Scott Byram

[Dell Hymes]

I agree with Scott Byram.
Some years ago I compared Chinookan and Nootka vocabulary, and found several
parallels in items that could have been shared through trade.
(I apologize for not digging out that manuscript just now).

One item was for a dance ceremony.   Again, something that could have been
visible to visitors and adopted.

It is clear that multilingualism was not rare in the area, that wives might
be obtrainedfrom other communities, one reason for that being to establish
family partners for trade.  (There is a word in Wasco Chinook for such a
trading partner).

So it seems likely that a name for a food that was traded could come to be
shared,
allowing for local adaptations in pronunciations.

On difference between b and m in a pair of words.  At the mouth of the Columbia
the two sounds could be interchanged, as I recall (I hope rightly).