tyee / tia

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

> If we assume that "tia" was an attempt to spell a word pronounced
> something like [taye:], then this probably was a Chinookan pronunciation
> of tayi.  In Lower Chinook (and also in other varieties of Chinookan? I
> forget) the phoneme /i/ often tended to get lowered and lengthened to
> [e:] when it was stressed. The accute accent over the a in tia makes
> this seem even more likely.
>

That might explain a Chinookan pronunciation of Jargon (from Nootkan) tayi, but
it won't explain why Silverstein and Moore (cited by Moulton as authority for
the Chinookan notes) would claim that there were two words, Jargon tayi and
Chinookan tia (if indeed they DID claim that, as opposed to an editor somehow
garbling things here; Rob Moore, are you still lurking out there?).  For the LC
journal entry appearing in Moulton v. 6 p. 163, "our near neighbour Chief (or
tia)," a note on p. 164 reads:  "in Chinookan the term is tia [italicized].  In
the Chinook jargon it is tayi [italicized], which is borrowed from the Nooktan
word ta:yi: [ital.]; all mean 'chief'."  I wrote to Dell Hymes some time ago
about this:  he finds no word like tia in any of his Chinookan sources;
moreover, "it does not look like a Chinookan noun at all."  On the other hand,
the LC journal entry in Moulton v. 6 p. 81, "ti-a, co-mo-shack which Chief
beads," could be perfectly OK Chinookan, granting only that the original
meaning was "his beads" (he being the chief?).  A note on p. 82 interprets the
Chinookan as tiaq'musakS [italicized; stress over u; S = shibilant].  Hymes
parses:

t-ia-q'mus-akS
PL/prefix-his-bead-PL/suffix

--Henry


>
> email: larsent at pdx.edu
>
> Alan H. Hartley wrote:
> > Can anyone tell me what is the relationship between tyee and tia?
> > Meriwether Lewis writes [3 Jan 06 in Gary Moulton's edition of the
> > Journals 6.162] "we were visited by our near neighbours, Chief or Tia
> > [a-acute], Co-mo-wool..and six Clatsops." Moulton says in a note that
> > tia is the Chinookan word for 'chief', equivalent to the CJ term tayi
> > (from Nootkan).
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Alan
> >
>