"Chinook" Jargon in Haida Gwaii before 1800? [fwd from D. Hymes]

[Dave Robertson]

From:    Dell Hymes <dhymes at adelphia.net>

I very much agree with what David Lewis suggests.
Certainly there were wide circles of trade and exchange,
and travel associated with them, across language
boundaries.  Of course there were bilingual, multilingual
people, and some marriages across language boundaries.
But it seems very likely that there was also some spread
of vocabulary, connected first of all with the place of
origin of a traded commodity or practice.

And it would seem likely that in slave-holding families,
communities, some might acquire a variety of the
slave-owner's language which was somewhat
simplified.  Probably not so much in the case of
children, to be sure.  But even there there may have
been attitudes as among Chinookans of elders critizing
those younger than themselves for their speech.

There may not be much solid information on these
points, but it would be wise to keep them in mind as
possible factors in the spread of a somewhat simplified
and common vocabulary in the region.

       Dell

>From:    David Lewis <coyotez at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>
>
>Dave and others,
>
>It would be interesting to compare these words, vocabulary, with those
>taken by the Spanish at Nootka. I was not able to effectively scan the
>Nootka word list in "The Men With Wooden Feet," but that list was used by
>Americans on the Columbia to speak effectively with the people there. It
>seems that there may be a case for a wider regional proto-Jargon, that
>predates much of the fur trade.
>
>David Lewis





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