Chilcotins represented as talking CW-English mix in 1895

[David Robertson]

Here is one more anecdote that represents a foolish person as talking a
mix of English and Chinuk Wawa.  It's from Kamloops Wawa #154 (July 1897),
pages [99]-100.

'Another curious item is sometimes related by the pioneers of British
Columbia relating to the "Heroic Times."  Sometime about 1858, when the
Indians began first to see the articles of food imported by the first
traders in the country, an Indian came to the trading post, decided upon
procuring for himself a sack of "Sapplel" or flour.  He first put his hand
on a sack of sugar, and asked "How much this Sapplel?"  "Twenty Dollars"
was the answer.  Then, pointing to a fifty pound sack of flour: "And how
much ookook Saplel?"  "Twelve dollars."  At last he took attention to a
sack of salt, and he came with the question: "And how much this
Sapplel?"  "Six Dollars."  "I will take this;" and on the remark of the
trader that salt was not a very good article to be used as "sapplel" he
said: "May be not good for white men, but for a Savage, ayas tloos, very
good."  So he took the sack of salt and went his way.  He was no sooner at
home when he lit a fire and prepared to make his pottage.  He put a few
handfuls of salt in his tin kettle, and began to make it boil.  After some
time he tasted his new fashion food; it did not taste very good.  "May be
it is not cooked enough," said he, and he continued to make fire and to
boil his soup, tasting it every now and then, until the moment when all
the water having been evaporated, the salt remained dry at the bottom of
his kettle.'

--Dave R


On Wed, 18 May 2005 19:09:25 -0400, David Robertson <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
wrote:

>There is a comparable mix of Chinuk Wawa with English, in Kamloops Wawa
>#130 (July 1895), on page 100:
>
>[Ignace Dick of Lillooet Meadows, BC {mentioned in a preceding English-
>language section} was at High Bar showing off how he could read any
>language in shorthand; Le Jeune specifies here that he read French,
>English, Stó:lô & ?Thompson.  When he went back to where he was working,
>Ignace sent a letter to High Bar, quoted here as being in an English-CW
>mix:
>
>“Yu want tu bit mi, pi yu kant bit mi.  Ai no ol Chinuk pipa.”
>
>{“You want to beat me, but you can’t beat me.  I know all of the
>shorthand.”  CSH translation is given for readers’ benefit.}  --Le Jeune
>says the High Bar people were very amused by this, and compliments him
>using a similar English-CW mix:
>
>“Skukum wawa, Inas Dik, skukum wawa mai boi.”
>
>{“Great words, Ignace Dick, great words my boy.”}]
>
>--Dave R.
>
>
>On Tue, 17 May 2005 18:09:55 -0400, David Robertson <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
>wrote:
>
>>So why are Chilcotin Indians represented as speaking a mix of Chinuk Wawa
>>and English in an 1895 issue of Kamloops Wawa?  (To be exact, in the
>>Sugarcane Tintin, a newspaper within Kamloops Wawa's issue #126 of March
>>1895.)
>>
>>They say: "Halo, tanas man, wat is d matir?"  (Hello, young man, what is
>>the matter?")
>>
>>And: "Ai don no, nsaika ilo komtaks maika kapho" (I don't know, we don't
>>know your big brother [=Kamloops Wawa/the shorthand writing]).
>>
>>That last bit is a clue that these words are being put in their mouths, I
>>think; the word kapho wasn't in noticeable use in that region.  It's a
>>dictionary word.
>>
>>Is this for comic effect (Sugarcane Tintin was heavy on the humor),
>>portraying Chilcotins as bad speakers of both Chinuk Wawa & English?
>>
>>Your ideas?
>>
>>--Dave R.
>>
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>
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