the semantic notion of alienability. Noun suffixes Choctaw nouns can be followed by various determiner and case-marking suffixes, as in the following examples, where we see determiners such as /-ma/ 'that', /-pa/ 'this', and /-akoo/ 'contrast' and case-markers /-(y)at/ 'nominative' and /-(y)a̱/ 'accusative':alla' naknimatalla' nakni-m-at child male-that- 'that boy (nominative)'Hoshiit itti chaahamako̱ o̱biniilih.Hoshi'-at itti' chaaha-m-ako̱ o̱-biniili-h bird- tree tall-that- -sit- 'The bird is sitting on that tall tree.' (Not on the short one.) The last example shows that nasalizing the last vowel of the preceding N is a common way to show the accusative case. Word order and case marking The simplest sentences in Choctaw consist of a verb and a tense marker, as in the following examples:o̱batok.o̱ba-tok rain- 'It rained.'Niyah.niya-h fat- 'She/he/it is fat, they are fat.'Pí̱satok.pí̱sa-tok see- 'She/he/it/they saw her/him/it/them.' As these examples show, there are no obligatory noun phrases in a Choctaw sentence, nor is there any verbal agreement that indicates a third person subject or object. There is no indication of grammatical gender, and for third person arguments there is no indication of number. (There are, however, some verbs with suppletive forms that indicate the number of a subject or object, e.g. iyah 'to go (sg.)', ittiyaachih 'to go (du.)', and ilhkolih 'to go (pl)'.) When there is an overt subject, it is obligatorily marked with the nominative case /-at/. Subjects precede the verbHoshiyat apatok.hoshi'-at apa-tok bird- eat- 'The birds ate them.' When there is an overt object, it is optionally marked with the accusative case /-a̱/Hoshiyat sho̱shi(-ya̱) apatok.hoshi'-at sho̱shi'(-a̱) apa-tok. bird- bug-() eat- 'The birds ate the bugs.' The Choctaw sentence is normally verb-final, and so the head of the sentence is last. Some other phrases in Choctaw also have their head at the end. Possessors precede the possessed noun in the Noun Phrase:ofi' hohchifo dog name 'the dog's name' Choctaw has postpositional phrases with the postposition after its object: tamaaha' bili̱ka town near 'near a town' Examples Some common Choctaw phrases (written in the "Modern" orthography): Choctaw: hi: See you later!: number: Thank you: What is your name?: My name is...: yes: no: okay: I don't understand.: I don't know.: Do you speak Choctaw?: What is that?: Other Choctaw words: Cherokee: Chickasaw: Seminole: Creek/Muskogee: today: tonight: tomorrow: yesterday: month: year/2009: house: school: cat: dog: cow: horse: Counting to twenty: one: two: toklo three: four: five: six: seven: eight: nine: ten: eleven: twelve: thirteen: fourteen: