CHINOOK JARGON AS A BC ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE: The following is an argument I wrote up as a grad student, a few years back. It’s keenly relevant now, eh?
Back when Steilacoom (in Washington Territory) was still a major metropolis, it was a conduit for information on — and relating to — the new Fraser River gold rush in BC.
Publicly posted on the web is a wonderful research tool that’s new to me…
A well-known Chinuk Wawa dictionary in the frontier era gets a reception that typifies Settlers’ privileged attitudes.
I got a chuckle from the Chinook Jargon newspaper…
Of course you know “Dutch” always meant “German” in America back then.
Now an ultra-short note.
I wonder if this enthusiast about Victoria, British Columbia got his info about Chinook Jargon dictionaries from a speaker of CJ? 😁😁…
Among the takeaways from today’s find are a couple of senior Catholic officials who supposedly were Chinook Jargon pen pals with Indigenous people of BC…
Early settler Henry L. Yesler’s death is reported in the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer of December 18, 1892, page 8, columns 1-2, in an article headlined “House of Mourning”, with Chinook Jargon prominent.
Taking a sec to point out something I’ve not said out loud before…
