AF Chamberlain’s field notes of Chinuk Wawa from SE British Columbia (Part 11: stingy, generous, half a tree, etc.)

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New discoveries againAnd confirmation of stuff we’ve found elsewhere in the Northern Dialect of Chinook Jargon!

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Image credit: Home Depot

Chamberlain’s “c” is the “sh” sound, and his “tc” is the “ch” sound. His “ä” is the “a” in “cat”, a frequent sound in the Northern Dialect.

Stuff in orange here seems like new discoveries to me — different from what we’ve found in other places’ use of Chinuk Wawa.

(A link to all installments in this mini-series)

AF Chamberlain CW Kootenays 13

[DDR note: #13 nat lang]

(A link to all installments in this mini-series!)

  • pōlä́lī – ‘powder, dust, sand, etc.’
  • pótlätc – ‘to give, to present; gift, present; potlatch‘
    (One of the first times we’ve found “potlatch” as a Chinook Jargon noun for “potlatch”! Note again Chamberlain’s tendency to write [α] as < o >, when it’s written as “o” in English.)

    • hēlō pótlätc – ‘not to give, stingy‘
    • haiyū́ pótlätc – ‘to give much, generous‘
  • pūspūs – ‘cat’
    • ténäs pūspūs – ‘kitten’
      (Literally, ‘little cat’.)
    • haiä́s pūspūs – ‘mountain-lion’
      (Literally, ‘big cat’.) 
  • sā́g’alī – ‘up, above, in the air; sky, heaven’
    (The notation < g’ > for x̣ is notable. It seems like a compromise with the “gh” of the popular published dictionaries of Chinook Jargon.)
  • sā́g’alī ílahī – ‘heaven’
    (Literally, ‘sky country.)
  • sā́g’alī taiī́ – ‘God’
    (Literally, ‘sky chief’.) 
  • saiā́ – ‘far, far-off, far away’
    • wik saiā́ – ‘not far’
      (Literally, ‘un-far’.)
    • ténäs saiā́ – ‘near, a short distance away’
      (Literally, ‘little-far’.) 
    • haiä́s saiā́ – ‘very far, a long way off’
      (Literally, ‘very-far’.) 
  • saiā́ saiā́ – ‘very far, a very long way off’
    (Literally, ‘far far’. The northern-dialect Chinook Jargon of the Kootenays area, as documented by Chamberlain, shows several signs of using reduplication to intensify a meaning; compare ténäs ténäs sEn – ‘very early’ below.)
  • sáiwāc (F[rench]) – ‘Indian’
    (Heavy English-language influence is apparent in this pronunciation. The word is normally sawash in all other dialects, but due to North American English spelling as < siwash >, many non-Indigenous folks started saying saiwash.)
  • sáiwāc wā́wā – ‘Indian language’
  • sâlt (E[nglish]) – ‘salt’
    • sâlt tcEk – ‘sea; salt water’
  • sä́mEn (E.) – ‘salmon’
  • sä́pōlíl – ‘flour’
    (With 2 stress marks, whatever Chamberlain may have meant by that.)
  • sEn (E.) – ‘ sun’
    • haiä́s sEn – ‘afternoon’
      (Literally, ‘big sun; big/main day’)
    • ténäs sEn ‘forenoon’
      (Literally, ‘little day/sun’.)
    • sítkEm sEn – ‘noon’
      (Literally, ‘middle of the day; half day’.)
    • ténäs ténäs sEn – ‘very early’
      (Literally, ‘little little day/sun’. The northern-dialect Chinook Jargon of the Kootenays area, as documented by Chamberlain, shows several signs of using reduplication to intensify a meaning; compare saiā́ saiā́ – ‘very far, a very long way off’ above.)
    • mémālūs sEn – ‘eclipse’
      (Literally, ‘dead day/sun; sun dies’. It means ‘evening’ in Kamloops-area Chinook Jargon.) 
  • sik (E.) – ‘sick’
    • hēlō sik – ‘well, in good health’
      (Literally, ‘not sick’. An extremely common phrase in Indigenous-written Northern Dialect letters.) 
  • sik tÉmtEm – ‘sorry, grieved, sad; jealous, etc.’
    (Literally, ‘sick heart’. For ‘jealous’ in the Kamloops area, we also know the English borrowing, ~ chelas.)

    • hēlō sik tÉmtEm – ‘happy, glad’
      (Literally, ‘not sick heart(ed); heart is not sick’.) 
  • sing (E.) – ‘to sing; song‘
  • sítkEm – ‘half, part’
    • sítkEm sEn – ‘noon’
      (Literally, ‘half day; middle of the day’.) 
    • ténäs sítkEm – ‘quarter, small part, fraction, fragment’
      (Literally, a ‘little half’.) 
  • sítkEm dólE – ‘half a dollar, fifty cents’
    (Note again Chamberlain’s tendency to write [α] as < o > when it’s written as “o” in English.)
  • sítkEm sEn – ‘noon’
    (Literally, ‘half-day; middle of the day’.)
  • sítkEm tlī – ‘log; tall stump’
    (A new borrowing of ‘tree’ from English; literally, ‘half a tree’.)

ikta mayka chaku-kəmtəks?
What have you learned?

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