Explicit Métis influence on Secwépemc culture + language
These local tribal people had long acquaintance with the fur trade, and they were consistent in identifying Métis influence.
Monthly Archive: August, 2022
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1866: “A Song-ish Legend” translated into English verse
Compare this with the 100% Chinook Jargon “Songish Legend” that I’ve separately written about…
1913 [circa 1859]: Oh, Dewdney, car mika chaco?
This article specifies that the following took place “over fifty years ago”, so it was perhaps around 1859, early in Settler era of BC.
1866: “A Songish Legend” poem (the Chinook original)
Praise where praise is due: this early PNW doggerel poem manages to rhyme in Chinook Jargon!
1808-1810: The wreck of the Sv. Nikolai
One surviving travel narrative from early PNW contact times is not about trading, but about a year and a half of terror.
Cashman 1900 [1899] and Ahtna Chinuk Wawa / Pidgin English
In south-central Alaska, Ahtna Athabaskan people’s Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa) was as mixed with English as we’ve seen in previously known sources. {Clickable link there.} Stick Indians (Ahtnas), Plate 122 of the Report… Continue reading
1862: “A Civilized Song of the Solomons” doggerel verse
There once existed a distinctly Pacific Northwest literary genre that was emblematic of its place and time.
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… Continue reading
How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with Northern Jargon (Part 2B of 2)
I’ve been sick for several days, so I’ll just drop this here. Kopa ixt mitxwit stik nsaika chako From one standing tree we got klaxawiam, pi wixt kopa ixt mitxwit stik pitiful, and… Continue reading
How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with Northern Jargon (Part 2A of 2)
Father Louis-Napoléon St. Onge’s “History of the Old Testament”, written in Chinuk Pipa alphabet (“shorthand”) and published in BC’s Kamloops Wawa newspaper in the 1890s, is one of the many “missing links” between southern and northern Chinuk Wawa.