Author Archive

1859-1864: Macfie on Vancouver Island

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In the middle of BC frontier times, Matthew Macfie wrote “Vancouver Island and British Columbia: Their History, Resources, and Prospects” (London: published by the delightful and Oxford-becommaed Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green,… Continue reading

Adding a wrinkle to French blankets

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We’ve discussed blankets plenty in this space…

What do you think?

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On Memorial Day, the US holiday devoted to remembrance, let’s get into your thoughts.

McArthur’s “Oregon Geographic Names” (part 5 of 8)

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PART 5 of this mini-series on CW place names from McArthur’s important book picks up with a name that might sound as if it were from Florida or Ohio…

What is to be done?

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An idiomatic phrase that I think should be taught more…

Are “resumptive pronouns” an Active- (non-Stative) verb marker? No.

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It occurred to me to wonder this.

How sexy is ɬíx(-)ɬix?

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My previous comments about the uncertain gender of Victoria Howard’s monstrous antagonist in her tale “Just One His Leg, Just One His Arm” lead me to talk about sexual behavior.

Álta: a note on Perfective aspect

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There’s much more to be said about verbal “aspect” in Chinuk Wawa … here’s a bit …

1792: The surprising actual distribution of Nootka Jargon (Meany 1957 edition of Vancouver 1801)

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The single important fact to stress is, we’ve known almost nothing about the late-1700s “Nootka Jargon”!

1792 and 1794: More evidence against wide Nootka Jargon use (Vancouver 1802)

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Today’s information source is “A narrative or journal of a voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and round the world: Performed in the years 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795″ credited… Continue reading