Ofologists take note!

[Wallace Chafe]

I believe Mary Haas said Shitty-muh-shaw, with approximately equal stresses 
on the first and last syllables.

Although it may be justified when the origin is French, the pronunciation 
of ch as sh has recently become an annoying problem in the Santa Barbara 
area. The most popular pronunciation of Chumash has recently become 
shoe-mash, which those of us in the know find very annoying. It's become 
the official pronunciation for the Chumash (shoe-mash) Casino, heard all 
too often in TV commercials. Guess it sounds more elegant(?)

Wally

>> How does one pronounce Atakapa, or, for that matter, Chitimacha?
>
> 'Atakapa' is like attack-uh-paw (stress on 2nd syllable), and Chitimacha
> is either "sheety-muh-shaw" or "chit-ih-muh-shaw" (stress on 1st
> syllable). Usually the latter. (Sorry I have to do the phonetics this
> way, but the IPA does not go over email...)