Interior BC CJ regionalism: "komtakst"

[David Robertson]

...Or if you were going to spell it the way the old popular Chinook 
dictionaries wrote, "kumtuxed"!  (Wow, that looks weird to me after so long 
reading Jargon in shorthand.)

This is a form that I've never found anywhere but in the shorthand CJ 
letters written by BC First Nations people.  You won't find it in Johnson's 
master list (1978).  So it's a regionalism, like Grand Ronde "palach" (to 
give) is a regionalism that corresonds to the more common "patlach".

I think I've found one Coastal person using "komtakst", a Sliammon guy who 
wrote letters to Kamloops.  Native people there are known to have had 
letter-writing parties to get shorthand communications out to Catholic 
First Nations villages across BC, so J.F. may have picked up "komtakst" 
from those folks.  Everyone who used this regionalism besides him was BC 
Interior Salish.  (Thompson, Okanagan, Shuswap, Lillooet.)  

Some real examples, which explains the weird spellings that follow:

"Maika *komtakst* ilo naika tomtom pi naika klatwa nanitsh masaika"
(YOU KNOW NOT I THINK & I GO SEE YOU-ALL)
= 'You know I didn't even think twice about visiting you folks.'
(Undated, by J.B. <Shuswap>, Shhkaltkmah, BC)

"...alta naika tiki mamuk *komtakst* kopa [maika?] ikti naika mamuk kopa 
ukuk ilihi..."
(NOW I WANT MAKE KNOW TO YOU WHAT I DO AT THIS PLACE)
= '...now I want to let you know what I've been doing at this place...'
(July 189?, by C.F. <Thompson>, North Bend, BC)

"...naika tiki drit *komtakst* kansih ayu [h]loima bok milait..."
(I WANT REALLY KNOW HOW-MUCH MANY DIFFERENT BOOK EXIST)
= '...I want to know for sure how many other books there are...'
(February 1899, by J.F. <Sliammon>, Marble Bay, BC)

Any questions about the grammar?  Spelling?  Other things?  Let me know.  
Cheers,

--Dave R

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