As a linguist I sometimes remind myself: It’s not just new words that grow out of cultural contacts. Trade goods, too, can be potent motivators for different groups of people to communicate with each… Continue reading
‘Protestant’ in Father St Onge’s dictionary manuscript that I’m working with is Poshton-plie, Pashten-plie. Literally ‘American prayer’. (Image credit: The Verdant Christian) Beyond the obvious appropriateness of distinguishing from the Canadian priestsʹ Catholicism… Continue reading
Claimed: A word that I found in the Lushootseed Salish dictionary, s-pikyud, most likely is a survival from Chinuk Wawa. The word represents English picayune, a coin technically worth 6.25 cents in the early United… Continue reading
The Chinook Jargon word iktas for a person’s ‘things; property’ — especially your ‘clothes’ — is well-known, even in Pacific Northwest English. (Image credit: Iktas.me) (Don’t be misled by Theodore Winthrop constantly translating this as… Continue reading
Dedicated affectionately to the late Bob Austerlitz. “Local Lyrics, and Miscellaneous Poems” by Mart Taylor (1858, Hutchings & Rosenfield, San Francisco, California). An Italian immigrant and composer of the hit song “California Humbugs“,… Continue reading
A Chinuk Wawa expression unique to the Kamloops, BC area is: kitl sil, literally “kettle cloth”, as in this interesting passage: CORPUS CHRISTI AT SHUSHWAP Alta wik saia mokst Sondi naika… Continue reading
(Image credit: RedBubble.com) The structure, NOUN PHRASE[type X] NOUN PHRASE[type X] seems to me more common in Jargon than what an English-speaker like me would expect, NOUN PHRASE[type X] pi … Continue reading
There is a Chinuk Wawa word nixwa that people have translated in a confusing variety of ways. (Image credit: SlidePlayer.com.) To list the earliest ones: ‘let’ (1847, Joel Palmer) ‘how is it’ (1853, The… Continue reading
It’s a while since I shared a little grammar lesson, so start your egg timer: (Image credit: Orthodox Christian Network.) aias tlus iaka siahus Barbara very good her face Barbara “Barbara’s face was… Continue reading
More tricky treats for your October: (Image credit: The Daily Coyote) A single strange word in somebody’s old field notebook doesn’t have to have much significance. Sometimes a mistake is a mistake is… Continue reading
