Go commando! How bare can an imperative get in Chinuk Wawa?
One of the easiest parts of Chinook Jargon grammar to learn are the simple commands…
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1896, Seattle: Civil Service exam
Just the facts, ma’am.
A note on ‘mid-July’ in Quinault Salish
In historically documented Chinuk Wawa, and in Quinault Salish, there’s just one calendar month that gets any particular verbal reference: July.
‘HALF’ as an Indigenous metaphor
We’re familiar with a number of Chinuk Wawa expressions built from sitkum (‘half’), used metaphorically, to describe a noun.
Pre-1879, Montana Territory: In the land of the Blackfeet
Whose reminiscence of Montana Territory is this? What year does it refer to?
🤣 “Chinook” and “schnook”?!
The always valuable ADS-L email discussion list made me aware this week of a post-frontier US English variant on “chinook” salmon.
1898, Oregon: City slickers from the Willamette Valley!
Now here’s a twist!
1877: “A Parody on Jordan” doggerel
A longtime popular song got repurposed into a soldiers’ ditty in the Pacific Northwest, with some Chinook Jargon involved.
1911: Congress of Races, with Squamish delegates
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day: One of the first broadly anti-racist meetings in the post-frontier era involved Chinuk Wawa…
1905: A known Jargon name for Mt. St. Helens!
For certain solid reasons, there are fewer place names in Chinuk Wawa than in other tribal languages…