Gibbs's Alphabetical vocabulary of the Chinook language

[Tony Johnson]

LaXayam Francisc.  A quick comment:

 

I believe that the Chehalis / Salish component of Chinuk Wawa is integral to it.  I would argue against it being a later addition.  Chinookans have always intermarried with neighboring Salish speakers and in most cases have been wholly bilingual with them.  This includes my family history (it also includes my wife's family as well as seemingly every other Chinook I know).  You are right to point out that Salish languages (Lower Chehalis, Tillamook, etc.) were the last of these languages spoken by our communities, but just to say it, the communities still maintain their Chinookan identity.  The Chinook vs. Chehalis distinction is a product of geography.  The linguistic distinction is a little more blurry, especially in more recent years with the degradation of our languages.  aLqi ntsayka wawa.

 

hayu masi (many thanks),

 

 

 

Tony A. Johnson

Cultural Education Coordinator

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

9615 Grand Ronde Road

Grand Ronde, OR 97347

503-879-2084

 

________________________________

From: The Chinook List [mailto:CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Francisc Czobor
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:04 AM
To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Gibbs's Alphabetical vocabulary of the Chinook language

 

Klahowya konaway six!

 

Did you notice that George Gibbs's "Alphabetical vocabulary of the Chinook language" is freely available on-line now?

 

The address is:

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=65

 

Although the graphy used is far from the modern phonetic orthography, and, as the author mentions, it contains words from different dialects (Chinook proper, Clatsop, probably also Wakiakum) and was published in an unrevised form, for someone for me it is nevertheless useful, to find etymologies for Jargon words.

So, for instance, now I know that iLEGwa "mud turtle" (Jacobs's "Texts in Chinook Jargon") / ethlagwo "turtle" ("Eula dictionary") comes from the Chinook word rendered by Gibbs as it-lá-hwa, et-lak-hwa "tortoise" [sincerely speaking, because the word was recorded by John Hudson and his daughter Eula Petite, I suspected first that it might be Kalapuyan; but then I realized that people, even multilingual, don't mix up the several languages they know so readily...].

It is true that in this vocabulary Gibbs gives as Chinook words that in his Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon appear of Chehalis origin (like for instance sitshum "swim" or tlukutlh "broad"), but this might be due to the increasing influence of the Chehalis who, if I remember correctly, assimilated linguistically the last speakers of Lower Chinook.

 

Francisc


To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'. To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'. Hayu masi!


To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
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