VOVA!

Among the few (but increasing number of) websites where you can practice your Chinook Jargon, is VOVA.

That’s the Vocal & Verbal Arts Archives.  They’re a nonprofit working for language documentation and revitalization; please read the pages on their site.

VOVA’s got a Chinuk Wawa translation of their “About” statement, excellent for checking out your comprehension.  I’ve visually separated the sentences in their paragraph:

nsayka uk VOVA tilixam, kakwa nsayka təmtəm:

wik-ɬush pus wik-saya-hilu lalang chaku-hilu.

wik-ɬush wəx̣t pus tilixam ɬaska kʰəpit-kəmtəks qʰata pus wawa kʰanawi-ikta kʰapa ɬaska ul-lalang, dret kakwa ɬaska ul-tilixam.

kakwa, nsayka dret tiki munk-tʼuʔan kʰanawi-ikta ɬush kʰapa ul-tilixam ɬaska wawa:

ɬaska yaʔim, ɬaska ikanum, qʰata ɬaska kʰanumakwst wawa kʰanawi-san.

alta kʰanawi-ikta nsayka munk-tʼuʔan, nsayka munk-miɬayt pus tʼɬunas-ɬaksta tiki chaku-kəmtəks.

pus msayka tiki munk-kəmtəks msayka tənəs-tilixam msayka ul-lalang, nixwa chaku nanich ikta uk miɬayt yakwa.

nixwa iskam tʼɬunas-ikta msayka tiki.

nsayka uk VOVA tilixam, dret nsayka tiki pus kʰanawi-ɬaksta ɬas kimtəks kʰanawi lalang, kʰənəx̣ pus wik hayu tilixam ɬaska kəmtəks uk lalang.

Happy reading!  You can post any questions about it here in the comments 🙂

–Dave–

PS: I haven’t figured out why the Chinuk Wawa font shows up in a couple different sizes here.  Working on it.