro both classify it with the Alabama–Koasati group.
Haas's classification For connections among these groupings, one influential classification is that of Mary Haas and Karen Booker, in which "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw) is seen as one major branch, and "Eastern Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, and Muscogee) as another. Within Eastern Muskogean, Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki are generally thought to be more closely related to each other than to Muscogee. That classification is reflected in the list below: •
Muskogean • Western Muskogean •
Chickasaw •
Choctaw (also called Chahta, Chacato) • Eastern Muskogean •
Muscogee (also called Muskogee, Maskoke, Mvskoke, Seminole, and Creek) •
Hitchiti-Mikasuki (also called Miccosukee or Seminole) • Apalachee–Alabama–Koasati •
Apalachee •
Alabama (also called Alibamu) •
Koasati (also called Coushatta)
Munro's classification A different classification has been proposed by
Pamela Munro. In her classification, the languages are divided into a "Southern Muskogean" branch (Choctaw-Chickasaw, Alabama-Koasati, and Hitchiti-Mikasuki) and a "Northern Muskogean" one (Muscogee). Southern Muskogean is then subdivided into Hitchiti-Mikasuki and a "Southwestern Muskogean" branch containing Alabama-Koasati and "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw). •
Muskogean • Northern Muskogean •
Muscogee • Southern Muskogean •
Hitchiti-Mikasuki • Southwestern Muskogean •
Apalachee •
Alabama–Koasati •
Alabama •
Koasati •
Western Muskogean •
Chickasaw •
Choctaw Broader relationships Possible Muskogean languages Several sparsely attested languages have been claimed to be Muskogean languages. George Broadwell suggested that the languages of the
Yamasee and
Guale were Muskogean. However, William Sturtevant argued that the "Yamasee" and "Guale" data were Muscogee and that the language(s) spoken by the Yamasee and Guale people remain unknown. It is possible that the Yamasee were an amalgamation of several different ethnic groups and did not speak a single language. Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee as consisting mainly of speakers of Hitchiti and Guale. The historian Steven Oatis also describes the Yamasee as an ethnically mixed group that included people from Muskogean-speaking regions, such as the early colonial-era native towns of
Hitchiti,
Coweta, and
Cussita. The
Amacano,
Chacato,
Chine, Pacara, and
Pensacola people, who lived along the Gulf Coast of Florida from the
Big Bend Coast to
Pensacola Bay, are reported to have spoken the same Muskogean language, which may have been closely related to Choctaw. Sparse evidence indicates that a Muskogean language was spoken by at least some of the people of the paramount chiefdom of
Cofitachequi in northeastern
South Carolina. If so, that would be the most eastern outpost of Muskogean. The people of Cofitichequi were probably absorbed by nearby
Siouan and
Iroquoian speakers in the late 17th century. A vocabulary of the
Houma may be another underdocumented Western Muskogean language or a version of
Mobilian Jargon, a pidgin based on Western Muskogean.
Gulf The best-known connection proposed between Muskogean and other languages is
Mary Haas'
Gulf hypothesis, in which she conceived of a macrofamily comprising Muskogean and a number of
language isolates of the southeastern US:
Atakapa,
Chitimacha,
Tunica, and
Natchez. While well-known, the Gulf grouping is now generally rejected by historical linguists. Some Muskogean scholars continue to assert that Muskogean is related to Natchez. ==Features==