forwarding message from Dell Hymes (fwd)

Wed Mar 31 06:58:23 UTC 1999

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 22:04:25 -0500
From: "Sarah G. Thomason" <sally at isp.pitt.edu>
Cc: thomason at umich.edu
Subject: forwarding message from Dell Hymes

Folks,

  In the text below, Dell Hymes' comments are in ALL CAPS.

   -- Sally

------- Forwarded Message

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 10:59:24 -0500
To: Sally Thomason <sally at thomason.org>
From: Dell Hymes <dhh4d at virginia.edu>
Subject: Re: Hancock list words Part two (A-B-E)

>

Dear Sally,
	It's very good to have your extensive comments on words that come
up for discussion.  I can add a bit in regard to Chinookan. Please see
annotations below.
>
>Here are a few comments on the latest list of Hancock items.
>
>ada - to wait for: This is CJ ata (stress on the 2nd syllable),
>                   from French attend(-) `wait for'.  It's not
>                   very widely attested in CJ, but it occurs in
>                   Jacobs' Chinook-CJ texts (from Mrs. Howard)
>                   and Jacobs' Kalapuya-CJ text.  Both texts have
>                   d rather than t.
>
>sha - interj. yes: I bet this is a typo for aha (stress on 2nd syllable).
>It occurs pretty widely in CJ, with this meaning: Mrs. Howard (text
>published by Jacobs), Harrington, Grand Ronde elsewhere too, Parker,
>Winthrop, Palmer, etc. -- even, probably, the same word in Mozin~o
>1792: e-o `yes'.  Etc.  Shaw says it's from Chinook; Nootka has
>ha'a; and aha itself occurs in several Salishan languages in this
>meaning -- Nisqually (Gibbs), Cowichan (Gibbs), Halqemeylem...but in
>the Salishan lgs. it seems to have initial stress, so it may be a
>different word in origin.
>
>ak - nephew: The only word for `nephew' I've found occurs just once,
A>in Ross, who spells it Ack.  It is conceivable, though maybe not
>very likely, that this comes from a Chinookan form cognate with
>Kathlamet i-c-uulX `my nephew' (Hymes, p. 121).
	I DON'T SEE ANY WAY THAT AK COULD BE FROM THE KATHLAMET FORM,
	(WHICH IS SHARED WITH CLACKAMAS AND WASCO). THE STEM OF COURSE
	IS -WULX (I PHONEMICIZED IN MY DISSERTATION TO AN EXTREME,
	REDUCING W AND Y (WHICH WOULD BE SAID AND HEARD) TO U AND I.

>
>apeta - salmon eggs: CJ apta `roe' is attested (in my files anyway)
>only in Demers et al. and in Pinart, both in the meaning salmon egg
>(but the plural would be the same).  Lower Chinook has a word
>i-qapta in this meaning; Wishram (Chinook) has iL-qapt, and
>Kathlamet Chinook has L-qapt `salmon roe'.  This looks as if it has
>to be connected, but something's still odd about it, because of the
>missing root-initial q- (I assume it's root-initial in Chinook?) in
>the CJ forms.
>	IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THIS IS FROM SHOALWATER CHINOOK, BECAUSE
>IN THE SPEECH OF CULTEE AND PRESUMABLY OTHERS, STEM INITIAL Q BETWEEN
>VOWELS
BECAME GLOTTAL STOP.

>apola - spitroast: CJ forms vary (depending on the source) between
>ap at la and lap at la (both have final stress).  Shaw says origin unknown
>but perhaps from French le foyer (but this certainly doesn't fit
>semantically).  The CJ form is glossed as roasted or baked (before
>the fire).  The form beginning in l is given by Harrington, Demers
>et al., Shaw, Pinart, and on Grand Ronde; the form with no initial
>l is given by Swan 1857 and Allen 1855 (which may be based in part
>on Swan).
>
>awolt - incapable: This is probably the CJ word xauqwaL `unable,
>impossible'.  It's mostly attested with initial x (but that could
>easily have been missed by Anglo and French hearers, because in at
>least some Native languages of the Northwest it's a very soft
>fricative x, not all that easily heard) and with q or qw in the
>middle.   But Demers et al. have AwHolt `unable, incapable', where
>the H = their special cut-off "h" letter, used for a velar fricative
>(if I'm remembering right); and one Grand Ronde form (from Henry
>Zenk's work, probably?) is roughly haUwEL, which fits Hancock's
>form pretty well, once you allow for Anglo mis-hearing of the lateral
>fricative L as an lt cluster (or, more often, tl).
>
>eke - brother-in-law: This is CJ iqix `brother-in-law' (the x = a
>velar fricative, not a "ks" sound as in English).  It's fairly widely
>attested -- Harrington, Demers et al., Palmer, Shaw (who says it's
>"not strictly CJ, or only local"), Ross, Boas, Le Jeune (who says
>it's "used in other districts").  The source is Chinookan: both
>Lower Chinook and Kathlamet have i-qih in this meaning.
>
	THE FORMS I HAVE IN MY DISSERTATION ARE BOTH PLURALS, WITH THE
SUFFIX -NANA, BUT THAT WOULD NOT EXHAUST THE FORMS IN THE TEXTS THEMSELVES.
	THE FINAL CONSONANT IS VELAR VOICELESS FRICATIVE (X)
	IN CHINOOKAN IT WOULD ALWAYS REQUIRE A PRECEDING POSSESSIVE
PRONOUN, UNLESS THERE IS A VOCATIVE FORM THAT IS IDENTICAL.

>ekwonot, ekwEnEt - spring salmon: This is CJ (i-)q'waniX/ikwanat,
>from Chinook (Lower Chinook has the latter, Kathlamet has the
>former).  Parker 1842 has quanagh `salmon'; Cox 1824-1830 has
>equannet `salmon' and Lewis & Clark had quinette as a river
>name.  I think Lee has the same form as Parker.
	I WROTE IN AN EARLIER MESSAGE THAT THIS IS CHINOOKAN 'CHINOOK
SALMON'.  AND 'SALMON, FISH' IN GENERAL ON OCCASION.  MY DISSERTATION
SPELLING IS MISLEADING BY ITSELF.  THERE IS NO CONTRAST OF VOICED/VOICLESS
CONSONANT SO THAT I WROTE THE STEM WITH K-. THE PRONUNCIATION IS WITH
G-.I-GUNAT. (SEE KATHLAMET TEXTS P. 50 TITLE OF THE MYTH OF SALMON). BUT
THERE IS A DIMINUTIVE FORM WITH GLOTTALIZED K, T-K'UNAT-MAX KT 98.7, 98.10.
AND IN WASCO THERE IS A-K'UNAT 'JACK SALMON' (I ALSO HAVE A FORM WITH
A-GUNAT FOR JACK SALMON.
THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE IS THE A- 'FEMININE PREFIX'.)
	I REMEMBER A -K'WANAT FORM BUT CAN'T FIND ITS SOURCE JUST NOW.
	--Q'UANIX IS STEELHEAD SALMON IN KATHLAMET AND WASCO (AND IN
SHOALWATER)
SEE BOAS' GRAMMATICAL SKETCH IN HANDBOOK 1911.
	ALTERNATION OF -GU AND -GUA/GWA SEEMS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE. .
>
>elake - sea otter: Gill and Long give this word for sea otter;
>it's from Lower Chinook i-laki `sea otter'.  There's another
>word for sea otter too, inamuks (in Demers et al. and Stuart,
>but Stuart says it means `land otter' -- though Stuart was I
>think inland, so he wouldn't have encountered sea otters,
>presumably?).
>
>emay - chest, breast, emik - the back: The closest I've found
>to these are two forms from Ross: Emets-aughtick (pl.) `breast'
>and Emeck-kuts-ach `back (of the body)'.  I don't have a guess
>as to the etymology, though one might possibly compare Kathlamet
>Chinook ts-ka-kucX-iks `their backs'.
>
	PERHAPS IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE ROSS FORMS HAVE I-MI-STEM
(MI- SECOND PERSON SINGULAR POSSESSIVE).

>emist, emits - nose, beak, prow: This occurs in Shaw (spelled
>emeets) and in Ross 1849 (Emeeats), with the annotation that
>it comes from Chinook.  The closest thing I've found to a possibly
>relevant Chinookan form is Lower Chinook S-me-ktSXict `thy
>nostril' (Boas 1911:585).
	KATHLAMET HAS -MIST 'MOUTH', WHERE -ST IS DUAL SUFFIX,
 AND -MI- PRESUMABLY IS AN OLD FORM FOR 'LIP'.  IT OCCURS IN A MYTH
AIN REFERENCE TO OWL, AND MIGHT BE DEROGATORY.  KT 133.2. 131.6
	IN WASCO/WISHRAM WALTER DYK RECORDED I-MIST SNOUT, BEAK, ALSO
PURSED LIPS DERISIVELY.
	IN SAME THERE IS THE STEM -MIQSU 'FACIAL HAIR, MOUSTACHE, WHISKERS,
WHERE -QSU ITSELF IS 'HAIR, FUR'. SO MI- PRESUMABLY SPECIFIES FACE.
>
>esal - come: Could this gloss be a typo for `corn'?  There's a
>well-attested CJ form isaL `corn' (stress on 2nd syllable), which
>(according to Shaw according to Gibbs) is from Wasco.  Phonetically,
>it fits Hancock's form quite well.
>
>etamana - prophet, seer: This looks like an i-prefixed variant
>of CJ t'amanawas (stress on 2nd vowel) `guardian spirit, magic'
>(and other similar meanings).  Boas (1892) gives a Lower
>Chinook form it'amanoaS; Shaw and Gibbs give similar forms, also
>from Chinook.  None of the CJ sources I've found this word in
>has a prefixed i-, though, so this may be from a "Chinooky" CJ
>source rather than from more general CJ.
>
>etsum - heart: Swan 1857 ives a form aitsemar `heart'; this is
>the only CJ source I've found such a form attested in, but it's
>clearly connected to Hancock's form.  The source is Chinook --
>compare Chinook e-tSa-mxtS `my heart'.
>	I WONDER ABOUT THIS CONNECTION.  JUST -M FOR A STEM IN THE
FIRST CJ FORM.  SWAN'S -MAR COULD EASILY BE -MX, THOUGH. CF. KATHLAMET
I-C-MXC 'MY HEART (KT 171.6) (WHERE C IS 'CH')

>eye (ayuh) - yes: I've found this form only in Shaw, who says it's
>"not strictly CJ, or only local".  It'd be spelled iye (stress on
>2nd syllable); probably it's basically the same word as the more
>common aha.  Shaw says it's from Nootka.
>
>  -- Sally

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