coulee/cooley... R and L !!!

[Mike Cleven]

David Robertson wrote:
>
> LhaXayEm;
>
> Khanawi lhaksta,
>
> Pus-Ikta Xawgalh ukuk chaku khapa PasayEks tunus-wawa "coule'e"????
> Pourquoi ne peut c,a venir d'un mot franc,ais "la coule'e"?
>
> Ukuk "Cassell's French-English Dictionary" nay t'u7wEn khapa nayka, ya
> wawa "coule'e:  ...flow, rush (of a torrent, etc.); (Hunt.) track, path."
>
> Wigna?
> Dave

Weght kopa 'franglais' kopa Kanada; yahwa "coulee" mitlite wawa kopa olo
liver-waykut.  Kopa Hyas Kloshe Illahee Kopa Get-up Sun (the Great
Plains and Prairies) okook wawa mitlite hiyu.

Same in Canadian franglais on the Prairies, a Metis-ism that was adopted
by later generations of non-francophone settlers.  There "coulee" is a
dry river-course, or rather valley carved into the plain by successive
generations of stream-cutting; the Grand Coulee was so named with these
in mind.  I think Cassell's definition is most probably of European
reference (Cassell's being a German publishing house IIRC), although I'm
curious to know the context of the word in other Canadian French
dialectsh.  The coulee as a geographic feature is pretty distinctive to
the West, there being no real equivalent in the topography of "Old
Canada" for the word to have the same relevance/meaning.  It's also a
common feature of prairie English, and is also used in adjoining states
of the Union, I believe.....