Another cite of Lushootseed CJ [thanks to Tina Wynecoop!]

[Dave Robertson]

Thanks to Tina W. for this.

"Through the first 87 of its 150 years, Seattle grew up with Rolland Herschell Denny.  Rolland Denny was 72 days old when his parents, Arthur and Mary Denny, carried him ashore to Alki Point on Nov. 13, 1851.  The Indians who greeted the 'Denny Party' held little hope for the pale little redhead.  'Acha da memaloose,' they repeated, 'Too bad, he will die.'

"When he did in 1939..."

(_Seattle Times_, December 30, 2001)

According to the Bates-Hess-Hilbert Lushootseed Dictionary, /7aCEda/ in Liland's writing, or something like /?achEda/ in email CJ writing (primary stress on 1st syllable, secondary stress on 3rd syllable) is

"an exclamation of mild surprise, often (but not always) about something that is unfortunate."

I bet money that most speakers of Chinuk-Wawa used, as the living ones do, some interjections from their native languages when talking Jargon.  Numerous old CJ vocabularies contain interjections like "Hwah!" and "Ana!", which match items from indigenous PNW languages; the latter is probably related to Lushootseed /7aCEda/.  Grand Ronde CJ speakers seem to've made good use of "Oh!" and "Well!"  Perhaps interjections are among the most easily borrowed, yet least stable, items in linguistic contact.

-- Dave
--
"Asking a linguist how many languages she knows is like asking a doctor how many diseases he has!" -- anonymous



__________________________________________________________________
Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop at Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/

Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/