K'ilapay-wawa

[Tony Johnson]

Kanawi-Laksta,

I really feel that I need to respond to some of the recent conversations
on our list.

First, I should say that I am really pleased at the ever-growing group
of people taking a interest in our important language.

I say "language" because there is only one Chinuk-wawa language.  There
are variations or dialects within its area of use but it appears to be
in all cases mutually intelligible.

The same issues of pronunciation, grammar, etc. that we see over the
entire Chinuk-wawa region is relevant to Grand Ronde as well.  Anyone
who has listened closely knows that we acknowledge that this variation
exists.  There was no "correct" Chinuk-wawa in Grand Ronde or anywhere
else in its area of usage.

Today, there is a "correct" form being taught in Grand Ronde, but those
who are willing to hear it understand that it is a standardized form
based on all of the materials recorded here.  As a teacher of a language
you cannot take beginning students, or children and teach variation.

I want to make it perfectly clear that what we are teaching in Grand
Ronde is not considered by anyone to be THE "correct" form of the
language.

This brings me to an important question.  How much of the variation seen
today in Chinuk-wawa pronunciation is a result of inconsistent
orthographies in the variety of old dictionaries available?  I believe,
for instance, that the Seattle pronunciation for Alki Beach is just that
rather than some historic remembrance.  The point of this question is to
say that given all of the unanswered questions that these dictionaries
present we would be foolish to assume that we can teach or really
understand this language from them alone.

So what do we do?  How do we sort out what is really a difference within
the language versus what is someone's inability to represent the sounds
they heard?  The obvious answer is spoken Chinuk-wawa, and linguistic
texts.  As you all know there is not a lot of these materials.  So how
can one ever prove what Kamloops-wawa really sounded like?  Did locals
speak precisely as Father LeJeune wrote?  There are of course recorded
materials of Chinuk speakers in B.C., here and elsewhere, but when I
listen to them I hear many more similarities than differences.   In fact
I hear many of the same phrases and idioms in the speakers from B.C. as
we have here in Grand Ronde.   Most importantly are those materials
enough to clearly understand the form of the language they represent?

I fully acknowledge that there are distinctions in the use of
Chinuk-wawa in its various areas of use.  However, I strongly question
all of the discussion about differences when there are not reliable
materials to back up the assertions.  I need more than a word or phrase
or even one or two short texts to determine what was/is really happening
in variant forms of Chinuk.  I hope, for the study of our language, that
there is more material available to us in the future that clarify some
of these issues, but I don't believe we have these today.  Who out there
can say that they have heard, in great detail, Chinuk-wawa other than in
Grand Ronde?  I don't mean people who heard it in their childhood, or
heard some word or phrase, but who really has heard it and has the
ability to show us/teach us what it is that they heard.  (I don't want
to minimize the contribution of individuals who do know a phrase, or
word or two.  These are all important to the big puzzle that we are
trying to clarify.)

It seems to me that there are so many assumptions being  made about our
language that today have no clear answers.  These are leading us into
divisions that should not be here.  What we can clearly say is that
Chinuk-wawa is ONE language with many more similarities than
differences.

It seems to me that by encouraging a separate Chinuk conference for
speaking without any structured teaching would simply perpetuate all of
the current unanswered questions in many people minds about the
language.  I hope that we can all acknowledge that if one learns there
Chinuk from any of the early sources alone they will not learn how to
really speak chinuk-wawa as spoken by any historical group.  Wikna?

Hayu mersi--T.J.
Sawash-ili7i (Grand Ronde)