Upcoming conference possibly to feature a paper on Haida Pidgin

[psu18009 at PDX.EDU]

A word about the Haida Pidgin:

While in Winnepeg at the HBC archives Robert Boyd came across the "Milbank Sd
Report," 3/15/1834 (HBC Archives B. 120/e/1), in which a Haida pidgin is
mentioned.  The reporting trader, Alex. Anderson, notes that (at that date) "The
Chinook Jargon is slightly understood as far as Newitty, a little south of
Milbank," but that the "language in which we carry on the trade" was "a corrupt
Jargon the basis of which is the Kyganie."  Kyganie is a synonym for Haida.

Note though that it is one thing to say that a Hajda pidgin was in use on the
northern NW coast during the early 19th c., another to say that the Haida Jargon
was "the first fur-trade contact language on the Northwest coast."  Whenever
exactly Chinuk Wawa originated, whether pre- or post-contact, it probably would
have been local (or largely local) to the lower Columbia, until the
activities of the fur companies began spreading it during the early 19th c.  It
certainly was well established on the lower Columbia by 1834.  Henry

Quoting Dave Robertson <TuktiWawa at NETSCAPE.NET>:

> Lhush pulEkli,
>
> You might find some of the following to be of interest.  I have read
> that
> Haida Pidgin a.k.a. Haida Jargon was the first fur-trade contact
> language on
> the Northwest coast area of North America, and that it was fully
> supplanted
> by (a possible 'Nootka Jargon' and) Chinook Jargon.  I will try to keep
> you
> posted about this topic.
>
> Best,
> Dave
>
>