Coeur d'Alene miners' lingo: Another sort of 'trade language' (musings on sociolinguistic history in the Northwest)

[David Robertson]

Klahowya,

Here's something different.  The Spokane, WA _Spokesman-Review_ of
Tuesday, June 6th, pages A8 and A11, has an article, "Underground Code /
Miners use colorful language to get their point across".

The article, written by staff writer Becky Kramer, terms the lingo in
question a "trade language" -- where "trade" refers to an occupation
rather than to commercial exchange.  This makes me aware that I may need
to be more careful when I'm telling cheechakos about Chinook Jargon.

A large number of the words in the Coeur d'Alenes lingo are from the
Cornish language, a Celtic relative of Irish and Welsh that is now widely
considered extinct.  Probably most of the people in North Idaho who use
these words, in both mining and daily life, are unaware of these facts.

"Stope" is one of the words used; it refers to "a large open space,"
specifically "an area mined upward".

"Stull" is another Cornish word in the lingo; it means "a single timber
used to support loose rock."

Why is this interesting to students of Chinook Jargon?

The existence of this language variety shows us how very complex the
cultural fabric of the Northwest is.  The speakers of the Coeur d'Alenes
miners' lingo are probably all native speakers of English, yet they also
pass this "insider" (!) language down through generations, for reasons
having specifically to do with the cultural heritage of a few towns in a
small region of North Idaho.

Similarly, once one starts doing a little digging (sorry!), one finds,
much more often than not, that the story of each of our region's
innumerable small communities is much more vibrant and fascinating than
mainstream history books will ever imply.

And Chinook Jargon is a superb example of another cultural treasure that
is essentially invisible to the dominant culture.

(I can tell you from personal experience that there was a time when I
thought that the Northwest was a hopelessly homogeneous product of the
"melting pot"...a flavorless blend of all sorts of people, with "no
culture"!  To look beyond the received ideas and the self-image of the
dominant culture, though, refutes every bit of that thesis and more.)

Forgive me for wandering.

Dave

PS -- Northwesterners *do* have accents!


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