Two forms of Chinook Jargon

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

An off-list discussion Duane Pasco and I have been having about a gentleman he
knew and that I've heard a lot about, the late Gilbert McLeod of Ketchikan
Alaska, may be of interest to others on the list.

As I understand it, Gilbert McLeod grew up with Haida Indians as his neighbors
in a remote part of Alaska during the early 20th century, speaking English at
home with his missionary parents but hearing Haida outside the home; he also
grew up hearing and using a good deal of "Chinook" (Chinuk Wawa)--to such an
extent that Duane feels that Chinook was a "first language" for him (albeit it
wouldn't have been his ONLY first language).  At least two scholars have made
tape recordings and transcripts of Gilbert McLeod's Chinook, Rob Moore (who
occasionally pops up on this list) and Andrea Giles, who was working at the
time as a research assistant to Barbara Harris at the U of Victoria.  I've
personally never heard any of the tapes, but do have some transcribed samples
from Rob Moore's tapes that he sent me years ago.  I was also able to look at
some of the transcripts from Andrea Giles' tapes at Victoria last summer (I
know that Rob transcribed his own tapes; not sure who transcribed Giles's).

Comparing the two transcripts lands us in quite a quandary!  Apparently, Gilbert
McLeod spoke both of the "two forms of Chinook Jargon" at different times!  Rob
Moore's transcripts show sounds usually associated with an Indian pronunciation
of Jargon:  barred-lambda, barred-l (the "hissed" voicelss l-sounds very
characteristic of NW languages), q (the indigenous "k" sound made with the root
of the tongue deep in the throat, vs. the blade of the tongue against the roof
of the mouth), back-x (a fricative or "raspy" sound made with the tongue close
to the position of q); no ejectives however in the samples I have.

In the Harris project transcripts, by contrast, words with
barred-lambda/barred-l in Moore's transcripts show "kl", as would be expected
for an English speaker's Jargon; likewise there is always "k" not "q" (don't
find any examples of back-x words in my notes).  This in contrast to some of
McLeod's Haida words appearing in the transcript, which show barred-l, q, a
fricative x (not sure if that's supposed to be back-x or front-x), AND
ejectives.

Judging by the biographical info recorded for McLeod, I would expect a Chinook
more like what Rob heard:  he grew up around Indians and actually learned a
good deal of Haida (Rob observes that while his Haida was more passive than
active, he obviously knew quite a lot).  And in marked contrast to so many
English-speaking users of yesteryear, he did not learn Chinook from a book--he
learned directly from people around him, most of whom were Indians.

So what explains the "two forms of Chinook Jargon" in these two transcripts? 
Did he know both forms and use each on occasions he considered appropriate? 
Were any of the transcribers standardizing according to their own idea of what
Chinook is supposed to sound like?  Any ideas?  Henry

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