2 reasons why that atrocious Chinook housing name might have been in good faith
The other day, I reported on an (unfortunately) atrocious try at a Chinook Jargon name for a Vancouver, BC housing development.
Here are 2 reasons, on the other hand, for imagining that it was concocted in good faith:
The same organization, the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society, shows one of its housing operations on its website, with two signs showing, “Kloshe House” (normal CJ for ‘good house’) and “Hyui Kahp Hos”.
That second name isn’t Jargon that we know of, but it may have included an attempt at the old-fashioned spelling hyiu for “lots of” in CJ, plus kahp meaning something I can’t figure out, plus hos being perhaps “house”. That last bit, I want to point out, resembles the Indigenous suffix meaning “house” in Nuučaan̓uɬ of Vancouver Island.
So you see, someone may have perceived a similarity between Chinuk Wawa and another Indigenous language there.
Once I’ve had that thought, I can see how the name I’ve been criticizing, “Ho’-kee-melh Kloshe Lum“, may have struck a chord with someone acquainted with Hul’q’umi’num or a closely related Salish language of Vancouver and the nearby islands — where lélum’ is the similar-sounding word for ‘house’.
Still, however, I stick with my point that you need to hire an actual fluent speaker of a language if you want to have an actual fluent name in that language…see below!
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…
Contact me for the Zoom link.
