1866: “A Songish Legend” poem (the Chinook original)
Praise where praise is due: this early PNW doggerel poem manages to rhyme in Chinook Jargon!
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1808-1810: The wreck of the Sv. Nikolai
One surviving travel narrative from early PNW contact times is not about trading, but about a year and a half of terror.
Cashman 1900 [1899] and Ahtna Chinuk Wawa / Pidgin English
In south-central Alaska, Ahtna Athabaskan people’s Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa) was as mixed with English as we’ve seen in previously known sources. {Clickable link there.} Stick Indians (Ahtnas), Plate 122 of the Report… Continue reading
1862: “A Civilized Song of the Solomons” doggerel verse
There once existed a distinctly Pacific Northwest literary genre that was emblematic of its place and time.
How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with Northern Jargon (Part 2C of 2)
Last installment here — again, thanks for bearing with me during a week of illness. Klaska klatwa saxali kopa mitxwit stik, They climbed the standing trees, pi kopa sahali lamotai, pi kaltash and… Continue reading
How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with Northern Jargon (Part 2B of 2)
I’ve been sick for several days, so I’ll just drop this here. Kopa ixt mitxwit stik nsaika chako From one standing tree we got klaxawiam, pi wixt kopa ixt mitxwit stik pitiful, and… Continue reading
How Father St. Onge’s “Chinuk Pipa” texts link early-creolized with Northern Jargon (Part 2A of 2)
Father Louis-Napoléon St. Onge’s “History of the Old Testament”, written in Chinuk Pipa alphabet (“shorthand”) and published in BC’s Kamloops Wawa newspaper in the 1890s, is one of the many “missing links” between southern and northern Chinuk Wawa.
Circa 1900: Mixed CPE + CW in Idaho
Chinese Pidgin English & Chinuk Wawa spotted in Idaho — a rare bird!
CW in early Washington state numismatics
A historical coin from Taholah on the Quinault Indian Reservation of the Washington coast… Both images from TokenCatalog.com …carries a well-known Chinuk Wawa family name from the Indigenous community. “Good for 5¢ in… Continue reading
1850s: Tyee John hias cumtux
What would you think of seeing samples of how southwest Oregon Natives talked Jargon before they were forced to the brand-new Grand Ronde Reservation?