Visit to Skwamish, a CJ text
A few days ago, I blogged about TS Bulmer and a Chinook Jargon text of his from the Kamloops Wawa newspaper.
Reader Sam Sullivan of Vancouver, BC, courageously took up my challenge to try deciphering this text from the shorthand Chinuk pipa. Even more admirably, he worked on the entire page that you see above. It’s no black mark on his character that names of places and people tripped him up–I’ve been there, because there’s no capitalization in the shorthand to tip you off. Also there are subtle wrinkles of grammar that are good to learn via exposure.
With Sam’s permission, here’s his go at reading and translating all that CJ into English, starting with the “trip to Squamish” item. (I’ll put his translation of Bulmer’s item in an upcoming post.)
I’ll reproduce the line breaks of the original, to make it easiest for you to compare with the shorthand. I’ll show in bold Sam’s transcription of the CJ words and then mine; and then Sam’s translation, then mine. All of my contributions below are in italics.
Please note that my version of the shorthand CJ is given in standardized Kamloops Wawa spellings…so it may differ very slightly from what Sam and you will see in a careful reading of the shorthand. That’s a whole nother topic to blog about sometime.
Also for you to be aware of–stuff that’s underlined is not in shorthand on the original page. Equals sign (=) is a punctuation mark…go try figuring out how that, or the other punctuation marks, functions.
Okay? Here goes:
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- Visit to Skwamish. = chako poolaklee nesaika mash panapaliu
= Chako polakli nsaika mash Bonapart
When the night came, we sold [got rid of]
At nightfall we left Bonaparte (Indian village) - pe shako kopa Ashcroft, yawa nesaika shako kopa kar, pe nesaika nanitch
pi chako kopa Ashkroft: iawa nsaika chako kopa kar, pi nsaika nanich
xxxxx and came from Ashcroft, there we came by car, and we saw
and came to Ashcroft: there we got into a railroad car, and we saw
- Visit to Skwamish. = chako poolaklee nesaika mash panapaliu
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- pil chak yaka klatawa kopa neewas mayntiuneel yaka sick. nesaika chako delate
Pir Lshak iaka klatwa kopa Nyu Wisminstir iaka sik: nsaika chako drit
a red water, he goes to neewas xxxxx he sick. We had a really
Père (Father) LeJacq, who was going to New Westminster, who has been ill: we got very
- pil chak yaka klatawa kopa neewas mayntiuneel yaka sick. nesaika chako delate
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- tloos tumtum chako kanamoxt, pe nesaika hiyu seyesem kanamoxt kata
tlus tomtom chako kanamokst, pi nsaika ayu siisim kanamokst kata
good feeling amongst us, and we a lot xxxx together how
happy to meet each other, and we were telling each other how
- tloos tumtum chako kanamoxt, pe nesaika hiyu seyesem kanamoxt kata
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- telekom kopa kanawe elehee, pil chak klatawa ways mayn stil.
tilikom kopa kanawi ilihi. Pir Lshak klatwa Wisminstir pi
people in every place, red water goes xxxx xxx.
the people are (doing) in all the (Indian) villages. Père LeJacq headed to Westminster and
- telekom kopa kanawe elehee, pil chak klatawa ways mayn stil.
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- nesaika klatawa Vankoovar, pe yawa telekom kopa itkawmaysh hyak
nsaika klatwa kopa Vankuvir. Pi iawa tilikom kopa Skwamish aiak
we go to Vancouver and their people at the xxxxx quickly
we went to Vancouver. And then the people from Squamish promptly
- nesaika klatawa Vankoovar, pe yawa telekom kopa itkawmaysh hyak
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- iskom nesaika pe lolo nesaika enatai kopa klaska town. yawa metlait
iskom nsaika, pi lolo nsaika inatai kopa klaska tawn. Iawa mitlait
take us and carry us across their town. There lives
picked us up, and took us over to their town. That’s where
- iskom nesaika pe lolo nesaika enatai kopa klaska town. yawa metlait
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- nesaika em papa leseveek, loon son nesaika metlait yawa, pe kanseh telekom
nsaika papa lisivik. Tlun son nsaika mitlait iawa. Pi kansih tilikom
our Bishop, three days we stayed there, and how many people
our father the Bishop was. For three days we stayed there. And several people
- nesaika em papa leseveek, loon son nesaika metlait yawa, pe kanseh telekom
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- mamuk shaynook pepa, klaska hyak chako komtax, nesaika tomtom
mamuk Chinuk pipa. Klaska aiak chako komtaks. Nsaika tomtom
write Chinook paper, they quickly learn. We believe
can do Chinook writing (shorthand). They’re learning fast. We think
- mamuk shaynook pepa, klaska hyak chako komtax, nesaika tomtom
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- klaska alke xxx delate komtax chinook pepa kopa skwamesh, okok ehe
klaska alki [scratched-out word] drit komtaks Chinuk pipa kopa Skwamish. Ukuk iht
they will soon really understand Chinook writing in squamish, that happy
they’re going to really understand Chinook writing in Squamish. This one
- klaska alke xxx delate komtax chinook pepa kopa skwamesh, okok ehe
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- tanas man shosep tyee, yaka shako skokom komtax pe weht
tanas man Shosif taii, iaka chako skukum komtaks pi wiht
child Chief Joseph, he really learned and again
young man, Joseph Tyee (“chief”), learned it wonderfully and also
- tanas man shosep tyee, yaka shako skokom komtax pe weht
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iht man iaka nim Shanks iaka chako komtaks. Kansih tanas man wiht
[translation omitted]
one (other) fellow named Shanks learned it. Several young men more
- [line omitted]
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- hyak chako komtax poos klaska skokom mamuk, poos klaska lisee,
aiak chako komtaks pus klaska skukum mamuk. Pus klaska lisi,
quickly learn that if they work hard, or if they are lazy,
will soon learn it if they work hard. If they’re lazy,
- hyak chako komtax poos klaska skokom mamuk, poos klaska lisee,
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- elo skokom mamuk kopa kopa kanseh son kanawe son wake kata hyak
ilo skukum mamuk kopa kansih son kanawi son, wik kata aiak
they don’t work hard each and every day, very fast they will not
not working hard for several days all day long, (they) won’t be able to quickly
- elo skokom mamuk kopa kopa kanseh son kanawe son wake kata hyak
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- chako komtax.
chako komtaks.
learn.
learn it.
- chako komtax.
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- chako setertay teesem pil ayn nesaika keelapai kopa kamloops
Chako Satirdi [word scratched out] December 3, nsaika kilapai kopa Kamlups.
Saturday came, xxxx red xxx we returned to Kamloops
Come Saturday December 3, we returned to Kamloops.
- chako setertay teesem pil ayn nesaika keelapai kopa kamloops
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- pe nesaika hiyu mamuk kopa pepa, nesaika kwanesem tlap hiyu pepa kopa
Pi nsaika ayu mamuk kopa pipa. Nsaika kwanisim tlap ayu pipa kopa
and we wrote a lot of letters, we always receive a lot of letters from
And we’ve been working at writing. We always get lots of letters from
- pe nesaika hiyu mamuk kopa pepa, nesaika kwanesem tlap hiyu pepa kopa
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- pe telekom kopa kanawe kah, pe nesaika hyak mamuk keelapai tzem kopa klaska.
tilikom kopa kanawi kah. Pi nsaika aiak mamuk kilapai tsim kopa klaska.
people everywhere, and we quickly write letters back to them.
people all over the place. And we immediately write back to them.
- pe telekom kopa kanawe kah, pe nesaika hyak mamuk keelapai tzem kopa klaska.
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Mahsee Dave Roberttanasman, we are lucky to have you who have such a great grasp of the shorthand. Mika delate skukum kopa Chinook pepa! the Kamloops Wawa is such a treasure trove comprising up to 75% of all existing documented Chinook Wawa. I hope you will get the support you need to continue to transcribe and translate. in the meantime, perhaps some of us can pitch in. I have transcribed/translated a few additional pages which I could put online. thanks for correcting my work! Naika nem Sam
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Thanks, Sam, I’m working on securing backing for the truly enormous project of making shorthand Chinook Jargon available to all!
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Pingback: From Bulmer’s Preliminary geographical notes on the US | Chinook Jargon:
Gyrgûn mûï fatlana. Gaa nuo chinukd3argon skûamï motlana mio d3e3 seter Skûamï. Tutlalo vorde bûhûamï skûamûsi bur, d3e3a 3atlo dûï tutlana!
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C^iu artefarita lingvo?
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