estimate(s) of numbers of CJ speakers?

[Duane Pasco]

Sally......
	Do you mean speakers, or someone who learned from a book?
Duane Pasco
	P.S. That sounds arrogant, doesn't it. Sorry, I didn't mean it that  
way. It's just that there is a difference.
	When I wrote my dictionary in the late 80's I couldn't find but two  
persons beside myself who learned it as a child in the pre-war years  
and could actually speak it.
	A few folks seem to be able to get pretty good with it by reading  
Tenas Wawa, which is full of conversation. They learn to think in  
Jargon instead of trying to put sentences together by looking at the  
dictionary.
	Anyway, to answer your question, I guess it comes down to qualifying  
what is meant by "speaking." I think there may be more in the States  
than in Canada, but I don't have a clue.

On Aug 4, 2009, at 7:37 PM, Sally Thomason wrote:

> Dear Chinook Listers,
>
> A student of mine is writing a paper on Chinook Jargon
> and wondering how many speakers of the language there
> are currently.  A 1990 census report he saw says 17
> (but that might've been just US speakers, and I assume
> there are more in Canada).  That number seems awfully
> low, given the vigorous revitalization efforts that have
> now been under way for some time.
>
> So...does anyone have an educated guess as to how many
> speakers there are now, in Canada + the US?
>
>    - Sally
>
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