1908: Jargon was goin’ to be the standard language
One of the first books of its kind — a motorist’s travelogue of the American Far West.
Monthly Archive: July, 2022
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pre-1889: Reminiscences of an old timer including Shoalwater Bay
This fella had experience of just about all of Washington Territory, including the early-creolized Chinuk Wawa-speaking Shoalwater Bay (page ix); he was sheriff of Pacific County around the same time CW expert James… Continue reading
How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with northern Jargon (Part 1 of 2)
A veteran of frontier preaching in the middle- to lower Columbia River region went on to write to BC’s Native people in the province’s “Chinuk Pipa” alphabet…
So many Métis words in interior PNW languages (part 5: Saulteau First Nation/Plains Cree)
It should be no surprise that a Plains Cree dialect would carry marks of Métis culture.
1891 doggerel poem: “The Sigh of the Siwash”
Today we advance the cause of recognizing a Pacific Northwest poetic genre: half-Chinook doggerel!
Lillie Dremeaux on Slavey Jargon *and* far Northwest Métis speech
An unpublished linguistic article that I’ve long thought deserved more attention is Lillie Dremeaux’s senior thesis in Linguistics from Swarthmore College:
Kopa Maskwachis-ilihi ukuk-son…
Kopa Maskwachis-ilihi ukuk-son, lipap iaka wawa kopa kanawi Sawash-tilikom, kata sik-tomtom iaka… kata maika tomtom?What do you think?
1859: Jargon grounds for divorce
See also “Novel Divorce Suit (Worn-Out Joke)“!
1864: Siwash Affair de Fisticuffs in Seattle Illahee, with discoveries!
Pretty early in the frontier settlement period for Washington state, “our native reporter” contributes an awesome article about a Seattle fistfight.
Hawai’i Pidgin “high makamaka” helps us bust a Jargon myth
No, this is not a newly revealed secret etymology of a Chinook Jargon phrase…