1792: Moziño, “Noticias de Nutka”, the first clear “Nootka” pidgin (part 1 of 2)
I draw pretty clear conclusions from today’s source, but I’m putting out the call to Southern Wakashanists to answer the many questions that follow…
Monthly Archive: September, 2021
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The Cowlitz métis and Chinuk Wawa
One source for information on the métis descendants of Fort Vancouver is the “Summary under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding: Cowlitz Tribe of Indians” (Bureau of Indian Affairs document, February 12,… Continue reading
1840-1841: The US Ex Ex, the PNW, and the still-local Chinuk Wawa
We get quite the useful picture of how widespread the already-creolized Chinuk Wawa was in 1840-1841, when we absorb this great report:
Didactic dialogues in dictionaries of Chinuk Wawa (Part 1: AC Anderson)
(First in a mini-series.) The credited author disclaimed all responsibility…
Progress on ‘when’ in Kamloops CW
By chance, we don’t exactly know how to say ‘when’…
1861: “Our Port Townsend Correspondent” urges proper Native pronunciation
This 1861 article was written by renowned Chinuk Wawa expert James G. Swan…
Another version of the “Seattle Illahee” song!
Thanks to indefatigable anthropologist Jay Powell, a famous Pacific Northwest folk song that uses Chinook Jargon shows up in another version…
Even more traces of Canadian/métis French “calumet” (‘pipe’) in early-contact PNW
In a previous post, I claimed to have discovered a previously unrecognized French loanword < koulama > in early Chinuk Wawa, meaning ‘pipe’.
CW oral history of Dryad Point, BC
Thanks once again to Alex Code of PoCo Heritage for pointing me to this example of oral history being preserved in Chinuk Wawa.
1853: George B. McClellan’s PNW railroad survey diary
Previously, on chinookjargon.com…