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British Columbia · British ColumbiaI try to read what’s said about Chinook Jargon in the scholarly literature — so you don’t have to! Ginette Demers published an article in 2004, “Colombie-Britannique: Les missionaires catholiques et les activités langagières (1842-1952)” in the journal Meta 49(3):656-668. Image credit: “The Making of the Sahale Stick (Catholic Ladder)“ The French title translates as “British Columbia: Catholic missionaries and language activities 1842-1952”. He…Read Article
G Demers article, and missionaries adapting to Indigenous understandings
Portland, Oregon · PortlandDefinitely in the Northern Dialect of Chinook Jargon is song #12 from Myron Eells’s little book, “Hymns in the Chinook Jargon Language“, 2nd (expanded!) edition (Portland, OR: David Steel, 1889): (Here’s a link to all installments in this mini-series.) On pages 22-23 of his Chinook Jargon hymn book, we have another of Eells’s songs that were used with the Indigenous people he preached to.
FOR CHILDREN. No. 12. Tune, “We Are Coming, Blessed Savi…Read Article
Myron Eells’s hymn book (Part 12: For Children)
Vancouver, British Columbia · VancouverMost people’s grasp of Chinook Jargon was pretty out of practice by 1919. Here’s a typical event invitation using CJ, with typical mis-translations of it. I’m also interested in the goofy spellings of some words: moskt ‘2’ and sinnamoskt ‘7’, as well as kwaist ‘9’. And what the heck were these songs that are titled after BC place names? Surely there weren’t 18 original compositions played at this event! Here’s the psychedelic scan I found of the…Read Article
