Chinook/ikta mamook

>From: "Scott E. Tyler" <styler at multicare.com>
>To: "'ironmtn at bigfoot.com'" <ironmtn at bigfoot.com>
>Subject: Chinook/ikta mamook
>Date: 	Mon, 28 Sep 1998 10:15:32 -0700
>X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2232.9)
>
>Mike,
>> Below is a note I sent to Dell Hymes.  It is a Chinook Song from Neah =
Bay
>> which I have made a provisional translation.  Any suggestions would be
>> appreciated.
>	Where does the word Sasquatch come from?  There is a Makah word
>which I dont know, but will try to find.  We usually used Sasquatch.
>> Scott Tyler =20
>>=20
>>=20
>> Dell,
>> NB is for Neah Bay, WA. =20
>> It was helpful to know it is possible that all the different =
permutations
>> of voiced, plain and glottalized existed for the same word in Chinook
>> spoken then and now depending on the tribe and location.  Thank you =
for
>> the Wasco-Wishram example. =20
>> In Makah the word for water is !chu-uck and salt water is !tupalth.  =
It is
>> possible CJ chuck came from Makah, but I suppose it is possible it =
could
>> go both ways.  In Nootka idiom it is said one has a 'heart of water' =
to
>> mean a lack of bravery.  I believe Jewitt noted this term.  Any way it=
 may
>> reasonable to say 'weak or a lack of bravery' in CJ as tumtum kahwa =
chuck
>> along with halo skookum as primary term.
>> I know several songs learned from tribal elders who were in their 80s =
when
>> they died.  They are social and bone game songs.  I have done sort of =
a
>> provisional translation and would like to run this by someone who =
knows
>> about CJ.  One song I call 'eekta mamook' is no doubt inspired by
>> intoxication with love and lab.  My father Bill Tyler is in his mid
>> seventies.  His grandparents were Bill and Sally.  They (Bill Tyler =
and
>> Sally Quedessa Tyler) use to sing this song in their younger days.  =
Nora
>> Barker as child or youth way back learned it from them and taught it =
to
>> me.  Old Bill was Ozette and Sally was from !tsuyas on the Makah
>> Reservation.  Would you be interested in helping me refine the
>> translation, and do some English to Chinook or vice versa.  Or just
>> playing with the language to make poetry.  As a song it is difficult =
to
>> tell where the sentence ends.  I have a beat up cassette tape =
recording
>> made of Nora singing which was made in the late 60s or early 70s.  =
Some
>> Makah songs use Nootkan terms, kwagulth, Chinook also.  Maybe it was =
more
>> sacred that way. =20
>> Here is eekta mamook.  It is hard to tell where a sentence ends and =
where
>> one begins.  I tried to group where it seems to have meaning.  In the =
song
>> the alta repeats as alta alta so it is difficult to tell if the alta
>> belongs to the term or sentence before or the term or sentence after.
>> This could be for emphasis (alta alta as in really now) or maybe as a
>> filler to for aesthetics in a poem or song.  Who knows.  Below, the
>> Chinook is separated into units of meaning.  In truth the lines run
>> together in the song.  And I tried to represent the song phonetically =
the
>> same way it was taught to me.  I use the International phonetic =
alphabet
>> for writing NW Indian languages but this type writer cannot do it.  =
eekta
>> is ikta,  heeloo is halo, kwansim is kwanesom, tloosh is kloosh, tom =
is
>> tum,=20
>> chakoo is chako, yootl is youlk or something like that,  kwas is !kwas=
 and
>> is glottalized. Don't know if the words were distorted by regional =
dialect
>> or for the sing song quality of the music.  Makah will soften glottal
>> stops is songs because it is prettier when done that way.  One old guy
>> pronounced youtl as you!tl lh, but definitely the tl when sung is not
>> glottalized. =20
>>=20
>>   		eekta mamook mika !kwas nika
>> 		(What makes you afraid/avoid me?)
>> 	=09
>> 		heeloo mika kumtaks
>> 		(You don't understand)
>>=20
>> 		kwansim nika mamook tloosh tom tom alta
>> 		(Always/forever I make (you) happy now)
>>=20
>> 		alta mika chakooyoutl tom tom alta
>> 		(Now, you'll become proud heart now)
>>=20
>> 		heeloo mika kahkwa
>> 		(You have no equal)
>>=20
>> 		(below part is shoo-be-dooby-doo
>> 		laa-dee-da-dee-dah)
>>=20
>> 		ah lee ah yea (yei yei) hoo wai
>> 		ah lee ah yah  (can restart at ikta or go to next lines)
>> 		   =20
>> 		ahhhhhhh leee ahh yea hoo wai=20
>> 		ah lee ai  ah lee ai  ah lee ai ei
>> 		ei yah ee yah hoo=20
>> 		ah lee ah yea (yei yei) hoo wai
>> 		ah lee ah yah  (can restart at ikta or go to ahhhhhh part)
>>=20
>> Please make any comments, suggestions and forward this to others for =
any
>> input.  Thanks.  Hyas kloosh wawa kopa mika. If I want to do more with
>> Chinook it sounds like Mike Cleven, David Robertson, Tony Johnson and =
you
>> are all good choices.  Who do you suggest.=20
>> Scott Tyler

Mike Cleven
ironmtn at bigfoot.com
http://members.home.net/ironmtn/

The thunderbolt steers all things.
                           - Herakleitos