How do you say whisper in Choctaw?

Answer 1

I don't think there is a word for whisper. The word "whisper" condenses quite a few possible ways of describing "whisper" into one short word. We might say "letting words be carried gently on the breath" or "speaking inaudibly" instead, and probably the Choctaw people said something long winded and poetic that takes account of the fact that words are sacred - whipering only allowed for certain things, like a kind of prayer or incantation. As words shouldn't be leaked meaninglessly, perhaps they would only whisper in certain ritualistic situations - perhaps it was unlucky to whisper - I wouldn't be surprised, because sound is extremely important spiritually. It was a north american indian belief that WHISTLING scares ghosts away, so when going along a lonely path they would whistle a lot. Probably, there is no word for whisper in Choctaw because to whisper was to create a certain ambiance or make a kind of spell, perhaps communing with the wind, perhaps something restricted to certain people who are ALLOWED to whisper, and only in ritual moments. For us, it's hard to imagine being brought up to feel that words are really important, not to be wasted and never to be abused or depended on just to get attention or to get what we want from someone. But for them, spending words really meant something.