Another short CJ lesson

[David D. Robertson]

>From "Kamloops Wawa", Dec. 1894, #123, page 200...


<19o.  High Bar>  Shosif kopa Hai Bar pi kansih wiht tanas-man
wik-kata pus chako-til-tomtom kopa Chinuk pipa.


<19o.  High Bar>  Joseph PREPOSITION High Bar and some.number more young-
male
not-how in.order.to become-tired-spirit PREPOSITION Chinook(.Jargon) paper.


<19o.  High Bar>  Joseph from High Bar and several other boys
can't get tired of the Chinook paper ["Kamloops Wawa"].


COMMENTS...
-- <kansih> has 2 meanings.  If used as a question, it means "How many?"
If used as an adjective in a statement, it means "some number (of);
several; a few".  Can you see how this makes sense?

-- The preposition <kopa> has many meanings, as we constantly see in the
Jargon.  In our example here, it occurs once with the meaning "from" and
once with the meaning "of".  Can you find other meanings of <kopa> in
Jargon sentences you've seen?  (Hint:  Use the "Search" button in our
list's archives at <listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/chinook.html>, to
search for the word _kopa_ or _khapa_.)

-- Notice how the words <tanas> "little" and <man> "male" fuse together to
form the common Jargon term <tanas-man> "boy".  What would <tanas kluchmin>
mean, if <kluchmin> = "female"?

-- The word <kata> has 2 meanings, like <kansih> above.  If one of the
meanings is "some way; somehow", what do you think the other meaning is?

-- Can you see how the generic negative <wik> + <kata> = "there's no way;
(I/you/he/they etc.) can't"?

-- Note the word <pus>; it can mean "for", "in order to / to (do
something)", or "if".  Can you see the connections between these meanings?
Can you see why the meaning "in order to" is the most appropriate one here?

-- "To become" is expressed in Jargon with the word <chako>, literally "to
come (to)"; can you see how the literal meaning got extended to mean
also "to come to be / to become"?

-- The way we express someone's habitual temperament in this variety of
Jargon is to make a compound word using <tomtom> "spirit/heart".  For
example, <saliks> "angry" + <tomtom> = "mean".  <kapswala> "to steal" +
<tomtom> = "greedy; thieving".  So <til-tomtom> would mean something
like "permanently tired".

-- The word <pipa> literally means "paper", and has many meanings depending
on context...in the present case, it's part of a phrase we commonly see
in "Kamloops Wawa", referring to the newspaper itself:  <Chinuk pipa>
= "the Chinook [Jargon] newspaper".

Cheers,

--Dave