Loanwords into BC Interior Languages: Métis Traces
Continuing our exploration of Métis connections to the Pacific Northwest landscape, let’s feature several nouns from the interior of British Columbia.
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1879: Capt. Jemmy Jones
I’ve been to the one on Tillicum Road, and I’ve seen baby strollers on the ice, but never a rascally rogue like Jemmy Jones!
1787-1788: Colnett, and no existing NW Coast pidgin
A British commander travels much of the Pacific Northwest coast in the interest of fur trading…
1892: “The Approach of Spring” poem
Ah, that rarest of creatures, a poem in Chinuk Wawa that rhymes! (Scroll to the end for an extraordinary “back-translation” challenge.)
1895: How to say trout in Chinook
Voici l’anglais avec son sang-froid habituel!
1897: Yaka sick
In 1897, a number of Northwest US newspapers were passing around a supposed quotation of a big political personality, and embellishing it…
“Coquelle Thompson, Athabaskan Witness”
From the unusually fine biography of someone whose life spanned from early contact times past World War 2 (circa 1848-1946), we learn some valuable Chinuk Wawa information.
Joaquin writes to Al Tozier
Here’s a nice connection between our beloved Jargon and a celebrity of the late Western frontier…
Interplay of definiteness and verbal aspect
In previous articles here on my site, I’ve pointed out “definiteness effects” with CW’s resumptive yaka and ɬaska.
1909: Spokane’s A.H. Simmons knows lots of languages
Busman’s holiday much?