Didactic dialogues in CW dictionaries, Part 4P (Gibbs 1863 ex phrases/sentences: ‘how much/when’)
Today, George Gibbs teaches us something about the Southern Dialect’s ‘when/where’…
(All installments in this mini-series.)
We’ll focus on 3 of the example sentences in his 1863 dictionary of Chinook Jargon.
Image credit: Hills Spinal
They show us that one single word in that older dialect means both ‘when’ and ‘how much/how many’, which makes a certain sense, and seems to implicate the Indigenous linguistic heritage of Chinuk Wawa.
WHEN:
- Kansih nesika ko kopa Nisqually?’ ‘When shall we reach Nisqually?’
(qʰánchi(x̣) nsayka q’úʔ kʰupa *nəskwáli?, literally, ‘when do we arrive at Nisqually?’)
HOW MUCH/HOW MANY:
- Kunsih tilikum mitlite? ‘How many people are there?’
(qʰə́nchi(x̣) tílixam míɬayt?
I should point out to you, this sentence of Jargon carries both of the possible meanings of the supplied English translation:
#1, ‘How many people exist/are present?’,
and #2, ‘How many people are at that place?’) - Kansih till okook? ‘How much does that weigh?’
(qʰə́nchi(x̣) tʰíl úkuk?
Literally, ‘how(.much) heavy is that?’
This usage of qʰə́nchi(x̣) is a neat extended function. It’s very similar to English, where as a lifelong speaker, I’ve always taken phrases like ‘how heavy’ as in fact conveying an idea of ‘how much heavy’.
Also compare French, c’est combien lourd? [literally, ‘it’s how.much heavy?’] / combien cela pèse-t’il? [how.much that weighs?’].
Less clear to me, but seemingly possible, is a SW Washington Salish-language phrasing that resembles ‘how.much far’, etc.)
