Practice texts, cont.

[Dave Robertson]

Aa, lhush san, Henli,

Dret lhush pus haya-kEmtEks mayka.

It's always fascinating when I hear that you or Tony (usually nobody else
could possibly say these things) describe this or that bit of old Chinook
Jargon as being pretty "straight" or "fluent".

In making my translation of the 1891 letter, I too found that it was "not
just" a word-for-word translation of English.  It really does have the feel
of coming from somebody who knew the grammar, and not just a few words.

Your suggested reading of the one sentence is very sensible, I think, and is
not only more straightforward than mine, but also makes the writer's
Chinuk-wawa sound even more conversational.  Nice.

Jim, do I remember correctly that you may have several other little
discoveries like this letter tucked away in your files?  (Pus mayka munk
k'ilapay-wawa, ma lhush ma munk yaka khapa Chinuk!)

Everyone, I look forward to seeing suggested translations of the quotation
Henry sent in:

> "Hiyu siwash, ankate, copa conaway illahee, caqua tipso; pe alta wake >
siya halo; wake lele conaway siwash mimeloose."

LhaXayEm.

Dave