How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with Northern Jargon (Part 2C of 2)

Last installment here — again, thanks for bearing with me during a week of illness.

Klaska klatwa saxali kopa mitxwit stik,
They climbed the standing trees, 

pi kopa sahali lamotai, pi kaltash
and up the high mountains, but it didn’t help 

klaska mamuk kakwa, kiwa chok iaka chako
when they did like that, because the water was getting 

aias ilip saxali kopa kanawi ilip mank=
way higher than all the mank
     {Mank, modern mánaqi-, is unknown in the northern dialect, where you say ilip-.}

saxali lamotai.
highest mountains. 

< 26. > Aias puspus, birs pi lilu,
26.        Big cats, bears, and lilu,
{Puspus isn’t really known in the north, but I think readers would figure it out from the presence of the form pus loaned into many of their Indigenous languages. Lilu isn’t known, but I have found wolf in BC CW!}

pi kanawi limaro [SIC] kotin klaska chako
and all of the limaro kotin, got
     {St. Onge intends limaro to mean ‘wild’, but northern CW just says wail.}

kwan < “tame” > kopa kwash, pi klaska pi
kwan from fear, and they and

tilikom kanamokst klaska kuli kopa saxali
the people together traveled to high
     {In the north, kuli means not ‘run’ but ‘travel’, and saxali ilixi means not ‘highlands’ but ‘Heaven’, although readers might have figured this phrase out.}

ilixi. Kanawi ilixi chako ipsut kopa chok,
land. All of the land got covered in water, 

pi kanawi tilikom, kanawi kotin, kanawi
and everyone, all the kotin, all 

kalkala, pi kanawi ikta klaska kuli kopa ilixi,
of the birds, and everything moving on the earth, 

klaska mimlust: kopit Noi iaka ship xaws iaka
died: only Noah’s ship-house 

tlus klatwa saxali kopa chok, pi kopit klaska
safely went on top of the water, and only they 

klaksta mitlait kopa iaka klaska wik mimlust.
which were on it didn’t die. 

Noi iaka kakwa ShK klaksta mamuk tlak
Noah is like God which makes *worn out*
 {If BC Interior Salish readers could analogize a meaning for southern CW tlak, it might be ‘worn out’, which is rather odd in the context.}

tilikom kopa mimlust, pi ark iaka kakwa liglis
the people from death, and the Ark is like the 

Katolik klaksta lolo nsaika kopa kwanisim=
Catholic Church which leads us to always 

mitlait “saxali ilihi, < eternal life >.”
living, heaven. 

Kopa chi ilixi < CHAPTER VII > Ilip ShK chako
On the new earth                          Before Jesus came here

< 1657 >. < The sacrifice of Noah > < 2343 >

Noi iaka styuil paxlach
Noah’s prayer potlatch

< 27. > Spos ukuk aias chok iaka mitlait < 150 > son
27.        When this flood had stayed 150 days 

kopa ilixi alta Noi iaka chako kopa ST iaka
on the earth, then Noah came to God’s 

tomtom, pi iaka mash wam win klaksta mamuk
heart, and he sent a warm wind which 

drai kanawi chok, pi kopa sinmokst mun, Noi
dried all of the water, and in the seventh month, Noah’s 

iaka ship xaws tlus mitlait saxali kopa ixt
ship-house reseted on top of a certain 

lamotai iaka nim Ararat kopa Arminia.
lamotai whose name was Ararat in Armenia.
{For northern speakers, we find mawntin as the word for ‘mountain’.}

< 28. > Noi pus komtaks kata chok mitlait,
28.        Noah(,) to know how the water was lying there, 

iaka mamuk xalak windo, pi iaka mash ixt
opened the window, and he sent a certain 

kaka klaxani. Wik iaka chako kilapai. Alta
kaka out. It didn’t come back. Then
     {This word for ‘crow / raven’ isn’t found in my northern-dialect data; Indigenous folks may have figured it out from similarities to some of their words.}

iaka mash ixt pichan. Kopit tlimin ilixi iaka
he sent a certain pichan. Only tlimin ground did it
{‘Pigeon’ is not a known word in my northern-dialect data, outside of a couple of Bible references and the name of a “Joe Pigeon”.}

tlap, pi wik kata pus iaka mamuk mitlait iaka
find, and it couldn’t put its 

lipii kopa ilixi, alta iaka chako kilapai. Kopit
feet on the ground, (and) then it came back. After 

sinmokst son iaka wixt mash ukuk pichan,
seven days he again sent that pichan, 

pi tlip son iaka chako kopa ark. Pi iaka lolo
and as the sun was sinking it came to the Ark. And it carried  

kopa iaka labush ixt klis olali stik iaka lima
in its mouth a certain greasy-berry-bush branch(;) 

alta Noi iaka komtaks kopa ukuk, kanawi chok
now Noah knew from this that all of the water 

chako ilo kopa ilixi. Kopa ST iaka wawa
had disappeared from the land. It was to God that he talked. 

Noi iaka kluchmin, iaka tlun tanas man pi klaska
Noah(,) his wife, his three sons and their 

kluchmin pi kanawi kotin klaska mitlait kopa
women, and all of the kotin which were on 

ark klaska klatwa klaxani. Kopa ship [h]aws
the Ark, went outside. On the ship-house 

klaska mitlait drit ixt kol ilixi.
they had stayed all of a winter.

< 29. > Noi iaka tomtom chako patl mirsi
29.        Noah’s heart got full of thanks 

kopa ST: iaka mamuk ixt styuil ston
to God: he made a kind of prayer rock(,) 

iaka iskom ixt kotin klaksta itluil iaka
he took a certain kotin whose meat 

tlus pus makmak, pi iaka mamuk paia iaka kopa
is good to eat, and he burned it for 

ST kakwa styuil paxlach. ST iaka chako
God like a prayer potlatch. God got 

tlus tomtom kopa iaka pus ukuk, pi iaka mamuk
happy with him because of this, and he 

mitlait kopa saxali ukuk ayu tsim klaska nim rinbo.
put in the sky those many marks whose name is “rainbow”. 

Iaka mash tlus wawa kopa Noi pi iaka tanas man,
He sent good words to Noah and his sons, 

pi iaka wawa kopa klaska: “Alta naika mamuk
and he said to them: “Now I’ll make 

kaw + wawa < “Covenant” > kopa msaika pi kopa msaika
a binding word with you folks and with your 

alki tilikom. Wik kansih naika alki mamuk ilo
descendants. Never will I destroy 

kanawi tilikom kopa chok. Spos kansix lili
everyone with water. However long 

ukuk ilixi alki mitlait, kakwa lili alki chako
this earth exists, that’s how long there will come 

mash xwit mun, mamuk tlkop xwit mun, wam ilixi
wheat-harvesting seasons, wheat-tlkop seasons, summers(,) 

kol ilixi, pi son pi polakli. Pi ukuk ayu tsim
winters, and day and night. And these many marks(,) 

“rinbo” naika chi mamuk mitlait kopa saxali
“rainbow”, I’ve just put in the sky(,) 

iaka kwanisim alki mamuk komtaks kopa msaika
it will always let you folks know 

ukuk naika kaw wawa.
this is my binding words. 

Spos ixt masachi man iaka wik tiki mamuk laplitas pus iaka masachi, iaka
If some bad man doesn’t feel like doing penance for his bad things, he 

kakwa ukuk kaka klaksta wik chako kilapai kopa ark
will be like that kaka which didn’t come back to the Ark(,)  

pi spos ixt man iaka aias tlus, iaka kakwa
and if some man is very good, he’ll be like 

ukuk pichan klaksta kwanisim tiki tlus mitlait
that pichan which always wants to stay 

kopa liglis Katolik pi kopa ShK.
with the Catholic Church and with God. 

Kopa chi ilihi < CHAPTER VIII. > Ilip ShK chako
On the new earth                    Before Jesus came here

< 1658 > < The Sons of Noe. > < 2342 >

< 30. > Noi iaka mitlait tlun tanas man: Sim
30.        Noah had three sons: Shem, 

Kam pi Shafit. Klaska mamuk tsax < “plow” >
Ham, and Japheth. They tore up

ilixi kanamokst klaska papa pi klaska mamuk
the land together with their dad and they 

mitlait wain olali stik kopa ilihi. Spos ukuk
put wine-berry plants into the ground. When that
{This southern phrase for ‘grapes’ isn’t known in the north, although the individual words in it are.}

wain olali iaka chako paia “raip < ripe >” klaska
wine-berry got hot (ripe), they 

mamuk wain, pi klaska wik komtaks kansix
made wine, but they didn’t know how much
{Using the all-Chinuk Wawa word qʰə́nchi (‘how much’) to convey this sort of relative degree of adjectives (‘how strong’) is a southern but not a northern thing; in BC it’d mean ‘how many/several strong (insert noun here)’. In the northern dialect we’d say for example kata skookum instead.}

skukom iaka ukuk wain, Noi iaka makmak
strong that wine was, Noah drank 

tanas ayu ukuk wain pi iaka chako patl lam,
kind of a lot of that wine and he got drunk, 

pi iaka mamuk musom kopa iaka sil haws. Spos
and he made sleep in his tent.  When
     {If you’re asking me, in all dialects of CW mamuk-músum actually means ‘put to sleep; cause someone to sleep’!}

Kam iaka nanich iaka papa patl lam, alta iaka
Ham saw his dad drunk, that’s when he 

mamuk xixi kopa iaka: iaka klatwa pi iaka
made fun of him: he went and he 

mamuk komtaks kopa iaka kapho < “elder brother” >
reported to his kapho
     {Another southern-only word; the north, like modern Grand Ronde, has only aw.}

pi iaka aw ilo pasisi mitlait kopa klaska
and his brother that that there was no blanket on their 

papa.
dad. 

< 31. > Sim pi Shafit wik kakwa klaska tomtom
31.        Shem and Japheth felt differently(;) 

klaska aias shim kiwa klaska aias
they were really ashamed because they 

tlus nanich pi tiki klaska papa. Klaska
paid great attention to and loved their dad. They 

iskom pasisi, klaska mamuk ixpwi klaska
got blankets, they covered their 

siaxost pi klaska mamuk mitlait ukuk pasisi
eyes and they put those blankets 

kopa iaka. Spos Noi iaka gityup pi iaka chako
on him. When Noah woke up and he 

komtaks ikta Kam iaka mamuk, iaka mash masachi
found out what Ham had done, he threw bad 

wawa kopa Kam pi iaka alki tilikom, pi iaka
words at Ham and his descendants, and he 

mamuk blish Sim pi Shafit.
blessed Shem and Japheth. 

< 1757. > < The tower of Babel. > < 2243 >

Babil saxali xaws.
The Babel tall building.

< 32. > Tanas lili pi Noi iaka tilikom klaska
32.         After a while Noah’s people 

chi chako aias ayu, pi wik kata pus klaska
had gotten to be really numerous, and they couldn’t 

kanawi mitlait kopa ixt ilixi. Ilip klaska
all fit into one country. Before they 

klatwa pus iskom xlwima ilixi, klaska tiki
went to pick out a different country, they wanted 

mamuk ixt aias tawn pi ixt saxali xaws
to build one big town and one tall building 

saxali kakwa saxali smok. Kakwa klaska tiki
as high as the clouds. That’s what they wanted 

mamuk kopa klaska saxali tomtom. Pi wik
to do, with their stuck-upness. But that’s not 

kakwa ST iaka tomtom, pi kakwa iaka xixi
what God felt like, and so he laughed at 

klaska: iaka patlach* xlwima lalak kopa
at them: he gave different languages to
     {This pronunciation of lalang ‘tongue; language’ strikes me as weird, and maybe confusing, for northern ears.}

ixt man pi ixt xlwima lalak kopa xlwima
one man and some other language to a different 

man; pi ixt man wik iaka komtaks ikta ixt xlwima
man; and one man couldn’t understand what some different 

man wawa kopa iaka. Kwanisim ilip kopa ukuk
man said to him. Always, before this, 

kopit ixt lalak mitlait kopa kanawi tilikom
there was just one language for everyone 

pi alta ayu lalak mitlait. Klaska mash
but now there were lots of languages. They left 

ukuk tawn pi ukuk saxali xaws pi klaska klatwa
that town and that tall building and they went 

iskom ilixi kanawi kax.
to pick out countries all over the place. 

< 33. > Sim iaka tilikom klaska chako ayu
33.        Shem’s people got to being numerous 

kopa Isha < “Asia” >. Kopa klaska chako
in Asia. From them there came 

Israil tilikom, ST iaka tiki tilikom. Kam
the Israel people, God loves the people. Ham’s
     {For northern ears, Sáx̣ali-Táyí yaka tíki here is not a modifying phrase, ‘God’s beloved’, modifying tílixam; it just means ‘God loves the people’. Its occurrence here is interesting, suggesting that in the southern dialect this species of complicated construction, which we continue to see at Grand Ronde, already existed by the 1890s, prior to any serious documentation of GR CW.
***But*** it still sounds suspect to my ears, and here is the fascinating NEW GRAMMAR DISCOVERY to explain why.
It’s because when we find this structure at G.R., the modifying verb phrase has to be (notionally) in the Active Voice, as we see in St. Onge’s term mamuk-kə́mtəks-tìlixam (literally ‘a make-know-person’) meaning ‘teacher’. Tiki here is certainly in a notionally Passive Voice, ‘(be)loved’. (Please know that Chinuk Wawa, like many other languages, has no dedicated Passive morphology), so …}

iaka tilikom klaska klatwa kopa Afrika < “Africa” >
people went to Africa 

pi Shafit iaka tilikom klaska klatwa kopa
and Japheth’s people went to 

Yurop < “Europe” >.
Europe. 

< 34. > Babil iaka saxali tomtom mamuk chako
34.        Babel’s stuck-upness is what made 

ayu xlwima lalak: pi kopa Pintikost,
lots of different languages come along: and at Pentecost, 

lisapot klaska kwan tomtom mamuk chako ayu
the apostles were kwan-hearted(,) making many 

lalak kopa ixt.
languages turn into one. 

Kanawi Patriark* < “Patriarchs” > klaksta
All of the Patriarchs which 

mitlait kopa ilixi katsak kopa Adam pi Noi
lived on the earth between Adam and Noah(,)
     {My northern data expresses ‘between’ with sitkum; the old southern word katsaq isn’t known.}

klaska nim pi wixt kansix klaska chako kopa
their names and also how much they came to
{Another way in which this old southern word, still current at Grand Ronde, fails to be recognized up north — qʰə́nchi is ‘when’ down south, but ‘when’ in the north appears to be qʰá-sán (literally ‘where-day’).}

ilixi, pi kansix klaska mimlust.
the earth, and how much they died. 

Chako Kopa Ilixi… Mimlust… Mitlait
Came to the earth… Died… Lived here

Adam < 1 > < 930 > < 930 >

Sit < 130 > < 1042 > < 912 >
Seth                                            

Inos < 235 > < 1140 > < 905 >
Enos                                           

Kinan < 325 > < 1235 > < 910 >
Canaan                                           

Malaliil < 395 > < 1290 > < 895 >
Mahalalel                                            

Charid < 460 > < 1422 > < 962 >
Jared                                              

Inok < 622 > < 987 > < 365 >
Enoch                                        

Matyusalim < 687 > < 1656 > < 969 >
Methuselah                                          

Lamik < 874 > < 1651 > < 777 >
Lamech                                          

Noi < 1057 > < 2006 > < 950 >
Noah                                            

Kopa ukuk nsaika komtaks kansix lili ukuk ankati
From this we know how long those oldtime 

Patriark mitlait kopa ilixi. Adam iaka mitlait
Patriarchs lived on the earth. Adam lived 

< 930 > kol ilixi: Lamik Noi iaka papa chako man
930 winters: Lamech, Noah’s dad, became a man
     {In the north, chaku-man sounds like ‘grow up’ rather than its acceptable southern interpretation as ‘be born’}

kopa < 874 >; pi kakwa Adam pi iaka klaska
in 874; and so Adam and he 

mitlait kanamokst < 56 > kol ilixi. Noi pi Tari*
lived together 56 winters. Noah and Terah, 

Abraxam iaka papa klaska mitlait kanamokst
Abraham’s dad, lived together 

< 128 > kol ilixi, kakwa Adam iaka komtaks
128 winters, so Adam knew 

Lamik, Noi iaka papa, pi iaka mamuk komtaks
Lamech, Noah’s dad, and he taught

kopa iaka kanawi ikta ST iaka mamuk kopa
him everything God did at the

ilip. Noi iaka komtaks Tari Abraxam
first. Noah knew Terah, Abraham’s 

iaka papa, pi iaka mamuk komtaks kanawi
dad, and he taught every- 

ikta chako spos iaka mitlait kopa ilixi.
thing that happened while he lived on the earth. 

Mosis iaka chako man wik aias lili kimta
Moses became a man not very long after 

Abraxam, pi kakwa iaka drit komtaks kanawi
Abraham, and so he really knew every- 

ikta iaka mamuk tsim kopa ST pipa.
thing that he wrote down in God’s paper. 

< End of the First Age. >

Okay, there you have it. A big old data dump showing what I firmly understand to be abundant indications of the early-creolized, thus more Métis-influenced, nature of Father St. Onge’s Chinuk Wawa.

Because he was taught the language by the great Demers & Blanchet of Fort Vancouver, this just makes sense to me.

This man was a living link between the community that gave birth to CW as we know it & its distinct northern dialect that’s so abundantly documented in British Columbia’s Kamloops Wawa newspaper.

qʰata mayka təmtəm?
What do you think?