Author Archive

What “tum-tum” sounds like to English-speakers

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I always wondered what “rooty-toot-toots and rummy-tum=tums” are…

1884 Sacramento CPE: Ah Sing’s problem

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Historical cycles mutate how we interpret the written evidence of our past.

Mid-1880s: A Red River & Grand Ronde Métis signer of a letter in Chinuk Wawa

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Previously, thanks to the kind help of Dr. Henry Zenk (Grand Ronde Tribes), we’ve seen a petition in Grand Ronde Chinuk Wawa for the sainthood of the Indigenous woman Kateri Tekakwitha, sent in… Continue reading →

The French accent in “hlwima”

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In the Chinuk Pipa alphabet of BC, they write < hlwima > for ‘strange; other’.

1891 [1887]: Cultus Jim of Chelan, Washington, speaks about rights

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Joseph M. Snow (1850-1929), an immigrant of 1869, had a good memory for fluently spoken Chinuk Wawa, from his experiences with Native people in connection with the important question of land rights.

Tsilhqot’in CJ-English mix: A historian’s view

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This is some valuable thinking from a colleague of mine.

1924: More info about the “Kanaweesan” Tsimshian CW love song?

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Listen to a singer 100 years ago…and tell me if this is the famous “kʰánawi sán” song…

1883, Goldendale WA: From the faithful Lucy (a drag queen)

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How is today’s writer like sweet Betseyannspikes?

1948: BC oldtimers who speak Chinook: Names are named!

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This mid-century local colour piece managed to draw a number of surviving Chinuk Wawa speakers out of the woodwork.

1891, Vancouver BC: A stupid potlatch?!

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Points to the Vancouver paper, for introducing its report on a Native potlatch with the culturally perceptive description that itʹs a “festival which is of a semi-religious character”.