/said/ ‘side’, a Northern Chinuk Wawa word
Straight thru the history of the Kamloops Wawa newspaper, we find the recent English loanword said ‘side’ used quite a lot.
Distribution of the Kamloops side-notch projectile point, for want of a better illustration (image credit: ProjectilePoints.net)
It’s a useful word, which explains why it came into Northern-dialect Chinook Jargon. There was no clear word for this concept of laterality in Jargon previously.
Also, folks who encountered varieties of English mainly “in the street” while speaking Chinuk Wawa would hear it not only from Euro-American Settlers, but also as an extremely frequent and important word in Chinese Pidgin English — where it amounts to a locative postposition. (“Kamloops side” would mean ‘in Kamloops’ in CPE.)
I figured I’d list the various uses and variants of it that I’ve noticed in Kamloops Wawa, from the earliest years to the latest. You’ll see that said can be a noun, or part of an adverb expression:
- wan said ‘one side’
Notice how one English loan attracts another, wan being used rather than iht ~ ixt. Saying this more accurately, I think: whole phrases sometimes got taken in from locally spoken Settler English. See ixt said below. Always found in the adverbial phrase kopa wan said ‘at/on one side’. - awt said ‘outside’
An adverbial. You could think of this as a whole phrase from English, or a single word. See in said below. Awt said never replaced the established klahani. Similar to in said below, you typically find a prepositional kopa awt said X - ixt said ‘one side’
Compare wan said above. - lift han said ‘left-hand side’
Another entire common English phrase. See rait said VS. lift said below. - ipistl said VS. gospil said ‘epistle side‘ VS. ‘gospel side‘ of a church
From common phrases in church usage. - iaka said ‘his/her/its side’
- klaska said ‘their side(s)’
- in said ‘inside’
An adverbial. See awt said above. Frequent expressions in the Northern dialect are the adverbial phrase kopa in said for ‘(on the) inside’, and the prepositional in said kopa X ‘inside of X’. In said is also a noun, ‘the insides’ of a building, etc. - iaka saids ‘his sides’
- north said ‘north side’
Presumably a phrase from locally spoken English. - rait said VS. lift said ‘right side’ VS. ‘left side’
See lift han said above. - Tapin Saidin ‘Tappen Siding’
Name of a settlement at a railway siding; another phrase from local English. - rait hand said ‘right-hand side’
See lift han said, rait said VS. lift said, above.
