kloshe naika mamook tumtum naika, mamook skookum wawa

[Mike Cleven]

Kloshe naika mamook tzum kopa hiyu tumtum naika, klaksta chako kopa
naika. Iskum hiyu tumtum alta kah chako naika klahanie Lowullo.  Klonas
time, okook tumtum chako naika kopa okook wawa, klonas kopa kingchauch.
Pe kah naika iskum klaska kopa Chinook, naika kumtux kah naika skookum
tumtum kopa Chinook Wawa, pe mitlite skookum kopa mamook konaway tumtum
pe konaway wawa kopa Chinook.  Wake hyas ikta, kopa mitlite elip wawa
kopa huloiuma; pe mitlite huloima wawa, pe mitlite konamoxt kopa ikt.
Okook mitlite hyas-hyas kopa kumtux kopa konaway tillikum, klaksta
kumtux mamook wawa - wake hyas mitlite huloima, pe iskum tenas wawa;
mitlite konaway Chinook.  Pe nawitka moxt wawa, klaksta skookum kumtux
konamoxt.

[Good I write out many thoughts that come to me.  I have many thoughts
now/when (since) coming from the Lowullo.  Sometimes, these thoughts
come to me in wawa, sometimes in English.  But whyen I have them (some)
in Chinook, I understand that I can think in Chinook Wawa, and that it's
possible to think and speak [entirely] in Chinook.  Not a big thing, to
be a better wawa than another; and there's a different wawa, but
together.  This is very important to understand for all people, who
understand wawa, or to have fewer words; it's all Chinook. And delate
two wawa(s), who can understand each other.]


Klonas tillikum mamook wawa kopa Grand Ronde wawa, kopa elip mamook
wawa, okook "hyas wawa" - kah naika ticky potlatch nem - kah ikt skookum
wawa/trade language/skokum hiyo/the Jargon yaka mitlite kopa konaway
illahee klahanie Grand Ronde pe Chinook-Illahee, kah okook wake skookum
kopa mamook wawa.  Naika iskum tumtum kopa mitlite huloima, pe skookum
mamook wawa konamoxt.  Pe mitlite huloima!  Pe okook huloiuma wawa
skookum mamook kloshe wawa, wake cultus wawa kopa ikt elip.

[Maybe some people say Grand Ronde Wawa can make better speech, this
"high tongue" - a name I use for it - and the skookum wawa/trade
language/skokum hiyo/the Jargon, that is in all the country outside of
Grand Ronde and the Chinook (Lower Columbia) Country, that this is not
as good for making wawa.  I think that it is a different wawa, but the
two can be mutually understood.  And be different!  And this other wawa
is a good wawa, not a worse one than a better.

Keschi naika tumtum kopa kloshe mitlite ikt huloima chako-konamoxt kopa
wawa tillikum.  Ikt kopa mamook kumtux, pe mamook hiyu chako-konamoxt
kopa konaway tillikums, pe konaway huloima wawa, kah konamoxt mamook
Grand Hiyu kopa skookum wawa/trade language/skokum hiyo/the Jargon.  Pe
kopa okook Grand Hiyu, konaway nsaika mamook hunt kopa huloima tillikums
klaksta skookum kumtux wawa - nawikta oleman pe lummi kopa konaway okook
"skookum illahee: - pe klaksta ticky kumtux okook huloima wawa, kah
klaksta skookum chako konamoxt kopa mamook wawa konamoxt.  Pe mamook
hyas hiyu hee-hee, pe ahnkuttie muckamuck pe ahnkuttie tanse, ahnkuttie
shantie.  Naika ticky chako konamoxt kopa huloima tillikum klaksta ticky
mamook okook "skookum wawa", yaka Nadja mamook nem "ahnkuttie".

So I think that there should be a different get-together for os wawa
people.  One to make understood/teach, and get together everybody, pe
all the different [types of] wawa, and together make a Grand make a
Grand Hiyu for the skookum wawa/trade language/skokum hiyo/the Jargon.
And for/towards this Grand Hiyu, all of us seek out other people who
understand the wawa - especially elders from our "skookum illahee"
(AK/BC/YT/ID/WA/OR/MT/AB/CA, pe klonas UT/NV/WY) - and those who want to
learn, and those who want to come together to speak to each other.  And
to make a big hee-hee, and old-time food and dance and song.  I'd like
to bring together different people who want to speak this "skookum
wawa", that Nadja named "ahnkuttie".

Naika ticky iskum nem "ahnkuttie" kopa skookum wawa; okook nem mitlite
elip kopa Chinuk-wawa kopa Grand Ronde, ahnkuttie illahee kopa elip wawa
tillikum.  Klahanie Grand Ronde mitlite hiyu tillikums klaksta kumtux
huloima wawa kopa Grand Ronde, pe mitlite hiyu hyas ikta kopa potlatch
youtl kopa okook tillikums, okook huloima wawa.  Klonas kloshe nsaika
mamook nem kopa ikt ("skookum wawa"), nem kopa huloima ("hyas wawa"); pe
mamook chee nem kopa ikt konamoxt, pe kah konamoxt skookum chako.
Konamoxt iskum nem "Chinook Wawa"; pe klonas chako chee wawa konamoxt,
klonas "alki wawa" pe "chee wawa".

[I don't like the name "ahnkuttie" for skookum wawa (the trade language,
etc.); this nem is better for Chinuk-wawa as in Grand Ronde, the old
country of the first wawa people.  Outside Grand Ronde there are many
people who understand different wawa than in Grand Ronde, and it's an
important thing to give respect to these people, this other wawa.  Maybe
good we mamook a nem for one (skookum wawa, the strong/able language),
and a name for the other (hyas wawa, the high language); and make a new
name for them both [if not then "Chinook Wawa" has to refer to both;
"ahnkuttie Chinook Wawa" would more seem to mean the old "real Chinook"
language, which of course GR is more directly founded in than skookum
wawa is, especially in phonology but also vocabulary).  And maybe become
new speech together, maybe "future wawa" or "new wawa" - the evolved
future form of the two wawas.]

Pe delate naika iskum okook tumtum kopa mitlite huloima wawa, pe mitlite
nawikta kopa potlatch youtl kopa huloima tillikum klaksta wake kumtux
Grand Ronde wawa.  Mitlite hyas kopa alki kopa nsaika wawa tillikum, pe
kopa huloima tillikum klaksta klonas skookum kumtux nsaika, pe ticky
mamook kopa wawa kopa nsaika, alta pe alki.  Pe klonas kloshe
tumtum-ikta kopa mamook chee chako-konamoxt, ikt Grand Hiyu, kopa mamook
skookum kopa konaway tillikums mamook skookum wawa, pe mamook hee-hee.

And I really have this thought that there is a different wawa, and it is
important to give respect/pride to different people who don't understand
teh Grand Ronde wawa ['s special spelling and sounds].  It's important
for the future and for all us wawa people, and for those other people
who may understand us, and want to speak in the wawa with us, now and in
the future.  And maybe it's a good idea to make a new gathering, a Grand
Hiyu, to make possible all people who can make the wawa, and make
heehee.

____________

"You can say anything in the Jargon, if you put the words together the
right way".  Both the skookum wawa and the hyas wawa are "expressive",
neither more than the other, just differently, with the hyas wawa having
more words, but communication still being possible - and important - in
the simpler skookum wawa.


Naika kwatah.

Mike

PS translating the above into English was hard; I wrote most of it
thinking pretty much in skookum wawa rather than in English; finding the
right English expressions afterwards was tricky; and a few times I went
back and altered the Chinook, although maybe what I took out or changed
was more what I thought in the first place.  I note that in one of my
translation paragraphs I slipped from English into Chinook, and I know I
did this a few other times that I edited out during writing; the Skookum
Jargon can be thought in, written in, lived in, every bit as much as GR
Jargon, and it's not fair or correct to pretend that either the
historical or old-time Jargon has to be examined and used only in
reference to how GR is spoken and used.

Of course GR must be studied and enhanced for the benefit and use of the
GR-speaking or possibly-speaking community, even if the rigor and
dedication shown to phonology has to be "pickled"; but this shouldn't
discredit or obstruct the study and use or indubitable presence and
existence of the other Jargon, the "broader" one that is the most
widely-spoken historical form, the one that was really spoken throughout
the region (and yikes, in some places by some people STILL IS), which of
course GR-Wawa wasn't (despite certain claims that Georgia Strait Jargon
has the same phonology, which it does not; and of course the lexicon and
syntax vary widely from GR, despite an apparent continuity in same
between e.g. Warm Springs and Puget Sound, despite different phonologies
and orthographies).

This is why I think there has to be a separate gathering, that does not
necessarily focus on GR Wawa, but has to gather together and celebrate
the Skookum Wawa/Trade Language/Skokum Hiyo.  Everyone from the
Grassroots people in the Cariboo to those trappers and backcountry
rendez-vous folks who wrote in, from the Warm Springs elders to those I
know exist in BC; all of these people could not have related to the
academic and specific focus of the recent Lowullo.  A better thing would
be to have a big party, a social event more than a workshop one, with
respect for all the different forms of the wawa, and for all the
different people who speak it or want to.  Where no one will be
corrected or prompted for prononciation or usage (as Jargon-speaking
elders were at the Lowullo), but everyone will simply be encouraged to
try using the words; and damn the prononciation and the orthography!  It
should be all about communication - and having fun with the wawa, and
with what's fun in the historical culture of the region; making a joyful
noise, and reuniting surviving speakers and building communities from
both elders, newbies and wannabes.

Of course it all depends on who can be found and who wants to come, but
I think it would work if held in the right place with the right agenda.
Lisa and I discussed Forts Nisqually and Langley and the HBC connection
and the interest of museum staff there; such locations have room for a
dance (Metis or backcountry fiddlers?  Grassroots frontier songs?
backcountry presumably Fort Vancouver could be another good candidate,
or Warm Springs.  If the thing's a heck of a hiyu and a success and it's
worth doing again, then moving around between Warm Springs or Astoria or
Yakima or Spokane or Kamloops or another historical Jargon-speaking
town/district.  I think - since the trapper/rendezvous people seem like
friendly folks, that some of us Jargonauts make the effort to go and
mamook the wawa with them, and maybe it'd be good if we got the Cariboo
Grassroots folks to trip down to Oregon to put on their show there.

None of this is going to happen overnight, but I think something else
has to be done to enhance the "outer Jargon", the skookum wawa, Nadja's
"ahnkuttie", which no matter any attempt to ignore it apparently lives
on, whether in rebirths like those of the rendezvous and grassroots
folks, the scattered elders and not-so-elders, and those such as myself
who are "rediscovering" the usefulness and wonder of speech in the
Jargon.

At the after party from the Lowullo in the bar in McMinnville, Tony
commented that there are ways you think and put together your thoughts
in the Wawa than is possible in English; and I believe -and know - that
this is the case just as much with the skookum wawa as much as with
Tony's hyas wawa.  I enjoy mamooking the wawa, and hope to find other
people to do it with, without having to worry about the sounds I'm
making; it's WHAT WORKS that counts; talking with Bernice even in
scattered phrases was a delight; and I'd rather talk to someone and work
up a communication, a relationship, in the Jargon, than in studying
linguistics for a long-driven weekend.  I'm also finding it a bit ironic
that the skookum wawa is getting short shrift from people who are not
only Chinook Wawa speaking/knowing people but also linguists and writers
on the subject; this is almost as bad (to me) as the traditional
language specialists trying to kill off the Jargon since the 1960s or so
(no evading it, that's what the upshot of unofficial linguistics and
tribal policies has been); and here I mean _the_Jargon_, not GR's
Chinuk-Wawa.

I'm feeling strongly about this now; I'd meant to write upon coming home
from the Lowullo, but didn't want to be the first to jump into the fray;
and I'm aware that I'm known for strong talk, as well as forceful
speech, but I know I'm not alone in these sentiments, although certainly
my solutions and statements vary from those of others.  I spoke to at
least half a dozen people at the Lu'lu, and am in touch via email with
some who did not come, who are wary of the strong and single-minded
focus on using and developing GR by trying to change (or ignore) the
skookum wawa.  I know that at least a few others have expressed similar
sentiments in the list, but that these have gone largely unreplied or
unresponded to, and I was glad to find support for my own presence
within the list and at the workshop from some who were distressed by
what happened to me earlier in the spring as the result of apparent
linguistic-cultural politics and the prevailing "soft prejudice" against
the skookum wawa.  And against non-academics who dare to learn or use
what is supposed to be a dead/dying language, but really isn't anywhere
near dead or irrelevant, despite ongoing official claims to the
contrary. [how many other people like Dan and Bernice are there in the
NW/BC/YT region, anyway?)

I know for sure the skookum wawa's what was spoken up my way, what's
relevant to the history and the peoples in my area, and what those of us
Jargonauts in my region are more interested in than in learning how
things are done/spoken in Oregon or "what the linguists say is right".
There is no right or wrong, no better or worse in using the wawa, there
is only _using_the_wawa_; WHAT WORKS.  The Wawa that is not the Wawa
_is_ the Wawa, to paraphrase one of our early (fun) contributors, who I
hope is still around (Matthew Montchalin, wasn't it?).  And that it's
for socializing, and trading, and for talking and writing in as much as
anything else, every bit as much as GR Chinuk-Wawa is.

If, because of any restrictions or policies of the host server, such
non-linguistics discussions should not be made on their server, or
archived there, then obviously CHINOOK cannot really function as the
locality of the on-line Jargon community, as it's obviously about a lot
more than linguistics.  When I get www.hiyu.net up and running (very
soon) I'll set up a bulletin board where rambles and wawa-ing can
proceed unimpeded, and we don't have to worry about policy concerning
content.  Konaway chako kopa mamook wawa, mamook heehee.

Given the silence on my other posts lately, I gather that instead of
throwing me off the list as was previously attempted, I'm simply going
to be ignored instead of answered by those who find my views and ideas
distasteful to their own priorities concerning the wawa.  Fine; but
would those of you who sympathize or have similar views please come
forward, if only to let me know, at least via private email rather than
in the list if you don't want to say it there for whatever reason.  If
there's a big demand or support for the bulletin board idea, I'll bring
it on line pronto and make it available even before I put the rest of
the new website/domain up.

I'm not trying to break the community; only open it up so it's not as
controlled and centred on one version of the Jargon and its history.
It's important that the Wawa - the Wawa that is not the Wawa - retain
access to using its multicommunal and various form and identity and
flourish for its own sake, not as a reflection of an academic or
cultural ideal or a specific community.  And where non-linguistic,
non-language questions, even if only concerning recipes and history and
suchlike, are welcome and respected, rather than shoved aside as
irrelevant to the Jargon and its culture/community.  And where we can
all have fun with the Jargon, and get to know each other by speaking and
writing in it amongst ourselves freely, whatever our preferred phonology
or phraseology and whatever background or relationship to the Jargon we
may have; and where history and culture are part of the menu; and
especially where people who know the Jargon from outside GR's version of
it will recognize and understand it and come forward to "meet" us
electronically.  I think more people will participate in such an
environment, and certainly it will get more visits from web tourists
searching Jargon words or NW history.

It's getting late; I hadn't meant to say so much but now that I have,
there.  Let the games begin.  Naika skookum iksum kwolann kopa hiyu
lahash mamook latleh.