Tilicum

[Mike Cleven]

Liland Brajant Ros' wrote:
>
> >From: Andy Horton <BMLSS at compuserve.com>
> >...
> >Sometimes, the etymon can only be intelligently guessed at and this applies
> >to the toponymy of Saxon place names in England, and even more to the
> >earlier Celtic names, as there were no written records.
> >
> >I assume that this also applies to the Wakashan Languages and where the
> >words have been used in Chinook, it might not be possible to prove which
> >language/tribe they came from, but some experts or enthusisasts might have
> >a good idea from circumstantial evidence, hence the trawl.
>
> Sounds right to me except that Chinook is not Wakashan. At least, I've never
> seen it so classified.

I don't think that's what he meant; the sentence only appears to have
linked the Wakashan languages and Chinook (Jargon) incidentally; i.e.
"where [Wakashan] words have been used in Chinook [Jargon]" seems to
have been his intent.  Otherwise in general it's a truism that it's
sometimes difficult to decide where a placename comes from, as we've
noted before similarities between words in one language from one area to
another; generally we can tell, however, which Chinook Jargon word a
name is based on and also which language that Jargon word came from.  BC
has hundreds, if not thousands, of native-based placenames and by a
glance at the WA/OR maps it seems to be the same on that side of the
border; and it's true that a lot of those names are based in
misapprehensions of what the natives were meaning in response to "what
is the name of this place?".  The word "Canada" is an infamous example
of this; another is "Hatzic" here in BC; of course a native or Jargon
word need not have been the name of a place, but a name or word/thing
associated with that place.  "Taghum" (for the Jargon for "six") in the
Kootenays is an example of this; six miles from somewhere (Nelson
maybe?).  Because of out-of-date or overly generalized maps perhaps
current overseas, there may also be a misperception that many more
languages in this region are Wakashan than Makah, Nuu-chah-nulth and
Kwakwala.
>
> Nootkan is Wakashan, and there are a fair number of important words of
> Nootkan origin in the Chinook Jargon (holdovers, I gather the prevailing
> scholarly opinion is, from a Nootkan-based Jargon of the pre-1800 period),
> but "tIlEqEm" or however it's spelt nowadays is not one of them, it's
> Chinook(an). Which is usually classified as a branch of Penutian.

It's something like "tIlXyEm", isn't it? - Dave?

>
> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1728 (Penutian family tree,
> per Ethnologue; much disputed.)
>
> Yesterday I said I thought the Chinookan languages (as distinct from the
> Jargon) were extinct, but now I see that the Ethnologue shows 12 speakers in
> 1996 for Lower Chinook (the variety that provided the main basis for the
> Jargon) and 69 (including 7 monolinguals!) in 1990 for Wasco-Wishram or
> Upper Chinook (related). Here are the relevant entries and links from the
> Ethnologue:
>
> CHINOOK [CHH] 12 speakers of Kiksht dialect (1996), out of a possible
> population of 300 (1977 SIL).  Lower Columbia River, Oregon and Washington.
> Alternate names: LOWER CHINOOK.  Dialects: KLATSOP (TLATSOP), CLACKAMA,
> KIKSHT.  Classification: Penutian, Chinookan.  Nearly extinct.
> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=CHH
>
> Chinook Jargon:
>      Under USA:
> CHINOOK WAWA [CRW] 17 speakers in USA (1990 census).  Formerly used along
> the Pacific coast from Oregon to Alaska. All speakers are probably now
> scattered. Alternate names: CHINOOK JARGON, CHINOOK PIDGIN, TSINUK WAWA.
> Classification: Pidgin, Amerindian.  Nearly extinct.
>      Under Canada:
> CHINOOK WAWA [CRW]  Population total both countries 100 speakers, all over
> 50 years old (1962 Chafe).  Alternate names: CHINOOK JARGON, CHINOOK PIDGIN.
>   Classification: Pidgin, Amerindian.  Nearly extinct.
> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=CRW
>
> WASCO-WISHRAM [WAC] 69 speakers including 7 monolinguals (1990 census), out
> of a possible population of 750 (1977 SIL).  North central Oregon, south
> central Washington. Alternate names: UPPER CHINOOK.  Classification:
> Penutian, Chinookan.  Nearly extinct.
> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=WAC
>
> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1831 (Wakashan family tree,
> per Ethnologue; generally accepted, I think)
>
> NOOTKA [NOO] 590 mother tongue speakers (1998 Statistics Canada), out of
> 3,500 population (1977 SIL). Nitinat has about 30 speakers (1991 M. Dale
> Kinkade).  Southwestern British Columbia, Nitinat along Pacific side of
> Vancouver Island and on Nitinat Lake. Alternate names: NUTKA, NUUCHAHNULTH.
> Dialects: NITINAT (NITINAHT), NOOTKA.  Classification: Wakashan, Southern.
> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=NOO
>
> Cheers yourself!
>
> lilEnd
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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--
Mike Cleven
http://www.cayoosh.net (early BC history)
http://www.hiyu.net (Cayoosh Jargon phrasebook/history)