Chinook Jargon

Most books written in English still use the term Chinook Jargon, but some linguists working with the preservation of a creolized form of the language used in Grand Ronde, Oregon, prefer the term Chinuk Wawa (with the spelling 'Chinuk' instead of 'Chinook'). Historical speakers did not use the name Chinook Wawa, however, but rather "the Wawa" or "Lelang" (from Fr. la langue, the language, or tongue). Wawa also means speech or words – "have a wawa" means "hold a parley" even in modern idiomatic English,[5] and lelang also means the physical bodypart, the tongue.[6]

The name for the Jargon varied throughout the territory in which it was used. For example: skokum hiyu in the Boston Bar-Lytton area of the Fraser Canyon, or in many areas simply just "the old trade language" or "the Hudson Bay language".

There is some controversy about the origin of the Jargon, but the consensus is that the pidgin peaked in use during the 19th century. During this era, many dictionaries were published to help settlers interact with the First Nations people living in the Pacific Northwest. Local settler families exchanged communiqués that were stylishly composed entirely in "the Chinook." Many residents of the British Columbia city of Vancouver spoke Chinook Jargon as their first language, even using it at home in preference to English. Among the first Europeans to use Chinook Jargon were traders, trappers, voyageurs, coureurs des bois, and Catholic missionaries.[24][25]

The original Jargon was a pidgin, originally used as a second language by speakers of other Native American languages in the area. It had sentence-initial negation, which is atypical of regional languages, and also didn't have typical complex morphology. It had SVO structure, while Chinookan languages and Salishan languages were VSO. However, local Athabaskan languages were SOV, so this was probably a result of contact — a cross-language compromise. Only later did Chinook Jargon acquire significant English and French lexical items.

The Jargon is influenced by individuals' accents and terms from their native languages; as Kanakas married into First Nations and non-native families, their particular mode of the Jargon is believed to have contained Hawaiian words or Hawaiian styles of pronunciation. In some areas, the adoption of further non-aboriginal words has been observed. Chinook Jargon naturally became the first language in multiracial households and in multiethnic work environments such as canneries and logging camps and ranches, where it remained the language of the workplace well into the middle of the 20th century. During the Gold Rush, Chinook Jargon was used in British Columbia at first by gold prospectors and Royal Engineers; then as industry developed, Chinook Jargon was often used by cannery workers, hop pickers, loggers, fishermen, and ranchers of diverse ethnic backgrounds. It is possible that, at one point, the population of British Columbia spoke Chinook Jargon more than any other language, even English.[26] Historian Jane Barman wrote,

The persistence of everyday relationships between Natives and Europeans is embodied in Chinook. Emerging out of early contact and the fur trade, the Chinook jargon possesses at most 700 words derived in approximately equal proportions from the powerful Chinook Indians of the lower Columbia, from the Nootka people of Vancouver Island, and from French and English... jargon provided 'an important vehicle of communication for trading & ordinary purposes.' James Douglas often spoke in Chinook when addressing Native people, a local Indian then translating his words into the local tongue. Bishop George Hills and other early Anglican clerics did the same when preaching. Chinook was the language of instruction in the school for Indian children that Hills established near Victoria in 1860.

A miner whiling away the winter of 1858 in Victoria wrote his parents that he was passing the time 'studying the Chinook Jargon and can now converse with the Indians.' A beginning clerk in the Granville general store in 1884 was handed a Chinook dictionary, his pronunciation 'in the second language of the area' being repeatedly corrected by his employer. Again, the purchasing power of Aboriginal men, women, and families is underlined...

Chinook entered the mainstream. The summertime camps of late-nineteenth century Victorians 'were nearly all given rather fantastic and often facetious names: "The Three Black Crowes" or something à la Chinook... It was only after mid-century, when almost all Indian adults had learned basic English in school, that everyday use of Chinook died out in British Columbia.[26]

A heavily creolized form of Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa) is still spoken as a first language by some residents of Oregon, much as the Métis language Michif is spoken in Canada. Hence, Chinuk Wawa as it is known in Oregon is now a creole language, distinct from the widespread and widely varied pronunciation of the Chinook Jargon as it spread beyond the Chinookan homeland. There is evidence that in some communities (e.g., around Fort Vancouver) the Jargon had become creolized by the early 19th century and that would have been among the mixed French/Métis, Algonkian, Scots and Hawaiian population there as well as among the natives around the Fort. At Grand Ronde, the resettlement of tribes from all over Oregon in a multi-tribal agency led to the use of Chinuk Wawa as a common tongue among the linguistically diverse population. These circumstances led to the creolization of Chinuk Wawa at Grand Ronde.[27] There is also evidence that creolization occurred at the Confederated Tribes of Siletz reservation paralleling Grand Ronde[28] although, due to language revitalization efforts being focused on the Tolowa language, Chinuk fell out of use.

No studies of British Columbia versions of the Jargon have demonstrated creolization. The range of varying usages and vocabulary in different regions suggests that localization did occur—although not on the pattern of Grand Ronde where Wasco, Klickitat and other peoples adopted and added to the version of the Jargon that developed there. First-language speakers of the Chinook Jargon were common in BC (native and non-native), until the mid-20th century. It is a truism that while after 1850 the Wawa was mostly a native language in the United States portion of the Chinook-speaking world, it remained in wide use among non-natives north of the border for another century, especially in wilderness areas and work environments.[5] Local creolizations probably did occur in British Columbia, but recorded materials have not been studied as they were made due to the focus on the traditional aboriginal languages.

Many believe that something similar to the Jargon existed before European contact—without European words in its vocabulary.[29] There is some evidence for a Chinookan-Nuu-chah-nulth lingua franca in the writings of John Jewitt and in what is known as the Barclay Sound word-list, from the area of Ucluelet and Alberni. Others believe that the Jargon was formed in the great cultural cauldron of the time of Contact and cannot be discussed separately from that context, with an appreciation for the full range of the Jargon-speaking community and its history.[11]

Current scholarly opinion holds that a trade language probably existed before European contact, which began "morphing" into the more familiar Chinook Jargon in the late 1790s, notably at a dinner party at Nootka Sound where Capts Vancouver and Bodega y Quadra were entertained by Chief Maquinna and his brother Callicum performing a theatrical using mock English and mock Spanish words and mimicry of European dress and mannerisms. There evidently was a Jargon in use in the Queen Charlotte, but this "Haida Jargon" is not known to have shared anything in common with Chinook Jargon, or with the Nooktan-Chinookan "proto-jargon" which is its main foundation.

There are a few main spelling variations of Chinook Jargon but each individual writer also had their own spelling variations.

1. English, French and German-Based Spelling

In a general sense, when words derived from English or French the original English/French spellings were used. Words not derived from English/French were written in an approximate spelling based on mainstream English, French or German spelling. This would mean, for example, "kloochman" (from Nootka łuucmaa) for "woman, wife", "house" (English origin) for "house", and "le clou" (French origin) for "nail, claw". This spelling doesn't take into account the actual mainstream pronunciation of the words in Chinook Jargon.

2. Approximate Sound-Based Spelling

With every writer having their own variation of a fairly standardized spelling based on their own dialect, the same examples above could be "tlotchmin, haws, leklo".

3. IPA-based spelling for use on smartphones and early computers

This was used on the Chinook Jargon Listserve in the 1990s and other places where it was/is difficult or impossible to type using actual IPA symbols. Compare X-SAMPA, another ASCII transcription of IPA.

4. IPA-based Grand Ronde Spelling

This is only used by speakers of the Grand Ronde dialect in Oregon.

Below is a comparison chart.

Jargon Chinook Alphabet (Grande Ronde):[31]

Linguist David Douglas Robertson and others have described Chinook Jargon as part of a shared cultural heritage of modern inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest.[32][13]

Pacific Northwest historians are well acquainted with the Chinook Jargon, in name if not in the ability to understand it. Mentions of and phrases of Chinook Jargon were found in nearly every piece of historical source material before 1900. Chinook Jargon is relatively unknown to the rest of the population, perhaps due to the great influx of newcomers into the influential urban areas. However, the memory of this language is not likely to fade entirely. Many words are still used and enjoyed throughout Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska. Old-timers still dimly remember it, although in their youth, speaking this language was discouraged as slang. Nonetheless, it was the working language in many towns and workplaces, notably in ranching country and in canneries on the British Columbia Coast where it was necessary in the strongly multi-ethnic workforce. Place names throughout this region bear Jargon names (see List of Chinook Jargon placenames) and words are preserved in various rural industries such as logging and fishing.

The Chinook Jargon was multicultural and functional.[33] To those familiar with it, Chinook Jargon is often considered a wonderful cultural inheritance. For this reason, and because Jargon has not quite died, enthusiasts actively promote the revival of the language in everyday western speech.

As of 2009 the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon was taking steps to preserve Chinook Jargon use through a full immersion head start/preschool which is conducted in Chinuk Wawa, in hopes of fostering fluency in the language.[34][35] The Confederated Tribes also offer Chinuk Wawa lessons at their offices in Eugene and Portland.[36] In addition, Lane Community College offers two years of Chinuk Wawa study that satisfy second-language graduation requirements of Oregon public universities.[37]

In March 2012, the tribe published a Chinuk Wawa dictionary through University of Washington Press.[6]

At her swearing-in as lieutenant governor in 2001, Iona Campagnolo concluded her speech in Chinook, saying "konoway tillicums klatawa kunamokst klaska mamook okoke huloima chee illahie" – Chinook for "everyone was thrown together to make this strange new country [British Columbia]", lit. "All people go together they make this strange new land".[19]

An art installation featuring Chinook Jargon, "Welcome to the Land of Light" by Henry Tsang, can be viewed on the Seawall along False Creek in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, between Davie and Drake streets.[38] Translation into Chinook Jargon was done by Duane Pasco.[39]

A short film using Chinook Jargon, Small Pleasures by Karin Lee, explores intercultural dialogue between three women of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds in 1890s Barkerville in northern British Columbia.[40]

In 1997, the Grand Ronde reservation in Northern Oregon hired Tony Johnson, a Chinook linguist, to head its language program. Chinuk Wawa was chosen due to its strong connection to native identity on the reservation as well as being the only indigenous language still spoken at Grand Ronde.[41] Prior to this, there were formal Chinuk Wawa classes taught by Eula Holmes from 1978 until her death in 1986. Eula Holmes' sister, Ila, held informal and sporadic classes to teach the language to the public.[42] Henry Zenk was brought onto the project in 1998 after having previous experience with the language, documenting it in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Community classes were started in the summer of 1998 and a dictionary was released in 2012. This dictionary was compiled from the Chinuk Wawa of Grand Ronde elders, chiefly from the Hudson, Wacheno and Riggs families.[43] The dictionary features a section on Chinuk Wawa recorded from natives of the lower Columbia, but not used by the elders at Grand Ronde.[41] In 2014, the tribe made an app spanning traditional to modern vocabulary.[42][44]

In 2001 with funding from the Administration for Native Americans, the tribe started an immersion preschool.[42] A kindergarten was started in 2004 by Kathy Cole, a tribal member and certified teacher, which has since expanded to a half-day immersion K–4 with slots for 25 students for students at Willamina Elementary School.[42][45] Cole also started Chinuk Wawa elective classes at Willamina High School in 2011. Students there and at Willamina Middle School can earn high school and college credit for completion of the course.[45] Lane Community College also teaches a two-year course of Chinuk Wawa.[46]

By 2012, it was discovered that there was only one person left in British Columbia who had learned Chinook Jargon from Elders. That person was Jay Powell, a University of British Columbia anthropological linguist who had dedicated himself to the revitalization of Indigenous languages. A small group led by Sam Sullivan formed around him, organizing learning sessions and starting the BC Chinook Jargon initiative website. [47] Sullivan's efforts to expand public awareness of Chinook Jargon have included an interview with Powell conducted entirely in that language. The interview was organized through Kumtuks, a British Columbia focused educational video series whose name comes from the Chinook word for knowledge.[48]

The online magazine Kaltash Wawa was founded in November 2020 using BC Chinook Jargon and written in Chinuk Pipa, the alphabet based on Dupoyan shorthand.[49]

British Columbian English and Pacific Northwest English have several words still in current use which are loanwords from the Chinook Jargon,[50] which was widely spoken throughout the Pacific Northwest by all ethnicities well into the middle of the 20th century. These words tend to be shared with, but are not as common in, the states of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and, to a lesser degree, Idaho and western Montana.

• List of Chinook Jargon placenames
• American Indian Pidgin English
• Maritime fur trade
• Medny Aleut language
• Nootka Jargon
• Tlingit noun
• Wobbly lingo

Chinook Jargon test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

For a list of words relating to Chinook Jargon, see the Chinook Jargon language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Note: The Incubator link at right will take you to the Chinuk Wawa test-Wikipedia, which is written in a variation of the standardized orthography of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde which differs significantly from the orthographies used by early linguists and diarists recording other versions of the Jargon:

• Portland State University Chinook Jargon Collection—dictionaries, books, & journal articles documenting the etymology, grammar, history, origins, and use of the Chinook Jargon trade language collected by Donald W. Bushaw.
• Selected references for students and scholars—including study guides and four dictionaries
• British Columbia Time Temple Archive Excellent resource compiling public domain texts written about and in the Chinook Wawa
• Kamloops Wawa page, Chinook Jargon Information Superhighway site
• Chinook Texts by Franz Boas
• ntsayka ikanum (Our Story) Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Culture website—written and spoken examples of elder wawa from Grand Ronde as well as information on the history of the tribe and language.