Need help learning the Chinook language

[Jeffrey Kopp]

On Sun, 27 Jun 1999 15:57:05 EDT, you wrote:

>I'm a 21 year old student on the east coast looking to learn the basics of
>the chinook language. After surfing the net and looking for texts or tapes, I
>havn't been able to find any resources to help me out.
>
>Does anyone know where I can purches or borrow such resources? I looking more
>to speak the language (as I understand that written chinook is much more
>difficult). Thank you for your responses.
>
>Phillip

Klahowya, Phillip, and welcome to the Jargon List.  Resources on
proper Chinookan are hard to come by.  I know only of the Chinook
Jargon myself but I do have one Chinookan reference, George Gibbs'
1860s vocabulary, which I usually bundle along with his Chinook
Jargon dictionary when I make copies to help clarify the common
confusion between Chinookan and the Chinook-derived jargon.

Perhaps Tony Johnson can help you further with Chinook language
references, or someone on the more linguist-oriented Salishan mailing
list.

Brad Coon has a list of Chinookan references on his North Coast
Bibliography at
http://www.ipfw.indiana.edu/east1/coon/web/nwcst.htm#NW30

If you're looking for Jargon resources, they'll still be hard to find
back east, but a couple things are available by mail order:

Duane Pasco's nifty little tutorial, "Klahowya," which comes with a
tape cassette; see http://www.teleport.com/~jiffy/bookstore/

Coyote Press has inexpensive reprints of two of the more common
Jargon references:  http://www.coyotepress.com/collectrep.html

They have: Shaw, George Combs. The Chinook Jargon and How to Use It:
A Complete and Exhaustive Lexicon of the Oldest Trade Language of the
American Continent. Seattle: Rainier Printing Company, 1909. Discount
price $7.50.* Retail $9.38.

and: Thomas, Edward Harper. Chinook: A History and Dictionary of the
Northwest Coast Trade Jargon. Portland: Metropolitan Press, 1935.
Discount price $16.00.* Retail $20.00.  [This is an older edition;
this book has been revised many times.]

Brad Coon's bibliography also has an extensive list of Jargon
references at
http://www.ipfw.indiana.edu/east1/coon/web/nwcst.htm#NW80  (Note that
these are listed separately from Chinookan.)

I have the catalog cards of the books about or mentioning the Jargon
which are in our local library posted on my Web site at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6460/bib.htm.  This might also
help you get started; some of these or some on Brad Coon's list might
be available in a larger or older university/college library near
you.

Regards,

Jeff