An addition to the post-frontier “Chinook invitations” file:

“Nootka Jargon” is the only widely recognized name for the Nuučaan’uł pidgin, in the linguistic and historical literature.

I’ve previously written that Pacific Islanders and African-Americans were seen as “blue men” by Indigenous Pacific Northwesterners…

Pay heed to a keen observer: “In the Pathless West with Soldiers, Pioneers, Miners, and Savages” by Frances Elizabeth Herring (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1904)

hayu masi to henli (Henry Zenk) for sending this along…

wəx̣t hayu masi kʰapa chup henli (thanks much, again, to Henry Zenk) for noticing & sharing this exquisite bit of what I call linguistic archaeology…

I’m only going to focus on the Chinuk Wawa here, but I’m including the full 1906 article on BC Indigenous assertion of rights that remained unextinguished, since the colonial days of Sir James… Continue reading →

“Hybrid denizens”–! Why, that’s got Chinuk Wawa written all over it–!

In a pretty cryptic note on the editor’s gossip page, we’re treated to the suggested lyrics for a Jargon ditty.

In my PhD dissertation on Kamloops Chinuk Wawa, on page 134 I noted the rarity of words for ‘when?’.