Chilcotins represented as talking CW-English mix in 1895

[David Robertson]

There is a comparable mix of Chinuk Wawa with English, in Kamloops Wawa
#130 (July 1895), on page 100:

[Ignace Dick of Lillooet Meadows, BC {mentioned in a preceding English-
language section} was at High Bar showing off how he could read any
language in shorthand; Le Jeune specifies here that he read French,
English, Stó:lô & ?Thompson.  When he went back to where he was working,
Ignace sent a letter to High Bar, quoted here as being in an English-CW
mix:

“Yu want tu bit mi, pi yu kant bit mi.  Ai no ol Chinuk pipa.”

{“You want to beat me, but you can’t beat me.  I know all of the
shorthand.”  CSH translation is given for readers’ benefit.}  --Le Jeune
says the High Bar people were very amused by this, and compliments him
using a similar English-CW mix:

“Skukum wawa, Inas Dik, skukum wawa mai boi.”

{“Great words, Ignace Dick, great words my boy.”}]

--Dave R.


On Tue, 17 May 2005 18:09:55 -0400, David Robertson <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
wrote:

>So why are Chilcotin Indians represented as speaking a mix of Chinuk Wawa
>and English in an 1895 issue of Kamloops Wawa?  (To be exact, in the
>Sugarcane Tintin, a newspaper within Kamloops Wawa's issue #126 of March
>1895.)
>
>They say: "Halo, tanas man, wat is d matir?"  (Hello, young man, what is
>the matter?")
>
>And: "Ai don no, nsaika ilo komtaks maika kapho" (I don't know, we don't
>know your big brother [=Kamloops Wawa/the shorthand writing]).
>
>That last bit is a clue that these words are being put in their mouths, I
>think; the word kapho wasn't in noticeable use in that region.  It's a
>dictionary word.
>
>Is this for comic effect (Sugarcane Tintin was heavy on the humor),
>portraying Chilcotins as bad speakers of both Chinuk Wawa & English?
>
>Your ideas?
>
>--Dave R.
>
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