Author Archive

“Kladawah” mystery solved

by

Thanks to Karla Elliott for finding an online copy of this book & sharing on the Facebook Chinook Jargon group!

Valuable words, Fort Nisqually, mid-1840s

by

This is some of the most carefully detailed phonetic documentation of Chinook Jargon in its earler days.

An obscure book we need to find…

by

Henry Derr Wiard Reynolds’s book “Kladawah” is said to exist in only one physical copy.

Tulalip, from My Heart

by

Here’s a post-frontier Native person from north of Seattle, telling about a stereotype of Indians that didn’t fit her…

Shaker prayer

by

Has anyone ever written about WHY Indian Shaker Churches use(d) Chinook Jargon?

“A River out of Eden”

by

Chinuk Wawa steadily draws the imagination of novelists…

So hílu (halo) *is* from Haida. Or?

by

Or, more accurately, from Pidgin Haida.

Spotted in the wild: CUMTUX sticker

by

Send me your photos of Chinuk Wawa “spotted in the wild”! I found this rock band sticker in downtown Spokane, WA, last summer: What do you think? qʰáta máyka tə́mtəm?

Spotted in the wild: LEMOLO poster

by

Send in your “spotted in the wild” photos of Chinuk Wawa! This one was snapped at the Bartlett music club in Spokane, WA, where the opening festivities featured rock band LEMOLO (‘wild’): Kahta… Continue reading

‘Thing’ = ‘genitals’: a Chinookan metaphor

by

Full credit to Sarah, Tony, and Henry for noting this Indigenous metaphor. It’s their thing.