Sign component in Jargon

[Ross Clark (FOA DALSL)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David D. Robertson [mailto:ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, 11 December 2003 7:15 a.m.
> To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Re: Sign component in Jargon
>
>
> Tlus son, kanawi tilikom,
>
> I'm reminded of a verb I recently found for the first time in
> "Kamloops Wawa" Jargon, /sain/.  This would be pronounced the
> same as English "sign."  Its meaning is clear from the
> context of the following longish anecdote from Medicine Hat,
> Alberta*, Canada:
>
> /Drit aias ukuk kan [ship],
> wik kata nsaika makmak sitkom;
> naika kwash pus chako masachi;
> pi trin stop kopa iht stishon,
> pi nsaika nanich iawa tanas saia,
> iht Sawash man,
> ayu pint iaka siahush:
> naika SAIN iaka pus chako pi iaka chako,
> pi nsaika patlach ukuk kan ship kopa iaka.
> Nsaika wawa kopa iaka,
> pi wik iaka komtaks,
> wik iaka komtaks Chinuk,
> wik iaka komtaks Inglish,
> pi wik kata nsaika komtaks iaka wawa,
> klunas Blakfut ukuk Sawash./
>
> "This can of ?chips was really big,
> and there was no way we could eat even half of it;
> I was afraid it would go bad;
> but the train stopped at some station,
> and we saw there a short way off,
> an Indian man,
> with his face all painted:
> I TOLD HIM IN SIGN LANGUAGE to come and he came,
> and we gave that can of ?chips to him.
> We spoke to him,
> but he didn't understand,
> he didn't know Chinook,
> he didn't know English,
> and we couldn't understand his speech,
> maybe this Indian was a Blackfoot."
>
> It's interesting to see this word used in a Jargon-only
> setting.  The writer expects his audience (which was largely
> First Nations people whose familiarity with English at the
> time of writing wasn't necessarily great) to understand the
> word.  It isn't clear whether the writer (a French
> priest) and his companions (a Shuswap and an Okanagan, both
> chiefs) were using an existing sign language or just making
> fairly obvious gestures; the question of the role of sign
> language in the Kamloops Jargon environment deserves more
> investigation.
>
> Incidentally the above passage tends to confirm that the
> Rocky Mountains were approximately the eastern limit of Jargon use.
>
> *Was Alberta still the Northwest Territory in August 1904?

Yes, the Province of Alberta came into existence in 1905.
What kind of "chips" would have been in a can in 1904?
Could this possibly be "sheep"? Ie tinned mutton?

Ross Clark