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As the Tribe strives to revive Chinook Jargon as its Native language,
the benefits may do more than bolster Grand Ronde culture.
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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