I’ve written about how various words “grammaticalized” in Chinook Jargon, developing from original literal senses such as “make” and “come”, into prefixes and such.

For ‘thank you’, either plain old masi or else hayu masi seem to be the rule.     The latter is characteristic of current Grand Ronde usage. I’m not sure whether that implies that it may be… Continue reading →

From an article about hopes for a great city of East Portland (EPDX?), Oregon, an inspiring poem:

The other day, my readers saw an obscure Jargon word used for ‘to think’: “pittuck“.

Announced in the Seattle Star newspaper on April 14, 1920, Mabel Cleland’s “Star Seattle Story Book” was a Chinook Jargon treat, free for the asking. It seems to have run as a serial for a… Continue reading →

This is an interesting version of a well-known Chinuk Wawa song, from an interesting source.

On “mamook law“: this involves some linguistic archaeology work.

Polaklie Illahee (Land of Darkness): Identity and Genocidal Culture in Oregon.

I know, I know…those 19th-century book titles…you’ll marvel at this one.