While working on the Choctaw language, I encountered an interesting phenomenon: There are two forms for the possessive for body parts. One form, the sa form is the most prevalent, and it indicates a kind of intrinsic possession. Another form that is used by some speakers is the am form. This kind of possession is used with things that are owned and are separate from the person. You would use this second form for a car--a- ka. I am wondering if the am form is an older form whose usage has begun to die out.
These two uses bring to mind differences in spiritual beliefs. In Christianity, body and soul are considered somewhat inseparable while the body is living. I think that is the basis for the belief in the resurrection of the body. In examining the language, it appears that the belief is that people are primarily bodies that have something called a soul. This contrasts with traditional pre-Christian beliefs of some American Indian groups that each of us is the spirit, and the spirit has the body. And, of course, other religions, perhaps most notably Buddhism, recognize the each person is a spirit that can be freed from the bounds of a body without the body dying.
There are two words in Choctaw for spirit, one of which is connected more with the body and the other usually referring to spirits that roam without bodies. Since Choctaws have been Christianized for hundreds of years, it is difficult to reconstruct those earlier beliefs, but it appears that these two systems represent a language change that also represents a change in thinking among many Choctaw speakers.
