New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-15
THE CHINOOK JARGON.
PECULIAR PIGEON ENGLISH IN USE n
THE NORTHWEST
INVENTED BY THE EARLY TRADERS WITH THE

,r,o our language 1t Is probable that nothfnr
s,rkes a visitor to the Pacific coast more forcbly
than the common use Of the Chinook jargon Ho
ho,rs. "Kahowya" instead Of How dye dor,
lie soc, the advertisement OF THE Skookum Lim.
her company; ne reads of the dongs OF The
r,l,icums" an important political organization IN
the State Every one has heard Of this peculiar
language and many know in brief its origin The
first trading vessels appeared In Puget Sound a.
e.r,v as l7s9 and little later post was estab-
usbed In Nootka Harbor. The language OF tho
Nootkas was found TO be not only extremely dif-
acult OF pronunciation but so irregular Of structure
that the Americans made little effort to acquire
more of It than the few words which, added to
sIgns made barter possible Afterward. when they
Visited other tribes the Chinooks OF the Columbia
River the Fiatheads and the Inequalities, they
found that each mad its own language. differing
widely from all the others. Fortunately, the ma
tlyes soon picked up little English and the few
Noo,ka phrases which the traders were able to
pronounce When Astor's expeditions made their
ars, nermanent settlements in Oregon the new
sneech already consisted OF the numerals up 70 ten
with a word for 100 the pronorns /, he. you. they
this etc., and some twenty other Indispensable
words The next Corners were French Canadian
voyagers happy, light-hearted, friendly folk who,
unlike their Saxon predecessors came at once into
familiar relations with the Indians The natura
consequence was that the trade language received
a large addition OF French words. including names
Of various articles OF food clothing tools parts OF
the body the verbs commonest to the Gallo tongue,
to sing to dance, run. and several polite inter-
iectons such as 'mercl' and ''e diabe"'
In 1863 the Smithsonian Institution Issued a
Chinook dictionary by George Gibbs. 1t contained
about Az words of which 22l were native Chinook
30 salish Oathead), % Nootka, "a French and 81
English. The remaining 10 were rude limitations OF
natural sounds-tiktik. watch lp-lp, to boil; he
he laughter fun. Several dictionaries have since
been published. and show the great changes which
the jargon constantly suffers. There is marked
decrease in the number OF French words and cor
responding increase Of English and Indian words.
A complete dictionary could scarcely be compiled
by any person. since in different localities the
jargon has a character Of It's own, certain words
being obsolete in place while in another they
may be in common This is not strange. when
1t il considered that Chinook IS spoken in Northern
California Southern and Eastern oregon. the Will
lamette Valley, Northern Idaho. Northern and Gen.
trail Washington. Puget Sound. British Columbia
and Northeastern Alaska.
SPEECH EASILY ACQUIRED.
Anyone possessed of a good memory can easily
ACQUIRE enough OF 1t for everyday use. An exec
lent pocket dictionary costs two bits az the book
stores and a few hours OF study VII give general
idea OF structure and prcnuncaton-and even
small vocabulary. Originally the letters I, J. " r
and the nasal ng were entirely absent, but now one
occasionally hears al Of these except r. when ths
native palate Sill rejects
The noun is OF course, the predomnating part OF
speech verbs and adjectives following. There are
few conjunctions or propositions. Some words are
extraordinarily expressive. "Wawa," for example.
means talk II also means TO talk or any knd OK
talk-to tel, report. announce. exclam, ASK reply.
request Added TO the names of various animals Il
means to bark, new, baa, neigh, quack, grow,
cackle or squeak. Seventy meanings have been
counted. and there are probably more "Cutus' IS
a noun meaning a good-for nothing: an adjective
meaning bad. careless. dirty, rude imperneni.
worthless, shabby. s.ippery-in fact, almost any
thing uncompilmentary. To offset this tendency
there many instances where Ions phrase is re-
quired 10 translate single English word A widow
is described as "klootchman yanKa man meme-
loose" woman her husband dead. To SOW GRAM.
marsh sapolil konoway kar kopa ilahe' Ito 'eaNe
wheat under the ground. One could scarcely es-
cane a snakeb.te If he waited TO be warned or tne
reptiles approach. Brother Snakes Chinook ap-
peaton Is "o-luk pee cultus ic-ta klatawa kopa
u.ahe" There are more words than men In a jury
-Tenas -huju man kopa court klaska tkegh kumtux
kopa konaway mesachie, pc mamook kioshe hopa
tllcums' Ga few al court who wish 10 know
about all badness and straighten out the people).
We are reminded OF Mark Twains essay on the
German language.
IT'S USE IN MISSION WORK
The missionaries find the jargon of great use IN
their work At the Skakomish agency In TINS
State are settled three distinct tribes, not one OK
which can speak or understand the language OF the
others They all speak Chinook. however, and the
church services are held In that speech The resi-
dent missionary the Rev. Myron Ees. has written
a book of hymns which is in at many missions
Here is one which is sung to the tune Of Hold
the Fort
Saghalle Tyee yaka papeh.
God his paper;
Yaka Bible koshe:
CHS Bible Os) good; m
Kopa konoway Boston tilcums
dor al, American people,
Yaka HAS kloshe
Qt Is great gcod)
In six verses and a chorus the Bible is declared
good for King George (English). Pasiooks French).
Klale man negroes), China and Kanaka tillieums
being all the world with which the humble Sl"asi
has come In contact.
Another hymn sung with peculiar vigor concerns
the use OF irewater:
Spose neska muckamuck whiskey!
ar we drink whiskey),
Whiskey muckamuck nesika dola.
Which needs neither argument nor translation
"Muckamuck" signifies eat or eating food or
necessary to distinguish between eating ana drinN-
ing. the latter becomes muckamuck chuck eating
chuck'' (the sea-. 'skookum chuck "a rapid cur
! renD, chuck chahco' 0he tide Is rising chuck
keeiapie' the tide Is fa!ling)
TWO SIGNIFICANT WORDS.
"Tamanous' is a term which covers very larss
meaning. Briefly. 1t has somewhat the significance
| OF the word medicine used by the Indian or
! the prarles AS a noun It refers TO any spiritual
being. good orevil, but TO God Satan. The
ceremonies by which these spirits are influenced are
called tamanouses. The missionaries have never
succeeded in shaking the belief In tamanous The
most faithful converts still cling to that tradition.
! The reservation doctor is always rated lower than
the local medicine man. and even when persons are
induced to swallow Boston pills and mixtures
they insist experimenting the dose with tam
anous
'Potatch" IL the name OF an odd custom which
obtains with the Pacific Coast Indians. II exists all
the way from the Columbia River 10 Mount 81.
Elias. but only salt water. The word IL native
| Chinook, and means TO give No Siwash man or
woman feels OF much Importance until he or she mas
held helped to hold potla,ch. for Il Is seldom