“Quite Frustrating”! — dealing with the press as a linguist
HIRE A LINGUIST! (That’s me.)
Or least goddamn interview one before publication.
Here’s a link to a well-reported piece in High Country News about living with the Stevens Treaties: “Quite Frustrating“.
It includes this incredible, and nonsensical, claim:
Note: This story was updated to correct that Chinook Jargon is a 50-word trading language when it included more words, though it is limited in its vocabulary.
After publication, I was approached for a quick, context-free fact check about the size of Chinook Jargon’s vocabulary. (That is, no mention was made that this was in reference to a news article.)
I responded with my now-usual observation that a fluent speaker of Chinuk Wawa uses about equally as many distinct word forms in a day of talking as a casual speaker of English or any other language. I also provided links to my extensive writing on this site about the Stevens Treaties.
There’s been no perceptible result.
The other day, it was a housing development in Vancouver. Now it’s my beloved HCN.
Chinook been done wrong again!
𛰅𛱁𛰃𛱂 𛰙𛱁𛱆𛰅𛱁 𛰃𛱄𛰙𛰃𛱄𛰙? qʰáta mayka tə́mtəm?
kata maika tumtum? Qu’en penses-tu?
What do you think?
And can you say it in Chinuk Wawa?
Hey! Teach Yourself northern-dialect Chinook Jargon!
And join free Zoom sessions…currently Sundays @ 9AM!
Contact me for the Zoom link.
