Ma-iskEm ...

[Henry Kammler]

Hi Tony
Thank you very much for your interesting introduction to CJ ethnohistory. I
was totally ignorant of CJ having been the first language of a population of
that considerable size.

> Chinuk-wawa was the first language of many individuals at this time
> around the communities of Fort Vancouver and French Prairie.  I'm sure
> that many communities on the lower Columbia and Willapa bay with a
> similar ethnic makeup also had speakers of it as at least a co-first
> language.

So CJ was apparently the predominant non-English language at GR for several
generations (and thus made the transition from what linguists call a
"pidgin" to what they call a "creole" -- both terms are in no way linked to
notions of _status_ and both are considered fully functional languages with
the only difference that the latter is spoken by children as L1). May I ask
you, then:  When did it fall into disuse, i.e. when did parents/grandparents
stop to raise their children in CJ?

> I should stop, this is getting more and more confusing.

No, not at all, it teaches us also something about what you might call
"ethnic identity" and that things are never that simple as some may wish
them to be...

Henry