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<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=5><b>Internet maintains link to past
with Chinook jargon <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">Simplified language helped Northwest tribes
in efforts to talk with early U.S. fur traders and settlers</b> <br>
<i>Sunday, June 28 1998</i> <br>
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By Courtenay Thompson of The Oregonian staff <br>
</font>Chinook jargon, the Native American trading language that once
linked Northwest tribes and early U.S. fur traders and settlers, is
finding a new life -- on the Internet. <br>
Several non-Native American Web users interested in the language and the
history of the Northwest have created Web sites that post jargon history
and dictionaries on the Internet. Some e-mail one another in jargon and
are planning a Chinook jargon language conference in the fall. <br>
"There are several goals for our work," said Jeffrey Kopp , 43,
a Portlander of pioneer heritage who created one of the Web sites last
year. "Bringing attention to the Northwest is good. I think the
Native Americans deserve recognition and appreciation of their
culture." <br>
Chinook jargon is a simplified language derived primarily from Chinookan
languages once spoken by Native Americans living near the mouth of the
Columbia River, said Henry Zenk , a scholar living in Portland who wrote
his 1984 dissertation at the University of Oregon on Chinook jargon on
the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation. <br>
The language was used by fur traders in the early 19th century and later
by settlers. French and English words became part of the Chinook lexicon;
for example, the jargon word labooti is from the French la bouteille for
"bottle," and the jargon word doctin is from the English
"doctor." <br>
Tony Johnson, language specialist for the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde, whose ancestors were Chinook, says Native Americans throughout the
Northwest used Chinook jargon long before whites arrived as a way to
communicate among tribes that did not speak the same language. He said
that some academics have disputed this but that he thinks it was used
extensively in the Pacific Northwest by his ancestors, who were avid
traders. <br>
Johnson is helping the Grand Ronde tribe teach Chinook jargon to a new
generation of tribal members. Jargon became the predominant Indian
language spoken on the Grand Ronde reservation in the mid-19th century.
The Native Americans moved to that reservation came from a number of
different bands and tribes and spoke at least eight different languages,
so people used Chinook jargon. <br>
He said he's glad to see interest from non-Native Americans in jargon.
"In the long run, getting them to understand the original version of
it, they'll benefit from it, too," Johnson said. "Seeing that
it is a contribution from Native Americans, it is an unusual thing in the
history of the Northwest." <br>
Words like Skookumchuk, a Washington river, or Tukwila, a city near
Seattle, are Chinook jargon words. <br>
Or the word for "chief": Tyee. "Everywhere you go there's
a Tyee Motel," Johnson said, "and that's Chinook." <br>
Zenk said the use of Chinook jargon began to dramatically drop around the
turn of the century, as English became the predominate language on and
off the reservation. Today, just a few elders speak jargon at Grand
Ronde. <br>
The Internet address for a gateway to the Chinook jargon Web sites is:
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/~tenaswawa/" eudora="autourl"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" color="#000080"><u>http://www.geocities.com/~tenaswawa/</a></u></font>
The site has links to other Chinook jargon-related Web sites. <br>
<br>
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<font color="#FF0000"><div align="center">
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<br>
</font><font face="Parisian BT" color="#800000"><b> David Gene Lewis<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><br>
P.O. Box 3086<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><br>
Eugene, OR 97403, USA<br>
Home 541.684.9003 Cell 541.954.2466<br>
Fax 541.346.0668<br>
<br>
</font></b><font face="Parisian BT" color="#008000">talapus@kalapuya.com,</font><font face="Parisian BT" color="#800000"><b> </font></b><font face="Parisian BT" color="#008000">coyotez@darkwing.uoregon.edu,<br>
</font><font face="Parisian BT" color="#FF0000"><a href="http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~coyotez" eudora="autourl">http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~coyotez</a><br>
<a href="http://www.kalapuya.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.kalapuya.com</a><br>
<a href="http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~coyotez" eudora="autourl">http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~coyotez</a><br>
<br>
</font><font color="#800080">Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, Oregon<br>
</font><font color="#FF0000">><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<br>
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