The interjections in St Onge’s handwritten dictionary!
I was writing the other day about how Chinuk Wawa is able to do this weird thing of inflecting an interjection!
And I’m all wow! Nobody ever teaches language lessons just on interjections!
Image credit: Cherry Lake Publishing Group!
In case you’re interested in being able to exclaim in Jargon, here’s Father St Onge’s handwritten dictionary’s contribution of things to blurt out!
- < ah! > ‘yeah!; yes!’
- < ala! > ‘wow!; oh!; zounds!’
- < ana! > ‘alas!; oh!’
- < appa! > ‘well!’
- < ate! > ‘oh!; zounds!’
- < ha! > ‘hallo!’
- < how! > ‘hurry!’
- < i! > ‘yeah!; yes!’
- < ia! > ‘alas!’
- < kwaĥ! > ‘[surprise; astonishment]’
- < kwish! > ‘fie!; pshaw!; [scorn; disdain]’
- < na! > ‘hallo!; lo!’
- < oh! > ‘oh!’
There are also words that have other meanings & functions besides being interjections, such as:
- < aiak! > ‘hurry!’ (from ‘fast’)
- < ikta! > ‘what!!’
- < kaltas-mitlait! > ‘hush!’ (from ‘sit still; sit around’)
- < kata! > ‘what the ****!; how dare you!; etc.’ (from ‘how’)
- < kopet! > ‘hush!’ (from ‘finished’)
- < nawitka! > ‘yes! yeah! certainly! indeed! forsooth! verily!’ (from ‘true’)
- < tlaHowiam! > / < klaHowia! > ‘good-bye!’ (from ‘poor’)
READER CHALLENGE:
Do you know any more interjections in Chinook Jargon? (There definitely are more! You might search this website!)
Hey! Leave a comment! Expand people’s vocabulary!
