Slave(y) Jargon (was RE: Re: about a new friend of ours)

[Dave Robertson]

LaXayEm, Dave,

Those references you mention could be of tremendous interest to students of NW North American contact languages.  Do you have cites handy?

The language or languages in question, however, if identical to Rev. McDonald's 'Broken Slave', aren't Chinook Jargon at all, but pidgins based on Athapaskan languages.  Chief among these would be the language variously referred to as Slavey, Slave (as in Great Slave Lake), Slave' (with an acute accent mark), and so forth.  'Jargon Loucheux', if memory serves, is based on the Kutchin Athapaskan language.

Here are three links that I suggest to those interested in the subject:

www.svs.is/stefansson/ste/oktober1910.htm
www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/ynlc/YNLCinfo/Catalog.html
www.ling.su.se/Creole/hotel/Arctic_Pidgins.html

Lhush hay-kEmtEks!

Dave


coyotez <coyotez at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU> wrote:

>There are some references in the SWORP collection which talk about Slave
>Jargon. Could this be Chinook Jargon under another name?
>David
>
>>===== Original Message From terry glavin <transmontanus at gulfislands.com>
>=====
>>this is from a chee bictoli siks:
>>
>>Found a reference to trade language at Fort Yukon in the 1860's! - they
>called it Broken Slave. "It is a language which has that name perhaps from the
>preponderance of Slave words in it; but it is composed of  English, French,
>Cree and Loucheux, besides Slave.  It is a most extraordinary language in its
>way: the number of words in it is very limited.  It is used by the officers
>and the servants of the Company in their ordinary intercourse with the
>Indians, and it serves very well for common purposes.  Most of the young men
>among the Indians speak it."   R. McDonald (Anglican Minister at Fort Yukon)
>1863.
>>
>>nesika chee siks, yaka mamook skookum yiem. yaka mamook hyas kloshe tzum pe
>kloshe shantie, pe yaka hyas tikegh lelang.
>>
>>but but i've forgotten how to "sign up" with this listserv, so i don't know
>what to tell her.
>>
>>please advise.
>>
>>t
>
>David Lewis
>Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
>Department Of Anthropology
>University of Oregon
>
--
"Asking a linguist how many languages she knows is like asking a doctor how many diseases he has!" -- anonymous




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