Author Archive

hayáaas, kʰə́əəltəs, íiinatay, & Webster on a bridge: Of new languages there are many

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This article from 1906 makes some solid points about Chinook Jargon’s status as (a fashionable idea then) an international language….

Lillooet…A Woman Tenderfoot in Bear Country

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From the same area and time as “The Story of a Stump“, where hunters found a Chinuk Pipa message in the woods beyond Lillooet…

1911: Celebrate for Chief Seattle

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The beginning of Chief Seattle Days in Suquamish naturally involved a Chinuk Wawa speech…

Shoalwater Bay stories, Part 2

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Today: Acelan’s Story. It’s quite possibly a true newly discovered wrinkle in an old story. 

Spokane Romance in New Novel: A pair of discoveries!

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A Spokane newspaper article indirectly leads us to two new discoveries about Chinuk Wawa!

Took big city by storm

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Just a morsel of Chinook Jargon here…

Indian rites over body of old chief

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A lot of confusion in a small paragraph about the Puyallup tribe…

Shoalwater Bay stories, Part 1

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Here is a traditional, and I expect true, story about the origin of southwest Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula and Shoalwater Bay. 

1855 Indian war: The Puget Sound Rangers know when they’re being cussed at in Jargon

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I ask you: if you were a freaked-out Settler under armed Indigenous attack, how well would you understand what your enemies were hollering at you in Chinuk Wawa?

1893: A quick study at Spences Bridge…a kid from Ontario?

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Here’s one of the many nice examples of people quickly learning to read Chinuk Pipa back in the day…I challenge you to match their success!