New Year’s Chinuk Wawa letter from Tillamook, 1916
John Leland Henderson is a young lumberjack who taught himself how to write Jargon! A special New Year’s gift from the real McCoy…
The typesetters misspelled a number of words in Henderson’s letter, so I’ll throw in some suggested corrections between brackets.
As I’ve often pointed out to you readers of mine (so now you’re experts in this stuff), any English words printed in special punctuation like quotation marks and parentheses here are likely to have been actually used in Chinook Jargon.
- They’re the usual street way of expressing the ideas that they refer to, and pidgins borrow almost nothing but casual language.
- A lot of the exact same English words are used here as we see up around Kamloops, BC: time, help.
- Plus check out how my man John uses an English verb like “cut brush” in an uninflected form — uses it just like any Chinuk Wawa verb, I mean, instead of using it in a proper English way.
- Similarly he says tenas mans with a plural “s” that’s improper in English, but it’d work all right if his Jargon & English were in a real-time spoken interplay.
- He certainly pluralizes tillacum ‘friend’ and tyee ‘Mr.’ in the same way.
They’re newly discovered words of Chinuk Wawa. QED.
Discovered in the Tillamook (OR) Herald of January 4, 1915, on page 2:
COMMUNICATION
Tillamook, Oregon: Jan. 1st, 1916.
Tyhee Trombley
Chief (editor) Trombleype nica tilicuma [tilicums], chee pe
and my friends, new andancotti, Tillamook, Oregon.
previous, Tillamook, Oregon.
Nika tike tenas wawa kopa mesika kopa paper, pe nika wawa skookum wawa
I want to chat with you folks by letter, and I’m going to say strong wordskopa okok ouacut nesika wawa “Tetart’s [Netarts] Trail.” Mesika kumtux ka
about this path we call “Netarts Trail.” You know where
okok ouacut. Icht “week,” klonas tukum sun marsh, kopa Sunday, nika klattawa
this trail is. One week (or) maybe six days ago, on Sunday, I wentdelait siyah kopa mountain, pe nika hihu mammook kopa okok “trail.” Nika
really far into the mountains, and I did a lot of work on this trail. Itum-tum kopa okok Sunday, hihu Tillamook Tillacums klattawa kopa
figure on that Sunday, lots of Tillamook folks went toMammook wawa kopa Sakerlah Tyhee kopa Church, pe klonas tenas hihu
pray to God at church, and maybe someiskum klaska muskets pe klattawa kopa hias stick, ka klaska nikee [tikee] poo
took their rifles and went to the woods, where they intended to shootmowitch. Nika klattawa, kopet icht, enitai kopa trail, pe nika iskum nika
deer. I went, alone, over on the trail, and I took myla hache, nika “peevie,” pe nika “brush-hook,” klonas hihu stick mit-light kopa
axe, my “peavey“, and my “brush-hook;” a lot of trees might be (fallen) in thetrail. Nika klattawa siah enitai koper trail, pe mitlight kopet icht stick, ich hias
trail. I went a long way over on the trail, and there was just one tree, a bigstick. Nika hihu mammook yaka kopa nika la hache, pe nika tike marsh yaka,
tree. I worked on it a lot with my axe, and I tried getting it out of the way,pe nika hihu hihu mammook, pe nika wake siah cokchit nika sacarlucks, pe
and I worked and worked, and I just about busted my britches, and thenyaka klattawa enitai. Nika Hihu mammook “cut brush” kopa “brush-hooks,”
it got to the side. I worked hard “cutting brush” with the “brush-hooks,”kopa Netarts trail, pe nika Klahowya, nika delait tull carter nika mammook,
on the Netarts trail, and I was miserable, I was really tired how I was workingkonamux nika, halo tillacum help nika. Wake klosh kakwa. Mitlight hihu
with (no one but) myself, no people helping me. That ain’t good. There are lots oftyhees kopa Tillamook pe Netarts, skookum tenas mans, pe carter klaska halo
gentlemen in Tillamook and Netarts, strong young men, but how is it they don’thelp nika kopa mammook klosh okok trail? Hihu klaska he-he, pe klaska
help me in improving this trail? They goof around plenty, and theysoopena, kopa Base-ball, pe Foot-ball, pe Basket-
jump up for baseball, and football, and basket-
ball. Carter klaska halo tike Mammook? Klaska hihu skookum! Klonas tenas
ball. How is it they don’t like working? They’re plenty strong! Maybe someancotti, Sakerlah Tyhee potlatch kopa klaska Pa-pa pe Klaska Ma-ma hias tenas
time ago, God gave their fathers and mothers tiny babyman, pe klonas klaska chee chaco kopa okok illihe tull, be alta klaska hias tull,
boys, and maybe they were born into this life tired, and now they’re (too) worn-out,kopa mammook. Wake klosh kakwa. Hias klosh tenas kloochman closh wawa
for work. That’s no good. It’d be swell if the girls talk nicekopa klaska, pe mammook (sweet eyes) kopa klaska, be alki nika tum-tum
to them, and make sweet eyes at them, and then I betklaska help nika kopa okok mammook. Klonas nika Tillacums Bill Smith pe
they’d help me with this work. Maybe my friends Bill Smith andTyee s Stillwell pe Quick, pe hallooma tyhees, hihu he-he kopa nika kopa okok
Masters Stillwell and Quick, and other gentlemen, will make fun of me for thisChinook, pe nika kwanesum wawa Ø kopa la bouche, halo mammook write Ø
Chinook, but I always speak (it) out loud, not write (it)kopa paper. Okok elep time nika Mamook Ø koper paper.
on paper. This is the first time I’ve written (it) on paper.
Mesika Tillacum,
Your friend,
John Leland Henderson.
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