“Less familiar words” in the Northern Dialect (Part 2D: Le Jeune 1924: more French (B))
The implication behind Father JMR Le Jeune’s presenting this list of words seems to be that they’re considered to be Chinook Jargon somewhere else than British Columbia…
…And most of them are indeed known in the older, Southern Dialect of CJ.
Traces of Métis ‘fingers’ in Kamloops? (Image credit: MetisNation.org)
But there’s a lot more going on here; I’ll comment as we go along.
This stuff is in Father JMR Le Jeune’s little book “Chinook Rudiments” (Kamloops, 1924), pages 30-31.
My transcription from the Chinuk Pipa shorthand alphabet includes “tz” for the letter that sometimes sounds like [ts], sometimes like [z].
Here’s the second of 2 posts about these words
More french words.
- la chandelle, lashantil, candle,
[Kandl from English is much more usual in “Kamloops Wawa”.]
- la chaise, lashis, chair,
[“Kamloops Wawa” usually says chir, from English.]
- la chaine, lashin, chain,
[In “Kamloops Wawa”, chin from English is the common word.]
- l’assiette, lasiit, plate,
- la soie, laswa, silk,
[Silk from English is usual in “Kamloops Wawa”.]- l’avoine, lawan, oats,
(Le Jeune is assigning a Standard European French pronunciation to the Jargon word here, whereas it’s always documented in a Canadian/Métis French pronunciation, [lawεn]. In “Kamloops Wawa”, otz from English is usual.)- la veste, lavist, vest,
(Again Le Jeune seems unfamiliar with this word as a Jargon expression. CJ routinely has it in the Canadian/Métis-influenced pronunciation, [lawεst].)- la balle, labal, ball,
(Meaning a ‘ball’ of lead that you shoot out of a gun.)- le biscuit, lbiskwi, crackers,
(Notice Le Jeune’s Chinuk Pipa spelling with [w] rather than Standard French [ü]. He may have encountered this word locally. However, in his “Kamloops Wawa” newspaper, I find only biskit, and that only turns up once.)
- le bleu [SIC], lblu [SIC], blue,
(This is a weird entry. The older, Southern Dialect CJ word is liblo ‘sorrel colored, brown’, and it comes from Canadian/Métis French le blond ‘the blond one’. Blu from English is usual in “Kamloops Wawa”.)- le caillé, lkai, pinto,
- le cendré, lsĩdri, ash color,
- le crême, lkrim, cream,
- le cock [SIC, for coq], lkok, rooster,
[Rustir from English is in “Kamloops Wawa”.]
- le doight [SIC, for doigt], ldwi [SIC], finger,
(Le Jeune’s spelling in Chinuk Pipa suggests Canadian/Métis French [dwε].)- le gris, lgri, grey,
- le diable, liab [SIC], devil,
(Le Jeune’s Chinuk Pipa spelling reflects his familiarity with this word in local Chinook Jargon, where it’s common in both the more Canadian/Métis French version liiab and the more Indigenized & more frequent liiam.)- le cou, lku, neck,
[Nik from English is used in “Kamloops Wawa”.]
- le ruban, lroba [SIC], ribbon,
[“Kamloops Wawa” has ribon from English]
(Le Jeune’s Chinuk Pipa spelling indicates his acquaintance with George Gibbs’s spelling < le-lo′-ba >.)- le marteau, lmarto, hammer,
(The English-sourced hamir is normal in the Northern Dialect of CJ.)- le mulet, lmula [SIC], mule,
(The Chinuk Pipa spelling shown by Le Jeune is the actually used word in the Northern Dialect, but it traces to locally spoken Spanish, not to French.)- le marron, lmoro [SIC], untamed, wild,
[In “Kamloops Wawa”, wail from English is used.]
- le mouton, lmuto, sheep,
[Ship from English is usual in the Northern dialect.]
- le pain, lpa, bread,
(This word shows up in the local Salish languages, and in a few people’s Northern Dialect CJ. But saplil remains the usual word, in common with the older, Southern Dialect.)- l’apichement, lapishma,, trappings of a horse.
(I suspect Le Jeune’s Chinuk Pipa spelling with a final “a” indicates he’s unfamiliar with the word in local speech, so he’s guessing from the “French” spelling. This word is documented with a final “o” in actual CJ.)- le pois, lpwa, peas,
- le sac, lsak, sac,
- les œufs, litzyu [SIC], eggs.
(In actual CJ, this word is documented with a final “f” or “p” pronounced. Northern Dialect CJ consistently uses the English-sourced igs instead.)- les éperons, litzipro, spurs,
- le ciseau, lsitzo, scissors,
- le sucre, lsyukr, sugar,
[I’m not sure how common this version of ‘sugar’ ever was in Jargon. “Kamloops Wawa” has shugir from English.]
- les dents, lida, the teeth,
- le fouet, lhwit [SIC], lhwip [SIC], whip,
(Le Jeune’s first Chinuk Pipa spelling matches the known Jargon pronunciation. His second one is an odd blend of French definite article + English-sourced hwip. The fact is that the simple form hwip is the usual in Northern Dialect CJ.)- le riz, lri, rice,
(I can’t seem to find this word in any CJ lexicons! Jargon has always used lays, sourced from English. Le Jeune here may have been trying to “correct” some CJ dictionaries’ misspelling lareh for ‘barley’, which however actually comes from Canadian/Métis French l’orge, ‘barley’.)- la mélasse, lamilas, molasses.
(This word is frequently found in the local tribal languages. Not so much in Jargon.)
