FAQ - Chief Seattle speech

[lilandbr at scn.org]

>On Mon, 20 Jul 1998, Liland Brajant ROS' wrote:
>> story, and which makes me wonder whether the Lushootseed story is in =
some=20
>> way reflective of Babel or whether it is wholly independent (it's=20
>
>The same Mourning Dove book, "Coyote Stories", that I mentioned, tells
>examples of how Mourning Dove knew only those versions of some of her
>tribe's stories that were told after contact with Christians. =20
>
>For example, she sometimes uses the "pattern number" 3 =
(characteristically
>Christian:  think of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, or of the Father, the Son,
>and the Holy Spirit) instead of the traditional Colvile pattern number 5
>(compare Coyote's 5 "turd" advisers).
>
>Vi Hilbert's Lushootseed story could also have been influenced by =
contact
>with the alien religion.

Her stories consistently employ the Lushootseed "pattern number" 4,=20
particularly in the doing of things four times (cf. the [Christian??]=20
"third time's a charm" vs. [Druidic??] "four-leafed clover"), and she=20
frequently interpolates a comment such as "since in our culture things=20
always come in fours".  Of course, just because a culture has a=20
particular favorite "pattern number" (or set of numbers), there's no=20
*necessary* rule that other numbers must be avoided; it is possible to=20
use them (as, in Christian tradition, the *four* evangelists, or in=20
secular European tradition, the *four* directions/winds) either for=20
indigenous reasons or as a result of external influences. =20

As far as the Jargon goes, does anybody know what the dominant pattern=20
numbers of the Old Chinookan languages were, or of the Wakashan peoples?

Liland

--
 Liland Brajant Ros' * UEA-D, Seatlo Usono * FD Baptismo, AA, US-lit-ro
 204 N 39th St / Seattle WA 98103 Usono | tel 206-633-2434  /  Lernu la=20
    anglan -- la mikrosofta lingvo!  Cxiu jam parolas gxin!  / ;-{
Vizitu La Lilandejon : http://www.scn.org/~lilandbr/ (some English,too!)