Huloima Cheechako

[Francisc Czobor]

Klahowya / LaXayEm

Nayka niym Francisc Czobor pi nayka mitlayt kupa Bukarest, Rumania (Yurop -
ka san chaku).
My name is Francisc Czobor and I live in Bucharest, Romania (East Europe).
I have to confess that I'm in love with Chinook Wawa!
(I don't like the term "Jargon" - it's improper).
It's so easy to learn and to use - it has indeed the vocation of an
international language
(as stated by some authors of the 19th century).
You might wonder what an East-European has to do with Chinook Wawa.
I am not a linguist and all I know from the American continent by direct
experience is
San Francisco with surroundings and the airport of Detroit (in September
2000 I attended a
week-long scientific conference in SF and changed planes in Detroit).
Since childhood I became very interested in Native American culture
(all started with the novels of Fenimore Cooper and Karl May, you know...)
But subsequently I have read more "serious" books on the subject and became
particularly
interested in the Native American languages.
Since I was a teenager (now I'm 43) I learned that there was in use in the
Pacific Northwest
a Chinook trade language, based on the Chinook Native language (of the
Penutian phylum).
>From that moment I was eager to learn more about this language, but
unfortunately at that
moment I didn't found any resources on this subject in my country.
In the University Library of Bucharest, where I used to study all the books
on Native
American languages available there, all that I found is that a language of
West USA
(don't remember which - seemingly one from California) has two borrowings
from Chinook:
pits "cat" and mu: "cow" (but now I know that in fact in CW "cat" is pus or
puspus, and
"cow" is musmus; that language seemingly altered substantially the
loanwords).
But now, with the advent of the Internet, the things changed radically.
Some couple of weeks ago I found almost incidentally (when browsing the
Internet looking
for North American Native language sites) a site with a short description
of "Chinook
Jargon" and with a link to something providential for me:
Jim Holton's "Chinook Jargon - The Hidden Language of the Pacific
Northwest".
All my dreams were fulfilled! The site states:
"An online version is available for your enjoyment and perusal".
And indeed I fully enjoyed and perused it! This is my first and most
important source for
the knowledge of Chinook Wawa. And what I like the most, it is the
orthography chosen
for this book: Jim Holton's intent (stated in the foreword) was "to
minimize barriers to
the language for speakers of western European languages." And indeed I
think he succeeded.
Because the English-based orthography of the "classical" dictionaries
(Gibbs, Shaw, etc.)
is difficult for a non-English European, and many times, reading these
books, I can not
figure out how to pronounce a word (for instance the ending "-ie" is not
clear for me if
it is to be pronouced [-i:] or [-ay]).
On the other hand, the scientific transcription of Native-spoken Chinook
Wawa is also
difficult for an European who doesn't make the distinction k~q, who doesn't
use "barred-L",
aspirated and glottalized consonants etc. (and I have the impression that
these distinctions
are not critical for understanding the Wawa, even if they are important
for "correct
speaking").
All in all, Jim Holton's work is extraordinary.
Hayash mersi, Chim!
(I saw in Phillips' "Chinook Book" that the CJ form of the name "Jim"
is "Chim").
Another important source that helped me very much, despite its baffling
English-based
spelling, is Mike Clevens excellent site, which offered me also the first
insight into
the Chinook Wawa of Kamloops and its Duployan shorthand.
Hiyu mahsie, Mike!
Third, unmeasurably useful is for me Jeff Kopp's "Directory to on-line
Jargon dictionaries
and other references". There I found links to all the "classics": Gibbs,
Shaw, Phillips,
Le Jeune, Demers/Blanchet/St.Onge, Hale, etc.etc., and the tremendously
important "Texts
in Chinook Jargon" by Jacobs.
Hayu masie, Jeff!
(a few days ago I found another valuable site with such links: Leanne
Riding's "Dusty old
jargon tomes from way back").
Very helpful was for me also the "Tenas Wawa" site, especially the "Moola
John" story, that
I have read completely (I tryed to read only the left side, that in Chinook
Wawa, resorting
to the right, English side only when necessary).
And, last not least, this Chinook List was very useful. I have read
thoroughly the whole
Archives of the List before subscribing, finding many answers and entering
somehow into
the general atmosphere of the Pacific NW... But I still have a lot of
questions and
therefore I will bore you from time to time with them...

ALki wext,
Francisc

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