Sampson, "Indians of Skagit County"

[David Robertson]

Sampson, [Chief] Martin J.  1972.  Indians of Skagit County.  Mt. Vernon, 
WA: Skagit County Historical Society.  

Page 9: "Inland people were known to the pioneers as 'Stick' 
Indians.  'Stick,' though of English origin, is a Chinook Jargon word 
meaning wood, logs, or forest."  

Pages 60-61: Good summary of the "Prophet of the Skagit Valley," Johnny 
Stick.  I mention him for two reasons.  I know some of you are very 
interested in the Native prophets of his time, circa 1866.  (Did some of 
them preach in Jargon?)  And his surname is from Chinook Jargon.  His 
Lushootseed name is spelled Ha-hei-balth in this book.  

Page 64: One of the humorous stories said to be told by Indians to each 
other is presented this way:

"Scene: The Pressentin store at Marblemount in the early days.

"An elderly Indian is buying supplies and the dialog runs thus.  

" 'Sugah.'  A pound of sugar is weighed for which he carefully pays.

" 'Sugah.'  A repeat performance of the above transaction until several 
pounds are purchased.  (This way he can estimate the amount and keep the 
record straight.)

" 'Anything else?'

" 'Cosho.'  (Salt pork.)  He buys this one pound at a time and pays for 
each as he did the sugar.  Then he makes a motion with his hands, 
indicating that he is out of chickamin (money).  With a poker face, but a 
twinkle in his eye, he asks, 'Jawbone?'

" 'Jawbone,' the storekeeper nods.

"He starts buying all over again.  When he is through he asks, 'How much?'

" 'Two dollars.'

"Perhaps a month passes by without a sight of him.  Then one day the honest 
old fellow walks in, cancels his debt by laying two dollars on the counter, 
then proceeds to buy again as descsribed."

It may be of interest that this is another story of an elderly person 
represented as having limited command of Jargon.  (Compare with "This Isle 
of Guemes" in the message I just sent.)  

I'm also interested to see the word "jawbone" (credit) in a Jargon context 
here, just as it was used really frequently around Kamloops.  Up there I 
find it in dozens of letters written by Native people.  It's a good 
reminder of the kind of English that usually interacted with Jargon: 
Informal.  Nonstandard.  Spoken, not written.  

This reminder applies to all pidgins and creoles.  Informality, 
nonstandardization, and orality are the same qualities found for example in 
the French that influenced Jargon, as well as Haitian and other French 
creoles.

This is good to keep in mind when we read even eyewitness accounts of 
Jargon use: If they're in published books, there is a huge likelihood 
they've been sanitized, 'corrected,' and given 'right' spellings.  At the 
very least, the English, or Jargon words from English, that were used are 
likely to have been made more 'proper' than what was actually said.  

There's even a definite tendency for many writers to use standardized 
spellings for purely Jargon words, copying what they'd seen in published 
dictionaries.  I sometimes wonder whether English speakers who wrote 
eyewitness accounts of Jargon use may have applied their prescriptivist 
impulses to Jargon itself, presenting it as being 'more grammatical' 
according to God knows what standard.  

It's no coincidence that only in unpublished sources do you find certain 
English-derived Jargon terms, like "shit lamachin" for a laxative, which is 
in Father Edward Griva's manuscript dictionary.  
 
--Dave

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