Targeting Indian syntax & phonology ... was ... Re: WPA Historical Records Benton Co. Oregon

[Jeffrey Kopp]

On Sat, 13 Jul 2002 21:13:55 -0700, hzenk at PDX.EDU wrote:
>
>>what would have been really great are some samples
>>(preferably sound recordings) to give us an idea of what these old
>settlers'
>>Chinuk Wawa was really like.

Well, since mechanical recording didn't appear until the late 19th century (and unfortunately, Thomas Edison experimented by reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb" instead of "Hyas laly ahnkuttie...") it'll be pretty hard to scare up any audio of settler Jargon.

I might point out that the frontier lasted a generation longer in Seattle and B.C. (a fact the canucks are proud of, but Seattleites are loath to admit) than here in the Willamette Valley; while the Jargon was kaput among whites here by, say, 1928, some merchants who spoke the jargon fluently in Seattle survived until the 1950s or early '60s (such as the legendary, long-lived pioneer banker Joshua Green).  Whether or not any was recorded is another question, as its use for trade ended around the turn of the century (the Natives all knew English by then, even if only as a second tongue), and among whites remained alive only in memories and private small talk.

This explains why I heard the Jargon used as a slang among white people my age in Seattle in the 1980s (I was in my thirties then) but not in Oregon (except for very rare expressions used by elderly speakers, until perhaps the mid-1960s). (The response of 95% of Oregonians I mention the Jargon to today is, "What's that?")  (Of course, half the "Oregonians" one meets today were born somewhere else.) 

The select group I knew in Seattle must have been third-generation descendants of their pioneers.  The third generation hereabouts is extremely aged or has passed on by now.  The Jargon also persisted in isolated pockets (like Aberdeen and south-coastal Alaska) until the second world war; Duane first heard it on the Alaskan and/or Seattle waterfronts in his childhood.

I'd venture a guess that Jargon usage among whites varied considerably, depending on whom they learned it from (other whites or directly from Natives) and the degree of Native contact they had (farmer-settlers could understand but probably not speak much Jargon--with the notable exception of mixed families and retired Hudsons Bay workers--while merchants would necessarily be more fluent.)  There is a parallel here in the interesting observation ventured on the list recently that Canadian Natives spoke "pioneer jargon" since it was carried there by whites from the Oregon Country and the Natives therefore learned it from them.

Mindful of the fact that KOAC was Oregon's first radio station (it went on the air in the mid-1920s) and was until recent years remained a part of the college, I wrote to OPB to inquire if they had any surviving broadcast transcriptions in Jargon.  They really did try to look, but lamented their archives were in very poor shape, and suggested I try Oregon State University, on the supposition that anything relevant would have found its way into the files of their history or language depts.  I haven't gotten around to trying them.  (Somebody with school contacts would be in a better position to ask, or know whom to ask.)

I wonder if any of the WPA folklore interviewers lugged portable transcription cutters around, or just took it all down by hand.  Since this was a make-work project rather than a genuine research effort, I kind of doubt they were furnished any, but among their number might have been a couple academics who brought along their own.

Regards,

Jeff