[fwd from A. Grant:] Cayuse, Molala, Nez Perce, CJ

[Mike Cleven]

Dave Robertson wrote:
>
> From: "Anthony Grant" <Anthony.Grant3 at btinternet.com>
> To: "The Chinook List" <CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Subject: note on Cayuse
> Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 19:19:02 -0000
>
> Folks:
>
> The Cayuse language has been mentioned a little on the list recently.  =
> My understanding is that a) it';s not closely related tpo anything else =
> and b) it was already on its way out in the 1830s.  The old claim that =
> the Whitman massacre put an end to its use is a myth. =20
>
> I corresponded briefly with Ted Stern about it and about the Samuel =
> Black vocabulary of Cayuse, and a greater length with Bruce Rigsby.  I =
> also examined the two pages of this which are in the public domain, =
> comparing the words in them with Molala items.  There was a rather low =
> percentage of correspondences, be they shared retentions from some =
> Proto-Cayuse-Molala or loans from one another or from a third source.  =
> Black got his Cayuse data from Baptiste Dorion, who was also Cayuse =
> resource person for some other investigators, and who was the son of the =
> truly heroic Marie Dorion (who wasn't Cayuse, but Iowa).  I suspect =
> that the old Cayuse language was increasingly used as a secret language =
> from some way back, and that Lower Nez Perce was replacing it from early =
> in the 19th century. =20
>
> Let's hope that the Black vocabularies are published some time.  Dating =
> from 1829, they're some of the earliest Plateau linguistic data =
> available. =20
>
> Incidentally, there's at least one peripheral Nez Perce loan in CJ that =
> hasn't been mentioned much.  Thomas' dictionary has 'talapusha' for 'to =
> pray', in the English section only.  As I recall, the Nez Perce stem for =
> this meaning is /tarapoca/.

Might there be any etymological-mythographical connection here to
talapus/t'alapus?  i.e. Coyote the Trickster?

MC