A shorthand CJ letter (T.S. Bulmer)

[David D. Robertson]

Hi, there's a pretty interesting "letter to the editor" in an issue of
Kamloops Wawa (#24, May 8 1892, page 2 is the start) that I just noticed.
It was written in Chinook Jargon, in shorthand, by a reader in Utah.  The
editor of Kamloops Wawa (Father Le Jeune) appears to have reproduced it as
received, so we see a good example of a different variety of CJ than
K.W.'s usual.

This letter refers to a famous story about Jargon.  It shows us another
example of the cool term "Chinook man" meaning an interpreter.  It's a
good lesson in other ways, too.  ;-)


With no further ado, here's a first excerpt:


"'Ukuk kaltash Tshinuk Wawa[,]' iht man wawa kopa naika ankati[,] pi naika
xlwima tomtom.

"Spos xilo Shinuk Wawa mitlait, kata kopa nsaika, nsaika tiki wawa kopa
Siwash kwansim?

"Nawitka[,] xilo Tshinuk Wawa mitlait ayu aias wawa kakwa Boston Wawa:
nanitsh[,] ankati iht liplit iaka klatwa kopa iht ilihi iaka nim British
Kolombia.  Iaka tiki wawa kopa Siwash; pi iaka tiki kaltash aias wawa kopa
klaska:  spos iaka chi wawa[,] iaka wawa kakwa kopa Boston
wawa:  'Children of the forest.'  Iaka drit sik tomtom spus iaka komtaks
iaka Tshinuk man iaka wawa kakwa:  'Ayu tanas man kopa stik.'  Wik ayu
aias wawa mitlait kopa Tshinuk wawa.  Spos klaksta tiki wawa[,] iaka wawa
drit[,] hilo iaka wawa tsim wawa.  Klunas ukuk wik masatshi.  Klunas spos
Boston tilikoms wawa Boston Wawa[,] ukuk drit tlus pus klaska wawa drit
wawa.

"Doktor <T.S. Bulmer, Richmond City, Utah> iaka mamuk tsim ukuk."


Translation:  "'That no-good Chinook talk,' a man said to me once[,] but
I'm of a different opinion.

"If there were no Chinook Jargon, how would it be for us, [if] we need to
talk to Indians all the time?

"Really, Chinook Jargon doesn't have a lot of big words like English:
look, some time ago a certain priest went to a place called British
Columbia.  He wanted to talk to the Indians; and he just wanted to use big
words to them:  when he began to talk, he talked like this in
English:  "Children of the forest."  He was very upset when he realized
his Chinook interpreter was saying it like this:  "Lots of boys in the
woods."  There aren't many big words in Chinook Jargon.  If someone wants
to talk, he talks straight, he doesn't use book words at all.  Maybe this
isn't a bad thing.  Maybe when White people talk English, that's just fine
as long as they use straight words.

"Dr. T.S. Bulmer, Richmond City, Utah, wrote this."