CW at Siletz

[Robert Kentta]

Chinook Wawa is still used at Siletz to some extent, though I doubt we have
a high degree of fluency in any current speakers. I grew up here at Siletz
listening to speakers who used Chinook words in english sentences and
Chinook mixed with SW Oregon Athapascan, as well as some phrases totally in
Chinook. I'm 41, My mother's generation all pretty much understood it, knew
and used quite a bit of vocabulary, but her mother's generation all spoke it
fairly well, and sang hymns at church in Chinook Wawa. The days of speakers
like Hoxie Simmons and Coquille Thompson left with that generation.

Today, we are focussing on Athapascan language efforts.

Robert Kentta
CTSI-Cultural Resources Director


----- Original Message -----
From: "Francisc Czobor" <fericzobor at YAHOO.COM>
To: <CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 5:19 AM
Subject: CW at Siletz


> Klahawya siks !
>
> Two question regarding Chinuk Wawa at Siletz:
>
> 1. Is CW still spoken at Siletz? I know from the website of the
> Confederated Tribes of Siletz that they have a Powwow there called "Nesika
> Illahee"...
>
> 2. I understood that the short proclitic pronouns (na-, ma- , ya- etc.)
are
> a characteristic trait of Grand Ronde CW. But I notice that such forms are
> used sometimes also by Coquille Thompson, the Upper Coqille Athabaskan
from
> Siletz that provided a text ("The origin of death") to Jacobs, for
instance:
> ya-mak-iXbu uk-ili'i "he had the ground covered over"
> ya-Ladwa-nanitsh "he went to see him"
> kagwa ya-wawa kaba-Coyote-Jim "That is how he spoke to Coyote Jim"
> lili Coyote-Jim ya-k'ilEba-wawa "after a while Coyote Jim replied"
> kagwa Coyote-Jim ya-wawa kaba-uk-men "That is the way Coyote Jim spoke to
> the man"
> wel ya-Ladwa kaba... "Now then he went yonder..."
> (in the whole text, the short form appears only for the 3rd person,
> singular: ya-)
> This means that the use of short proclitic pronouns is (or was) not
limited
> to Grand Ronde. Probably it was characteristic for the Lower Columbia CW,
> or for Oregon CW ? But it was used to a larger extent at Grand Ronde
(isn't
> it?)
>
> Francisc
>
> To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately
to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!

To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!