1915: Jargon-talking parrot
Adding to our files on non-humans that could talk or understand Chinuk Wawa:
The parrot was absent on picture day, so here’s its owner:
Image credit: Find A Grave
Parrot belonging to F[rancis].M[arion]. Simmons [1841-1924] of Puyallup, which would talk Chinook, dies.
— from the Tacoma (WA) Times of March 31, 1915, page 8, column 5
F.M. Simmons, sure enough, was a son of the Colonel Michael Troutman Simmons who had been a Chinook Jargon interpreter for Governor Isaac I. Stevens’s mid-1850s treaties with Washington Territory’s native nations.
Gosh knows, parrots can reach advanced ages. This modern dinosaur (I’ve been watching nature shows on TV) might have been taught Jargon by the Colonel.
It would have been of great interest to hear what dialect it talked, and with what kind of accent!
Bonus fact:
To remind you, we’ve previously learned of Thunderbird understanding Chinuk Wawa. Also wood rats. And horses. Plus, dogs answering to Jargon names. Our present-day friend Sequoia from Sweden has a cat fitting into this category too. And, I suppose, spirits contacted in a séance. Search this website for examples!
