Nootka Jargon verb+verb compounds => Chinuk Wawa?
Quite a number of basic, very old Chinuk Wawa words that we know came from “Nootka Jargon” nonetheless have remained hard to find exact etymologies for.
Monthly Archive: March, 2018
Did you know? Another early prefix
Implicit in the Grand Ronde tribes’ 2012 dictionary, proved by historical data, contrary to expectations of pidgins: another early prefix in Chinuk Wawa.
ná ‘here, take this’ is from Vancouver Island
Maybe it’s a worldwide tendency, like how words for ‘mother’ often have “M” in them…but Chinuk Wawa’s interjection ná ‘here; take this’ etc. is an Aboriginal word from the Vancouver Island, Canada, area.
=na “Yes/No Question” from Proto-Salish *nə
A new etymological discovery:
Little old hayas-
The other day, I mentioned some 1890’s quoted Chinuk Wawa:
Siletz fellas raking in Grand Rounde’s money
With the confusing punctuation that typified Chinuk Wawa in newspapers…
Tinker to Evers to…Tinker?!
Tinker to Evers…and back to Tinker?! Reborrowing words after your language gave them away? It happens. “Long time no see.” “Can do.” “Pidgin.”
Millicoma, or, fictional Chinuk Wawa noble savage humor
I’m mostly just transcribing the Chinuk Wawa sections from this folksy parody…
Chinook Jargon as a BC Aboriginal language
The following is an argument I wrote up as a grad student, a few years back. It’s keenly relevant now, eh?
How Mourning Dove was right: The Tee-hee-hee Stone
Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket, Humishuma) is well remembered for her telling of traditional Okanagan “Coyote Stories“.