TRIBAL HISTORY
’’JARGON”
It may not, at first, be easy to understand how a language composed of
so few words could have been used so widely as the sole medium of commun
ication among many thousands of individuals.
However, a thorough know
ledge of a few dozen basic words of the Jargon will give one sufficient
material with which, after a little practice, to carry on actual conver
sations,
The unique faculty of the Jargon for combining and compounding
simple words and sounds makes it capable of almost unlimited expression.
There are no hard and fast rules for the spelling of words in the Chinook
Jargon, and everyone, in writing Chinook, follows the dictates of his
own judgment : in the fabrication of phonetic equivalents, which are at
best only approximations.■ The Chinook Jargon is essentially a spoken and
not a written tongue... it is very much alive.
«
The Chinook Jargon is absolutely inflexible.
It never changes i t ’s form
for mood, tense, or anything else.
The same fo rm is used generally for
both singular and plural, though occasionally an ”s” is added to indicate
the pluraj .,
Intensity of meaning or duration of time may also be indicated by prolong
ation of the sounding of the word, thus; Laly (time) would be pronounced
la-a-a-aly to suggest a long time.
This is based upon an instinctive
principle common to all tongues, just as we in English phonetically
indicate prplongation of time or extension in space or intensity o f feel
ing by“ means of prolonging ”a long time” into "a lo-o-o-ng time.”
The personal pronouns become possessive by prefixing them to nouns, like
"nika nejm," my name; "mika kuitan," your horsfe; "nesika illahee,” our land,
ó-
Sometimes "s" is added to the personal pronouns in the possessive case.
This mode is used,only when the pronoun is the last word in the sentence,
thus: "okoke kuitan nesikas," that horse is ours.
CONVERSATIONAL PHRASES
ENGLISH
G ood‘morning.
Good evening.
Good d a y .
Good-by.
Good morning, friend
Còme h ere. «
How are you?
Are you hungry?
W h a t ’s the matter?
Would you like something to eat?
Do you want work?
What do you want to do?
JARGON
Klahowya.
H tl
tt
tl
tttttt
Klahowya, sikhs.
Chako yukwa.
Kahta mika?
Olo na mika?
Ikta mamook?
Mika ticky muckamuck?
Mika ticky mamook?
Ikta mika mamook?
The Siletz POW-WOW dates have been set for September 11, 12 and 13th.