[chinuk_illahee_northwest] Re: Henry's followup: Early linguists using CJ w/native people? (fwd)

[David Robertson]

 *VISIT the archives of the CHINOOK jargon and the SALISHAN & neighboring*
		    <=== languages lists, on the Web! ===>
	   http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/salishan.html
	   http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/chinook.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 00:39:15 -0800
From: Aron Faegre <faegre at teleport.com>
To: chinuk_illahee_northwest at egroups.com
Cc: chinook at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: [chinuk_illahee_northwest] Re: Henry's followup:  Early linguists using CJ w/native people?

David Lewis wrote:

> But he used the Oregon Jargon to communicate during the Dayton
> treaty signings with the Willamette Valley Indigenous nations.

I've been reading A.B. Meacham's "Wigwam and Warpath" from
1875 -- he was Oregon's Superintendent of Indian Affairs just prior
to that time.  In his book he describes using Chinook Jargon when
meeting with Siletz, Umatilla, Klamath, Grand Round, Snake, Cayuse,
Modoc peoples -- all of them, even though the native languages were
all different and discussions sometimes needed to be translated into
5 different languages at some locations.  [I'm making a list of all the
Chinook Jargon words and phrases he puts in the book and will
post it at some point.]

Maybe once the need for a trade language was diminished due
to the "Boston" peoples wholesale take-over of vast amounts of
Oregon's lands and waters, Oregon's Chinook Jargon became
functionally a language principally used to accomplish the political
and religious goals of the "Boston" people.

Is this too cynical a view?  Reading "Wigwam and Warpath"
sure makes it seem that way.

Aron Faegre