Rain Language Part III

The Kamloops Wawa was a Chinook language newspaper published for more than a decade by the Oblate missionaries.  It was written in a short hand specifically designed for Chinook and interior Salishan languages

Here is the third section of Terry Glavin's poem Rain Language.  This is the link to the first section, and this is the link to the second section.

I am posting the poem in chunks,  Terry wrote it in seven pieces.   Since I could not find a copy online I asked Terry if I could post it and he agreed.   The original is in the book "A Voice Great within us: The Story of Chinook" by Charles Lillard and Terry Glavin published by Transmontanus/New Star Books

The "English" sections are not only a translation but an integral part of the whole poem.  I like that the poem shows how the grammar works for Chinook and how it shows the way the language lingers in the little words in this part of the world.

Rain Language

III

Ahnkuttie, yaka mitlite nesika lelang,
     Once, it was our language,
nawitka nesika oakut
     our own way
tanse,
     to dance,
tikegh,
     to want, to love, 
mamook mesachie,
     to curse,
mamook polaklie,
     to darken,
pe mamook skookum light.
     and to make bright.
Alta, yukwa mitlite ketling,
     Now, there is a kettle here,
keekweelie powitsh stick,
     under the crabapple trees,
pil ilta kopa chickamin chako halo ikta.
     rusting to nothing.
Yahwa,
     There,
eneti kullaghan,
     on the other side of the fence,
kokshut leshaloo
     a broken plough
mitlite kow kopa klale ollallie.
     is tangled in the blackberries.
Yaka mitlite kopa kopet tenas coulees kopa nesika illahie,
     It is only the little places of our country,
kopa snass,
     in the rain,
pe ole shantie.
     and in old songs

Konoway sun nika cly,
     Always, I weep,
Siah Illahie nika mitlite alta;
     Far away is my country now;
Konoway sun nika cly.
     Always, I weep.
Siah illahie nika mitlite alta.
     Far away is my country now.

Rain Language Part II

Here is the second section of Terry Glavin's poem Rain Language.  This is the link to the first section.

This is about 1/8th of the whole poem, I will be posting it in chunks.  Terry wrote it in seven pieces.   Since I could not find a copy online I asked Terry if I could post it and he agreed.   The original is in the book "A Voice Great within us: The Story of Chinook" by Charles Lillard and Terry Glavin published by Transmontanus/New Star Books

The "English" sections are not only a translation but an integral part of the whole poem

Rain Language

II

Alta nika potlach wawa kopa okoke pepah.
     Now I will talk to you about this picture.
Yaka klatawa kopa stick
     He went into the woods
mamook tzum.
     to write.
Snass chako.
     It was raining.
Yaka mitlite halo tamahnous.
     He had no Guardian Spirit.
Kopa Nemiah, Mabel Solomon mamook le di.
     Up in Nemiah, Mabel Solomon brewed up le di.
Le di.
     Tea.
Huloiam klawhap mitlite kopa illahie, 
      There were strange pits in the ground, 
konoway kah,
     everywhere,
pe olemans pe ole klootchmans mamook wawa
     and the old Chilcotin people called them
keekweelie holes.
     giggly holes.
Okoke wawa, klaska wawa kopa
     It is their word for
keekweelie houses.
     underground houses.
Kopa ole yiem, yahwa mitlite t'kope man
      In old stories, there is a white man
cloosh sakolleks, cloosh pasesse
     in a fine suit of clothes
pa yaka nem mitlite Lejaub.
     and his name is Lejaub.
Lejaub.
     The Devil.
Kopa okoke oakut, lelang mitlite,
     That is the way the language lingers,
yukwa pe yahwa
     here and there.
Halo chako, halo mahsh,
     Not arriving, not leaving, 
kopa tenas wawa.
     in little words.
Wake siah kahkwa kwass leloo,
      Not quite like the fear of wolves,
halo kahkwa snass kopa Bella Colla,
     not like the rain at Bella Colla,
yaka mitlite nawitka kiuatan chako tseepie
     more like the horse that was lost
kopa Snow Mountains,
     in the Snow Mountains,
kiuatan nesika nanitch kopa stick
      the one we would see through the trees
tenas hiyu times
     now and then
kopa tenas lamonti klahanie Tsunia.
     in the hills beyond Tsunia.
Yaka mitlite tenas wawa,
     It is in little words,
pe ole shantie.
     and old songs.

     Tlonas kahta nika tumtum
          I do not know how my heart feels
     Nika nanitch klatawa Godsroad klatawa
          I have seen the steamer Godsroad leaving
     Pe chali mitlite, pe tlakawa nika.
          With Charlie aboard, and I am sad

Rain Language Part I - A Poem by Terry Glavin

I like to read this poem out loud because of the rhythm and sounds of the chinook.

This is about 1/8th of the whole poem, I will be posting it in chunks.  Terry wrote it in seven pieces.   Since I could not find a copy online I asked Terry if I could post it and he agreed.   The original is in the book "A Voice Great within us: The Story of Chinook" by Charles Lillard and Terry Glavin published by Transmontanus/New Star Books

The "English" sections are not only a translation but an integral part of the whole poem

Rain Language 

I

Yaka yiem halo kliminawhit,
     This is a true story
Waum illahie klip sun, kopa Byrne Oakut,
    On a late summer evening on Byrne Road
kimta tenas wahm snass chako,
    after a gentle summer rain, 
Spose hyack colley konmokst chikchik, Ford pe Chevrolet,
    in a race between a Ford and Chevrolet, 
spose Ford tolo kopa tenas-sitkum mile
    if the Ford won the the quarter mile
pe Ford man mamook klahwa,
    and the Ford guy slowed down
kopet cooley, yaka halo mamook fly
     soon enough to avoid going airborne
oakut opoots, 
   at the end of the road,
Ford, yaka skookum chikchik.
    then the Ford was the skookum car.
Nawitka, Ford skookum chichik  
     A right skookum car.

Yaka yiem halo kliminawhit.
     This is a true story.
Spose mika hiyu mamook,
     If you had a job
pe chickamin sun chako
     and it was pay day
pe mike halo mahkook lum kopa tillicums, 
     and you still didn't buy a round, 
mika mitlite cultus bastard.
     you were a cultus bastard.
Nawitka, cultus bastard.
     A right cultus bastard.
Saltchuk, yaka mitlite saltchuk,
     The oceans was the saltchuk,
klootchman kopa mika tillicum
     your buddy's girlfriend
yaka mitlite klootchman,
     was his klootchman,
pe kopa okoke oakut, lelang mitlite
     and this is how the language lingers
yukwa pe yahwa.
     here and there.
Yaka mitlite kopa tenas wawa
     It is in the little words
pe ole shantie.
     and old songs.

Hyas Tlakowa nika
     I am so happy
Spose steamboat klatawa yukwa
     When the steamboat arrives,
Tlonas nika cly
     I think I will weep
Spose steamboat klatawa.
     When the steamboat leaves.

Lord's Prayer in Chinook

The Lord's Prayer

Nesika papa klaksta mitlite kopa saghalie,
Our Father who dwells on high,
Kloshe kopa nesika tumtum mika nem.
Good for our hearts Your Name.
Kloshe mika tyee kopa konaway tillikum.
Good You Chief of all people;
Kloshe mika tumtum kopa illahee kahkwa kopa saghalie;
Good Your heart to such country as Yours up above;
Potlatch konaway sun nesika muckamuck,
Give us all days our food.
Pe kopet-kumtux konaway nesika mesachie.
And stop remembering all our sins.
Kahkwa nesika mamook kopa klaksta spose mamook mesachie kopa nesika;
As our deeds by which we may have mad evil against you;
Mahah siah kopa nesika konaway mesachie.
Throw far from us all evil.

Kloshe kahkwa

Amen (good like; i.e. "be good")

makúk, makook, mahkook, ma-kuk, maá-kuk

Klahowya Wawa Tillicums!

I hope some of you may be interested in a book that I have just published with UBC Press which uses Chinook Jargon as an entrée into the whole history of native-white relations in British Columbia. The book, called /Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations/ focuses on the different kinds of exchange between indigenous and immigrant peoples. I attach the preface which may be of the most interest to this list - in fact it may sound familiar as it is a version of a presentation I gave at the Wawa conference in Victoria a few years ago. I have also sprinkled examples of jargon conversations taken from dictionaries and correspondence throughout the book. The book and the preface have benefited immensely from this community of wawa enthusiasts so please accept my thank you to you all.

Dave, as a special thank you for all your work in sustaining this community, a copy is in the campus mail for you!

This is the UBC Press ad for the book.

John





UBC Press is pleased to announce *Makúk: **A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations*
by John Sutton Lutz. **

* *

*Makúk A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations

*John Sutton Lutz***

ISBN 9780774811408

Paperback $32.95

UBC Press 2008

**now available for course use* *

*About the Book*

*/ /*

The history of aboriginal-settler interactions in Canada continues to haunt the national imagination. Despite billions of dollars spent on the "Indian problem," Aboriginal People remain the poorest in the country. Because the stereotype of the "lazy Indian" is never far from the surface, many Canadians wonder if the problem lay with "Indians" themselves.

John Lutz traces Aboriginal People’s involvement in the new economy, and their
displacement from it, from the arrival of the first Europeans to the 1970s. Drawing on an extensive array of oral histories, manuscripts, newspaper accounts, biographies, and statistical analysis, Lutz shows that Aboriginal people flocked to the workforce and prospered in the late nineteenth century. He argues that the roots of today’s widespread unemployment and "welfare dependency" date only from the 1950s, when deliberate and inadvertent policy choices -- what Lutz terms the "white problem" drove Aboriginal People out of the capitalist, wage, and subsistence economies, offering them welfare as "compensation."

/Makúk/ invites readers into a dialogue with the past with visual imagery and an engaging narrative that gives a voice to Aboriginal Peoples and other historical figures. It is a book for students, scholars, policymakers, and a wide public who care to bring the spectres of the past into the light of the present.

* *

*About the Authors*

* *

*John Sutton Lutz* teaches in the Department of History at the University of Victoria. He is editor of /Myth and Memory: Stories of Indigenous-European Contact/ and co-editor of /Situating Race and Racisms in Space, Time, and Theory./

Cool story from the Chinook listserv

To: CHINOOK@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG

Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 2:47 PM

Subject: Re: Interesting story

That's really fascinating, Tom. Thanks for sharing that. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy of this book, difficult though that may be, out here in Pasayuks Ilêhi.


Masi,

Isaac

On 8/14/07, Tom Larsen wrote:
I recently ran across a book called _Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place_ by Coll Thrush, Univ. of Washington Press, 2007. I haven't read this book, but I thumbed through it a bit and it looks pretty interesting, talking about the history of native peoples, and their interactions with whites, in Seattle. I looked in particular in the index for anything about Chinuk Wawa. There were a few places where it talks about the use of Jargon by whites, by native peoples, in place names, etc. Most of it seemed pretty much what you might expect and not terribly interesting. But there was one story that I was worth passing on (on p. 64-65), so I quote it here:

Sometime in the 1870s, a Chinese man named Ling Fu was brought before Judge Cornelius Hanford in Seattle's courthouse, accused of not having the proper citizenship papers. Facing deportation, Ling Fu argued that he did not need to carry papers: he had been born on Puget Sound. To test him, Judge Hanford quickly shifted his inquiry into Chinook Jargon, which had become nearly as common as Whulshootseed or English in Puget Sound country. "Ikta mika nem? Consee cole mika?" (What is your name? How old are you?), he demanded of Ling, who in turn replied, "Nika nem Ling Fu, pe nika mox tahtlum pee quinum cole" (My name is Ling Fu, and I am twenty-five years old). Clearly surprised, the judge responded, "You are an American, sure, and you can stay here." He then turned to the bailiff and decreed, "Ling Fu is dismissed."

Ling Fu's brief trial symbolizes the ways in which settlers--Boston, Chinese, and others--had been transformed by their life in Seattle Illahee. Accounts of Seattle's "village period" are full of settlers speaking Chinook Jargon and sometimes even Whulshootseed; of white men and women learning indigenous subsistence practices form their Native neighbors and employees; and of people from places like Illinois and Ireland, Gloucester and Guangzhou, learning to accomodate Indians' insistence on participation in urban life. Nearly thirty years after Seattle's founding, Native people were still in town, and their participation in urban life had changed the Bostons as well. The mad house known as the Illahee might have been destroyed, but the larger Seattle Illahee, in which indigenous lives were woven into the urban fabric, remained, even as Seattle stood perched on the brink of an urban revolution.

Another interesting Chinook posting

Aw jeez, I was just packing up to go home when I found this.  Got to take a
minute to send it along.  I like it because it's about a baby crawling
("kuli kopa iaka lima").  I have a kid (another one!) who's getting ready
to do that.

This is from a Christmastime 1894 letter from someone who sounds blunt like
a teenager, writing from Canim Lake, Secwepemc country:

Naika tomtom ayu tilikam mitlait kopa ukuk ilihi.
I THINK MANY PEOPLE LIVE IN THIS PLACE
"I thought there were a lot of people that lived in this place [Soda
Creek?]."

Pi ilo. 
BUT NO
"But there's not."

Kopit iht ol man pi iht lamiaii [crossed out] ol klushiman pi iht
ONLY ONE OLD MAN AND ONE OLD.LADY OLD WOMAN AND ONE
"There's just one old man, one old woman, and one

tanas man.
LITTLE MAN
little boy."

Ukuk tanas man aias klahawiam[,] makst sno pi ilo mitwit[,] pus
THIS LITTLE MAN VERY PITIFUL, 2 YEAR AND NOT STAND, WHEN
"This little boy is really pitiful, 2 years old but can't stand, (so) when

tiki koli kopa iaka lima. 
WANT MOVE ON HIS HAND
(he) wants to move (it's) by crawling."


--Dave R

Another interesting Chinook text

Anybody want to translate?  --  Dave R. 

>From Kamloops Wawa #65 12 February 1893:

Indian Temperance Society [many Sto:lo people have taken the pledge by
signing their names to teach these regulations to everyone; they’re very
enthused about the society; the pledge is reproduced:]

1. Ilip lo.  =  Ilo  makmak lam.  =  Ilo klatwa
kah lam mitlait. =  Ilo klatwa  kanamokst  tilikom klaksta
makmak lam.

2. Mokst lo.  =  Kanawi son tanas son pi pulakli
klatwa styuil kanamokst kanawi tilikom.

3. Tlun lo.  =  Pus iht tilikom kopa ukuk kompani
makmak lam, iaka piii kakwa:

Pus ilo wash   Iht tala $1.00
Pus wash   Mokst tala 2.00
Pus 0+* tilikom   Tlun tala 3.00
Pus washman kopa  K Lakit tala 4.00
Pus taii wachman   Kwinam tala 5.00

4. Lakit lo.  =  Tilikom kopa ukuk kompani klaska
alki klatwa ashnu kopa taii pus klaska tlap laplitas
pus klaska tsipi kopa mamuk kopa Sondi, tamanwas
mamuk, shim mamuk, Sawash tans, patlach pasisi[,]
slaal, ankati mimlus mamuk, pi kopa kanawi ikta lisivik
wawa pus ilo tilikom klatwa. 

5. Kwinam lo.  =  Alki tilikom kopa ukuk kompani
klaska kikuli tomtom kopa klaska taii, kopa klaska
wachman, alki iht tilikom kopa ukuk kompani shako
kopa ukuk kompani klaska kikuli tomtom kopa ukuk taii
pi kopa wachman pi kopa klaska liplit.

Kakwa ukuk kwinam lo. 

* 0+ is a symbol for 'eucharist, holy communion'; here it's an
adjective 'those who have had communion'. 

From the Chinook Listserv

Dave Robertson runs this interesting list devoted to Chinook. He posts this sort of excerts from time to time. I will admit I am not working hard enough to learn the language. I would like to be able to speak fluently.

Here is Dave's latest post:

Hi, There's one Secwepemc writer who uses the word "tataim" in an 1894 letter, then again in an 1899 letter. I'm reproducing a chunk of the later one below. There are lots of recent English loans here; I suspect "tataim" and "alankam" are from English too. Ideas about their meaning?--Dave R.

Pi wiht Sipria Shanulih iaka piii kwata kopa iaka Kamlups Wawa pipa.
AND ALSO CYPRIAN SHANULIH HE PAY QUARTER FOR HIS KAMLOOPS WAWA PAPER"
And also Cyprian Shanulih is paying a quarter for his Kamloops Wawa paper."

Pi iaka wawa taham mun naika ilo tlap pipa.
AND HE SAY 6 MONTH I NOT GET NEWSPAPER"
And he says, 'There were 6 months when I didn't get a paper'.

"Kakwa naika piii kwata.
SO I PAY QUARTER"
'So I'm paying a quarter.'

"Ukuk iaka wawa Sipria kopa maika.
THIS HE SAY CYPRIAN TO YOU"
That's what Cyprian says to you."

Alta naika Wiliam Waspulawh wawa kopa maika Pir Lchyun.
NOW I WILLIAM WASPULAWH TALK TO YOU PERE LEJEUNE"
Now I, William Waspulawh, am talking to you, Pere Le Jeune."

Tlus maika kopit mash pipa kopa Sipria.
GOOD YOU STOP SEND NEWSPAPER TO CYPRIAN"
You should stop sending the paper to Cyprian."

Nawitka sam taims lust pipa tataim(?) alankam(?) mitlait kopa iakwa Kano Krik.
INDEED SOME TIMES LOST NEWSPAPER ?????? ??????? BE AT HERE CANOE CREEK"
Indeed, sometimes papers get lost ?????? ??????? over here at Canoe Creek."

Pi alta ukuk pus kopa kampani haws kopa iakwa Kano Krik haws.
AND NOW THIS WHETHER AT COMPANY HOUSE AT HERE CANOE CREEK HOUSE"
But now this, whether at the company house [or] over here at Canoe Creek House."

Iaka tlus ilo kakwa kam.
IT GOOD NOT SO COME(?)"
It's fine, not like ???."

Ilo wan taim alta lost pipa.
NOT ONE TIME YET LOST NEWSPAPER"
Not one time yet has the paper gotten lost."

Kwanisim Chan Lawta iaka tlus nanich nsaika Chinuk pipa pi wiht <5> sints naika mash kopa maika.
ALWAYS JOHN LAWTA HE WELL READ OUR CHINOOK NEWSPAPER AND ANOTHER 5 CENTS I SEND FOR HIM"
John Lawta always carefully reads our Chinook paper, I'm sending another 5 cents for him."

Iht man iaka piii ankati iaka chabon kopa pinstil.
ONE MAN HE PAY BEFORE HIS CREDIT FOR PENCIL"
One man previously paid his credit for pencils."

Chinnok Words on Vic West Streets

Tyee - The chief, or head guy
Sitkum - Half
Saghalie - up, high place or above
Kimta - behind of following

I just thought I would post these as people in Vic West seem to not know what the street names mean. My girlfriend lives on one of them.

There is also this interesting piece of public art in Vancouver. Welcome to the Land of Light

The piece is both English and Chinook - the artist, Henry Tsang, has put a long statement in metal plaques on the railings of the seawall in both Chinook and English - I came across it by accident one day. I enjoyed seeing how much of the Chinook I could read and how if the English translation was close.

Chinook

I have been meaning to add some links to Chinook language resources. This is a start:

Lexicon of Chinook

Tenas Wawa

I wish I had more time to devote to the language, but time in my life is short.

I am surrounded by Chinook that has been taken as place names. My kids go to Tillicum Elementary.

Illahie

I realised I have not pointed out where Illahie comes from. It is a Chinook word meaning land, country, soil and earth. It has a physical and political meaing to it. To me it means this place, this land of my soul and being. The wawa of this illahie, a skookum wawa

Some chinook words

I love that fact that this region has its own language that is designed to fit with our Illahie. I wish that we could bring it back to more public prominence. Most times one sees Chinook in place names

Cultus
Tyee
Tenas
Mesachie
Skookumchuk
Tillicum

and many more.

There are people out there working on the language:
Chinook LuLu (or gathering)
Book on Chinook