Getting right to today’s idea, the fur trade and otters were way less important in the Pacific NW by the 1890s era of the Kamloops Wawa newspaper. So the old Chinuk Wawa words for… Continue reading →

And over at the PRI.org site, another interview with that fella named after an early Northwest explorer about an early Northwest language. (David Douglas Robertson PhD.) (Chinuk Wawa.) A fun little read.

Today I’m sharing more humor in Jargon. Via Father Le Jeune’s reporting, Bishop Grouard has told us about life among the Crees and the Inuit; now the Athabaskan Hare Indians of Canada’s Northwest Territories:  … Continue reading →

Jack Nisbet the other day was asking me how early Chinook Jargon was used in the Spokane area. I happened to find Randall Harold Kemp’s book, “A Half-breed Dance, and Other Far Western Stories: Mining… Continue reading →

Yay, more donkeys! Sometimes in his Kamloops Wawa newspaper, Father Le Jeune would try to teach people who knew “Chinuk pipa” shorthand some English. Like any teacher, L.J. gave some lessons that we have to… Continue reading →

I promised this when I showed you “Life among the Crees, in Chinuk Wawa“, and I deliver. Visiting Kamloops Indian Reserve, Monsignor Grouard OMI of Athabasca is lecturing about his business trips. Now… Continue reading →

So this linguist guy showed up on the radio all over the place again, yesterday.  It was on Public Radio International. The show called “PRI’s The World” is running a series, “Name Tag”, about… Continue reading →

Thus my website improves 🙂 I’ve written about how Chinuk Wawa words for “mule” include some of the rare Spanish loans into this language, mulo and mula.  The kinda hard to use, but deeply valuable,… Continue reading →

(Tune in next time for Life among the Inuit, in Chinuk Wawa.  I promise!) Sometimes you can’t find the sun, but the fish won’t leave you alone: Life among the Crees, as told… Continue reading →

From the Education & Entertainment Department: A Chinuk Wawa ad for stoves & equipment. It advises readers to write to McLennan & McFeely in Vancouver, as usual specifying how to write their address not in shorthand.… Continue reading →