2 Algonquian languages in shorthand

[David Robertson]

The reason De Volpi's (1973) comments are puzzling is that they're
inaccurate.  Morice's system wasn't based on stenography (shorthand) which
he apparently disdained.  Le Jeune's system was.

Morice's syllabics, which indeed look much like Cree / Athapaskan / Eskimo
ones that had already been successful, might've been applied to other
languages than Carrier..., but Morice's personality irritated his
superiors to an extreme, so their eventual decision to have Le Jeune
devise a different writing system for BC indigenous languages was a
foregone conclusion.

A nice by-product of the choice of shorthand instead of syllabics:
Shorthand is much easier to use in writing clusters of consonants, which
are pretty common in Chinuk (examples: TKOP white, PULAKLI night, SKIN
skin) and even more so in Salish languages (examples from Le Jeune's
Thompson shorthand: PTINOSIM thoughts, STLOSKALUX humans, SHITLKRIT day).
Very little provision was made for consonant clusters in the syllabic
writing systems, because sequences of consonants aren't so frequent in
those other languages.  This was one advantage set forth at the official
meeting that chose the shorthand over the syllabics, and while it's a real
one, I can't help suspecting it was a way of politely getting Morice out
of everyone's hair.

See David Mulhall's biography of Morice, "Will to Power" (UBC Press 1986),
a pretty good read because of the Father's outrageous behavior and sheer
intellectual brilliance.  William J. Poser's writings have touched a bit
on Morice's career as well.

--Dave R.



On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 16:38:26 -0700, Leanne Riding <riding at TIMETEMPLE.COM>
wrote:

>I found a comment by C. De Volpi in 1873 on the shorthand, which relates
>the Stuart Lake Mission at Fort Saint James with Kamloops. What puzzles
>me about the comment is that the examples of Morice's script that I've
>seen, do not look like the Kamloops wawa-script.
>
>-----
>
>"1885..."
>"...Father Morice, at the Stuart Lake mission, invented a system of
>writing, based on the French method of stenography, and taught it to the
>Indians. In the south of the province Father Le Jeune applied the same
>system to the Chinook jargon. Some Indians were known to have learned to
>read in two evenings."
>
>De Volpi, Charles Patrick. British Columbia : a pictorial record,
>historical prints and illustrations of the province of British Columbia,
>Canada, 1778-1891. Don Mills, Ontario: Longman Canada Ltd., 1973. 17.
>
>-----
>
>Hey, I was just poking around just now and I found something else. I
>will type, sorry bout typos
>
>---
>
>"The first press in Alberta was brought to Lac La Biche by the Rev. J.
>B. M. Grouard of the Oblate Order. While on a visit to France for the
>sake of his health this missionary learned the art of printing. He had
>syllabic type specially designed for him in Brussels, and returned to
>Western Canada with press and type in 1877. Father Grouard was stationed
>at Lac La Biche from 1878 to 1888, with the exception of the year in
>France and three years at Dunvegan. According to Father Duchaussois is
>his "Mid Ice and Snow", Grouard at Lac La Biche printed books in five
>languages, namely, Montagnais, Hare-skin, Loucheux (Squint-eyes), Castor
>and Cree."
>
>"The first volume off the Lac La Biche press was a new edition of Bishop
>Faraud's selections from the Bible in the Chipewyan language entitled
>histoire saint in montagnais. As one of his apprentice printers the
>clerical director of the press had no less a person that the bishop
>translater; Grouard was also assisted by Father Blanchet. This volume
>appeared in 1878, Alberta's first imprint."
>
>"Although Bishop Grouard in his autobiography speaks of several books
>coming off the press, I have bibliographical descriptions of only three
>others besides the Histoire Sainte. The first was a 232-page prayer book
>in Cree printed in 1883. Three years later the priest ran off Prieres,
>cantiques et catechisme en langue montagnaise ou chipewayan. In 1888
>Prieres, catechisme et cantiques dans la langue des Indiens castors was
>printed as a 120-page book Father Grouard translated the latter
>collection while stationed at Dunvegan. He was aided by a young Indian
>who conversed fluently in both Cree and Beaver. All four of the Lac La
>Biche imprints were in syllabic script modified from Evan's Cree
>syllabary to fit the Chipewyan and Beaver languages."
>
>And then it says that Grouard took the press by dog team to Fort
>Chipewyan in 1888, and it was still in use in 1897, and ended up in St.
>Albert.
>
>Maccagno, Mike. "Early Mission Presses in Alberta: Taken from an article
>by Bruce Peel, Librarian Emeritus, University of Alberta." Rendezvous :
>Notre Dame des Victoires. Lac La Biche : Lac La Biche Mission Historical
>Preservation Society. Undated, no page numbers. The article can be read
>at the website Our Roots / Nos Racines.
>
>
>On Friday, July 9, 2004, at 12:13 , David Robertson wrote:
>
>> Here are 2 more Native languages that got written in Kamloops Wawa
>> shorthand: Cree and Montagnais.  I've found at least 4 items in Cree
>> and 1
>> in Montagnais.
>>
>> If there's someone who knows Cree or Montagnais and would like to work
>> with me to decipher the materials I've found, let me know.
>>
>> Might make a good little paper for the Algonquian conference.
>>
>> --Dave R.
>>
>> To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond
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>>
>
>-- Leanne (http://timetemple.com)
>
>To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately
to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!

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