Author Archive

1877: Please publish this warning in Chinook for Indians

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The Nez Perce War of 1877 was starting, and some Settlers felt “marked” by the Indigenous folks.

1895: The word “Siwash”

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One of the many newspaper pieces in the era speculating on the origin of this word that was well-known to PNW English speakers.

Culture lessons: Things Chinuk Wawa doesn’t do (Part 4: mamook’ing)

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Contrary to popular belief (among some Settlers and recent learners), you don’t need to put “mamook” before every verb!

1890: “The Pioneers of Polk” sing in Jargon

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Sounds like a great time was had at the first Polk County Pioneer Association reunion in 1890, the year the frontier closed.

Salish has lotsa possessives ∴ Chinuk Wawa syntax!

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Many peculiarities of Chinook Jargon grammar have attracted speculation by linguists…

Blankenship, “The Early History of Thurston County” (Part 5 of 5)

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Let’s finish up this mini-series with some bits of quoted Chinuk Wawa and humor …

1895: A variety of questions

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Now here’s a loaded question …

sík tə́mtəm ‘sorry’ from Salish?

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I noticed a Lower Chehalis Salish term, ɬə́č̓+sqʷələ̀m, meaning ‘heartburn, hangover’…

Boas 1892: Many discoveries in a short article (Part 12: muskrat)

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Image credit: Bionic Disco Towards a Jargon translation of “Muskrat Love”…😎

1895: Another Buchanan expert in Jargon…from Grand Ronde and Tulalip

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This Edwin Buchanan was the uncle of Charles Milton Buchanan, who preceded him as the physician at Tulalip Indian Reservation.