<kuc>: Boas "Chinook Indian Language" question

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

I think you make a good point, Maria.  Historians have tended not to recognize
how far and wide Native people could and did travel and trade intertribally,
independently of their interactions with the first White seafaring traders.

Saying that, I think that the phonetic distortions in much of the Nuuchahnulth
part of Chinuk Wawa (e.g. "kakshat", supposed to be from N qaXSitL, "haykwa"
for N Hiixwa, etc. etc.) do point to a trade language developed between
Nuuchahnulths and (largely) English-speaking seafarers, which other tribes then
adopted for the same purpose--that is, to carry on trade with the White
seafarers.  This was apparently incorporated into Chinuk Wawa with the first
seafarer visits to the lower Columbia.  On the other hand, Indian varieties of
Chinuk Wawa show no such phonetic distortions in the Chinookan part of Chinuk
Wawa, suggesting that English speakers did not shape that part of CW.  I think
that a good argument can be made for some kind of simplified Chinookan in pre-
contact currency on the lower Columbia.  How widely spread it was beyond the
Columbia, I don't know.  Possibly, many tribes used simplified varieties of
their respective languages to facilitate indigenous trade.

That "kush" does make one think:  evidence of early seafarers' klush, klosh for
the word heard as Lush, tLosh, etc. in Indian CW pronunciations?  Also note
that Boas records Lower Chinook tL-u-sh 'it is'.  Also note that the cluster
k+l__ may have been resisted by Lower Chinook speakers:  at least, Boas almost
always writes the clusters k/q/k'/q'/g + l__ with an intervening "schwa" in
place of +.  Any Chinookanists care to comment?  Henry

Quoting Maria Pascua <mcrcmaria at CENTURYTEL.NET>:

> Interesting.  It is difficult to determine sometimes when various words
> became known and eventually or quickly became a part of the jargon.  My
> tribe (Makah) traded up and down the coast as well; Jewitt (1803-5) mentions
> Makah (he calls us kla-asatX which is how the muwachatX / nuuchanulth refer
> to us as people who live on the outside, i.e., living on the coast as
> opposed to inland).  We also traded with the Chinooks, and also had arranged
> marriages with the surrounding tribes including Chinooks -  arranged
> marriage was the coastal Indian custom of the earlier time periods.  There
> is a Makah woman listed on the Chinook roles who was such a bride.
> According to oral history, there were people here who knew several
> languages, so I think it must have been common to know at least two
> languages.  I can see how various words and phrases were probably shared by
> the tribes before the Jargon developed into its expanded use with European
> languages.
> Maria
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Chinook List [mailto:CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG]On Behalf
> Of Leanne Riding
> Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2004 8:21 PM
> To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Re: <kuc>: Boas "Chinook Indian Language" question
>
> I would say that <kuc> came first, because the closest, earliest
> analogy I can find in CJ is from Franchere's list, as part of that
> word which we talked about earlier, Ste Kech, je t'aime (I love
> you).
>
> I've been interested in Franchere because he's a very important
> figure in the development of CJ. He felt that this was a "chinook"
> word, but he could have been mistaken.
>
> We know that the Nuu-chah-nulth were among the first on the
> northern coast regularly visited for trade by British, American,
> and Spanish ships, as well as ships serving the Russians in present
> day Alaska. We have a list of words from James Cook's visit (1778)
> that includes many words which ended up in CJ. We also know that
> both English and Spanish used these words to communicate with the
> Nuu-chah-nulth. For instance, ten years later in 1789 when Callicum
> exclaimed that commander Martinez was "pisce" and "capsil,"
> (rendered "peshak" and "capsualla" in English) Callicum was shot to
> death.
>
>
> Here are a few familiar-sounding words that were gathered up for
> English use on Cook's voyage, by King (1778):
> Tanass, or tanas, A man.
> Wook, or Wik, No. (The word recorded for Yes was Ai, or aio.)
> Wik ait, None, not any.
> Macook, To Barter.
> Seekemaile, Iron or metal of any sort.
> Chauk, Water.
> Pacheetl, or pachatl, To give.
> Tseeapoox, A conic cap made of mat, worn on the head.
>
> As for the more southerly parts, there is evidence that the
> inhabitants of the Columbia River didn't understand the
> Nuu-chah-nulth words that the traders tried on them. Perhaps they
> simply didn't recognize the English form of words that they knew
> quite well, or perhaps the words had not arrived yet. However, it
> would not take long. Contemporary witnesses noted that the
> Nuu-chah-nulth's busy trade network included deliveries of prepared
> Camas root from the south. Thirty years after Cook went by, John R.
> Jewett (c.1803-1806) recorded seemingly endless comings and goings
> of boats, bringing news and goods to Maquinna, many from very far
> away. The traffic of indigenous boats he described travelling the
> outer coast outdid the european boats in their number, and since
> 1789, it was quite common for these boats to be equipped with
> sails. So, there is still a likelihood that some form of shared
> dialogue existed before the formation of CJ, although it may not
> have been the same one that the traders preferred to use, or would
> have been able to pronounce if they had known about it.
>
>  From Jewett, about thirty years later:
> Klootz-mah, Woman.
> Tanassis, Child.
> Cha-hak, Fresh water.
> Wik, No.
> Moo-watch, Bear.
> Sick-a-minny, Iron.
> Cham-mass, Fruit.
> Cham-mas-sish, Sweet or pleasant to the taste.
> Pook shit-tle, To blow.
> Ma-mook su mah, To go to fish.
> Iy ah-ish, Much.
> Ko-mme-tak, I understand.
>
>
> About forty years after Cook's visit, trade ships were frequent,
> scouring the coast for otter pelts and provisions, and there were a
> few native people with European ancestors around by that time.
> However, all posts that were built in the lower reaches of the
> Columbia, including those put up by Lewis and Clarke, were quickly
> abandoned -- that is, until 1811 when the Pacific Fur Company and
> Astoria came along. Gabriele Franchere (1811-1814), was one of the
> few at Astoria who could speak anything resembling the chinook
> language. This made him so valuable that his bosses at first tried
> pay him, and then to trick him, into staying longer. Even after he
> had crossed the Rockies on his way home, he was asked to go back to
> the Pacific. Franchere also left a list of words which he seemed to
> feel were genuine "Tchinouke". Although this frenchman probably was
> the greatest contributor to Chinook Jargon as we know it, Franchere
> himself never went to Nootka Sound and only knew about it from
> heresay. Chinook Jargon did not yet officially exist, but clear
> crossovers in the list can be seen from other languages.
>
> Here is a sampling of words from Franchere:
> Tilikum, les hommes (people).
> Papische' aiyouks, Europe'ens (Europeans).
> Koutane, cheval (horse).
> Kamoux, chien (dog).
> Moulak, chevreuil (deer).
> Equannet, saumon (salmon).
> Elaighte', esclave (slave).
> Tanasse, enfant (child).
> Olik, fille (girl).
> Ilekai, la terre (the land).
> Icanneue, piroque (canoe).
> Patlatch, un pre'sent (gift).
> Passischque, couverte (blanket).
> Passische' drap (sheet).
> Kainoulk, tabac (tobacco).
> Sakquallal, fusil (gun).
> Tane tse koulama, montre-moi ta pipe (Show me your pipe/calumet).
> Nix, quatiasse moulak thlousk, Non, donne mois de la viande (No,
> give me the meat).
>
> Plenty of grist for the mill!
>
>
> -- Leanne (http://timetemple.com)
>
>
> On Sunday, September 19, 2004, at 02:31 , David Robertson wrote:
> >
>
> > We know "kloosh" came from Nootka, now also called Nuu-chah-nulth,
> > a third
> > unrelated language which is a member of the Wakashan family on
> > Vancouver
> > Island, BC.  "Kloosh" is how English-speakers in the late 1700s
> > pronounced
> > the Nootka word that's approximately /tlulh/.
> >
> > How likely is it that <kuc> existed before "cloosh" came on the
> > scene, and
> > that this word & the coincidentally similar CJ word influenced
> > each other's
> > pronunciation around the mouth of the Columbia?
> >
> > Or alternatively, how likely is that <kuc> came into use only
> > after "cloosh" came along?
> >
> > --Dave R
> >
> > To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond
> > privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
> >
> >
>
> To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to
> the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
>
> To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to
> the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
>
>

To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!