“A few interjections” in Jargon dialects
A curious little list is given to us by JMR Le Jeune in his “Chinook Rudiments” of 1924, on pages 8-9.
Here are “A few interjections”…I’ll underline those that I know were actually used in the Northern Dialect that Le Jeune and the Chinuk Pipa writers spoke.
aha! ‘yes, so’
ala! ‘surprise’
ana! ‘displeasure’
anana! ‘pain’
hwà! ‘surprise’
na! ‘look here!’
niwa! ‘let me see!’
è! ‘affirming’
o! ‘wondering’
hallo’! ‘hallo!’
So only 2 items in this list were demonstrably in use in the Northern Dialect. I suspect also è! ‘affirming’ comes from Le Jeune’s personal experience, because I haven’t noticed it in other dictionaries.
But the rest of the list, the first 7 items, seems to come from other people’s dictionaries, and to be characteristic of the Southern Dialect.
So those 7 words should be added to our mini-series tallying “Less Familiar Words” in the North!
