Smoke Signals mm aej is r pinm As the Tribe strives to revive Chinook Jargon as its Native language, the benefits may do more than bolster Grand Ronde culture. t A I) f --x j j ' m tvtmw ' Jackie Whisler, a student in the Chinook-Wawa language class, goes over some notes with instructor Tony Johnson. Photo by Oscar Johnson By Oscar Johnson Staff Reporter ien Tribes from around Western Oregon moved to the Grand Ronde Reser vation Chinook Jargon or, more ac curately, Chinuk-Wawa (talk) soon became the primary Indian lan guage. . It is a mixed language consisting mostly of ancient lower Chinook and neighboring languages with latter smatterings of English and French influences. But long before Euro pean explorers came, tribes with dif ferent languages throughout the Northwest used this Native pidgin language to talk with one another. Now there are only a handful of Grand Ronde Elders who speak the old language fluently. But through the efforts of the Tribe's language program things are changing. It's not impossible to hear an adult or even a child at Grand Ronde greet someone with chata mayka?" (How are you?). If the program works the Tribe will once again speak Chinook Wawa. "The most concentrated use of Chi nook in recent times was in the Grand Ronde community," says Grand Ronde Language Specialist, Tony Johnson who takes the bitter with the sweet. "Right now is a tran sitional time, we're losing Elders and we're beginning to create new speak ers." Johnson is a member of the Chi nook nation. He began the Tribe's language program nearly one and a half years ago. His efforts to do what has never been done before revive a dying Qhata mayka? How are you? Dret h& san ukuk, wigna? It is a really nice day, isn't it? Pronunciation (approximate): Qh deep English V t pronounced between a 't' and a 'd' sound with no air expelled afterward k pronounced between aY and a 'g'with no air expelled afterward. t-as in English 'bet' Non English sound. Produced by making an T in the mouth and saying an 'h ' l as in English 'moon S sh as in English 'shirt ' i as in English 'beet ' pidgin-creole language are start ing to catch the eye of other linguists. "That's just never been done be fore it's unique. Everyone is fol lowing this with interest," says Au thor and Portland State University Associate Professor of Applied Lin guistics, Tucker Childs. He says part of the program's uniqueness is the interest from within the Tribe. "It's cmuk wawa ? rii?i ac aynayka aW Cacf- dm earth s'ster Imemy brother water markspot inuk Cux dret 9nkmak llihi lxt Ikta one what? 6 pepa Chinook cn'P true eatfood laughplay paper Jxamtaks JX lyutan Jx anisam Jx ata Jxaw Jx as know gidap get up horse always quarter tie afraid lulu 'tug ttap ITlriayt IlaniC 0 lagom carry good find staylivesit seelook pitch h ' h ' paya p iC Jpaq qUsax (J ata (Jal fire bastan white person back hit sky how hard (JWinam Cetf Csi Y lipret Skukam u five hangwear knock priest strong shoes tamtam tat falapas Ulali Uy Wawa heart berry lXPuy dakta U kk doctor "ncle coyote broke close Xulxul iTap )(alaqt iofat ya?im mouse hole open black bear tell Produced by the Language Program of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, OR. a language of the identity of the people in Grand Ronde. That's why I say it has a good chance." Johnson meets once a week with a group of 10 students committed to mastering Chinook-Wawa. He says the group is more than just a lan guage class. He expects that in the future they will be role models for using the lan guage and help the program meet its overall goal. He also teaches Chinook-Wawa bi weekly to the pre-schoolers of Twah Sunchako school and to youth from Kindergarten to fifth grade at the Tribe's Before and After School Care. But most of his work involves col lecting and archiving every bit of information he can find on Grand Ronde's linguistic history. He is also always looking for fluent Chinook speakers. He began using a computer data base to compile Chinook-Wawa nar ratives and catalogue words and phrases. It took a great deal of research in cluding recording numerous audio tapes of Grand Ronde Elders by Johnson, independent scholar of Northwest tribes, Henry Zenk, and others. Now at the click of a keyboard he can call up Chinook translations word by word on a computer screen, including multiple variations and cultural expressions that use that word. The computer program also recalls samples of the word's use in Grand Ronde narratives and even refer ences who said it. As a work in progress, the more the database took shape the more the alphabet needed to be modified. "As it grew it became obvious what worked as an alphabet and what didn't," he says. continued on page 10