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:

•      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

• 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, he was ill: we got very happy
  

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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.  There lives

• 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.  For three days we stayed there.  And several people

• 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

• 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

• 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 

• [line omitted]
  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
  

• 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,

• 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 

• chako komtax.
  chako komtaks.  
  learn.
  learn it.

•      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.  

• 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 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.