Conjunctions

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

>   According to the dictionaries, the universal CW conjunction _pi_  means
> primarily "and", but also "or, then, besides, but".
>   But I don't feel comfortable using the same word for "and" and also for
> "but" and "or".
>   This would work for a trade language, but an everyday language like the GR
> creole should discriminate between these meanings.

This is a little hard for me to answer, because all the Grand Ronde elders I
heard had also spoken English their entire (or virtually entire) lives, and
didn't think anything of borrowing something from English when it suited them: 
hence, we have both _bEt_ and _or_ in our dictionary.  _pi_ appears in contexts
translatable both by English 'and' and 'but'; it is also used in comparisons: 
ukuk man yaka manak'i hayash pi mayka 'that man is bigger than you'.

>Duane
> Pasco uses the word _keschi_ (which, according to the dictionaries, means
> "notwithstanding, although")

This is from the Chinookan particle k'aXchi 'to try (without succeeding)'.  In
Chinuk Wawa it is an adverb:  e.g. k'aXchi nayka munk-kakwa 'I tried (but
failed) to do it'.

>   Only
> in Phillips' "Chinook Book" I have seen the interogative particle _na(h)_
> used with the sense "or" in interogative context: "Klaxtah man, Chim, nah
> Bill?" = "Which man, Jim or (perhaps) Bill?" (Literally, "Which man, Jim? No?
> Bill?")

The Phillips example I don't think quite flies as Grand Ronde CW, but perhaps it
exemplifies an extension from the meaning '-?-' to 'or?'.  Something similar
could be done with pus 'if, would, should'.  E.g., maybe, "Laksta uk man?, pus
Chim ukuk?  pus Bill ukuk?"  'who is that man?  could it be Jim?  be Bill?' 
Henry

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