Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-11-26
rnE ISBiAS LANGUAGE. OF ptCxr
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rnE NbtAN LASeraGE. OF rtcxr
saUSD.
iSkrITKs FOE THK Pos1 -IsTZLIIsxScxz. 3
10 stranger sho frss listens To the
talk OF the lndiaLs il seems "a i. ,her.
could be no regularity to shsm. Thsir
eioosrish seems 10 accord eRrely with
sns oafnoe appearance of the Iodlaa.
i ne Hess acquaintance which ve nav.
v1tn 10, the better Of ve are. or a, 80,
Ne lose nothing by lsttine IL alone A
closer sssdy OF them shova ho~sxs,
that soBe knowledge NAV he GA
where ve least look for II. Ana a..
valuable metals may Be found even in
:he dirt. ~
" sas been q YORK Of ID. vr;,s, N
taks down 800 words, phrasss and ssn.
tsuees in the Skokomish or Tvsrs ar
Claiism, Chsrnskum, Upusf Chebs l,s
Lover Chshalis asd Soaakson d,sisc,
OF tbs Nisqually languages. FOR the Fin
nslo9ical Bureau al washinston' ,.rv.
ing to number from $50 in ths Chsns
kum to ose IN the ClAllam. AZ h.v.
vocabulary OF the Makah lsnonag~
furnished by Hon. J. q. Svan - r.
Smithsoniaa Institution. The.. 80
prise about all she laneuaoes snoksn =.
the Sound. a. the SkoEomish Pat ~,
Isen, DnxAnish aad Psyallas Indians
varying % little a. 70 be eas,ly anas,
stood by each other. In fact IL u aIroos,
~ inter, sroei language for the indians
on tne sound, being understood by a
iAlRe noooer OF the Indians of other
tnees, ana used as a means Of iot.r
ooiumunication, much ~ the Chinook
}aseoh 10 used betveen the whites and
inoians; Inc Lommi 10 another dialect
OF the Clallam.
following facts:
LIST. Pecaliarities of the lanpusoes
me Ivana or Skokomish Language
SHOWS two peculiarities-the constant
recurrence Of the broad souna az a a.
In father, and a deeply cultural sonnd
of L. In l96 words, which were tstso
AZ random and which Contained s3s sv \
tables, this sound occurred l5s t,nes in
III OF tse words; thas IL, IN iv--eichths
Of the words and about seven tvsn,v.
rooftns OF the syilables. EoRlish words
aooPeed into the Language sften snow
tne same popularity: to as Patsy becomes
rahtsy. and Boston changes to Pahsted.
Ine peculiar sound of occurs l02 tints
IN % words out of the same 1856 words.
inis ianeaaee IL spoken OILY by the
skokomish Indians on Hoods Canal.
and 10 considered BY other Indians as
difficult to learn.
The Nisqually language very often
nses tne abort sound Of q, a. IN but.
Oot OF 20 syiIables taken at random, it
10 Used o. times, or more than one third,
a. all other vowel sounds. Sometimes
IL 70 Used INTERCHANGEABLE With the short
sound OF ! and o and the broad sound
or q. different persons, aud even the
same person at different times, will pro.
aounce the same word tat or tut, enid
or chud. person vho does not under
stand any OF the Indian languages vill,
with o little Close observation, distin.
Ruish It from other languages BY the
use OF the sound Of and q. !
The Clallsm language, like the Sks-
komiah, has the broad sound OF ., but
In addition has the nasal sound of n
and na. Out OF hundred words taken
ct random, this sound occurred 76 times.
Words which are oommon to this and
other languages often are thus changed /;
30 stab in Sxokoniish becomes stang in
ClaIlam; and Dusta and Kolsid become
Nuata and Kolsim; Dowamish of the
Nisqually language beoo laes Nuwamish
in the Clallam; Deah b ~ Of the Makabs
becomes Neah Bay; and Qaidaielt of
several tribes IL changed to Quinaels,
The Chemakum language is now al
most dead language, the tribe as such
being extinct. There are ouly fifteen or
twenty Of the tribe left, and they, with
the exception Of two families, are Intsr
married among other tribes or with
whites. Thee two families are living
among the Cisllsms. having been adept
ed into the tribe, and mainly talk that
language. large number Of these words
begin with K. and quite a number of
those which are the names OF Articles
which were introduced by the whites
end In 81. reminding one of the Makah
and Mexican languages. TIE tribe for
mefly lived near Port Townsend, hetween
the Clallams and Twanas. but their Ian
guaRe shows no affinity TO either; seem
ing, however, to be related TO the Guile
uses and Hohs on the coast.
In the Upper Chehalis language 70 out
Of 100 words begin With L. and Q.
While the letter Is sometimes used, il
seldom II ever begins word.
In the Mskah language the letters Il
often OCCUR, reminding . person Of the
Mexican language. lt seems to have
very little relationship to any of the
languages On the SQUAD; its affinity, IL
lam not mistaken, being wish angusaes
further AoFth.
"a. Grammstis forms - Very many
coliscsi0ns Of words In varioas Indian
languages have been taken down by
scientific men, one or two hundred In
number, for the sake Of comparing the
different languages together, and much
has beeu learned In this way; and yet q
very interesting part Of the study. and
one fully - valuable In its results, is
that Of the grammar Of the languages.
especially that of the verb. In some Ut
thess there is unlocked for regularity,
remisdin Q person Of sne Greek and
Latin. THIS II especially trae Of she
3kokomish and NisQusily languages.
For the change In person. the termina-
ton changes regularly; and for the
change in tsnss, the prefix Is changed.
For instance, the words For l AN
drinking" IL, In Skokomish:
n