Proof of pidginization of a Mexican Spanish word in BC Chinook Jargon
The word mula in Spanish means a female mule; a male one is mulo.
This isn’t the first time I’ve pointed out how Northern Chinook Jargon has Spanish words in it.
Kluchmin mula (image credit: ehorses)
But just now, I want to show a snappy demonstration that once a word leaves its original language and becomes part of a pidgin language (such as CJ), it starts behaving in new ways.
Here’s a passage that uses the Northern CJ word mula for ‘mule(s)’.
You’ll see that a distinction is made between mula and kluchmin mula.
Seeing as how kluchmin is ‘woman; female’, this means mula is any gender of mule in Northern CJ.
Quite different from the Mexican Spanish source.
…iaka patlach <300>
‘…he gave 300’tala pi kwinam aias tlus kot; pi wiht
‘dollars and five beautiful coats; and’<300> tala pi kwinam aias tlus kot pus
‘another $300 and five beautiful coats to’lolo kopa iaka papa, pi <10> mula pus lolo
‘take to his father, and 10 mules to carry’tlus iktas, pi wiht <10> kluchmin mula…
‘nice things, and also 10 mare mules…
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!
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