The Sound of the Southern Carrier / Dakelh language (Numbers, Greetings & The Book of John)

Carrier is generally regarded as one of three members of the central British Columbia subgroup of Athabaskan, the other two being Babine-Witsuwit'en and Tŝilhqot’in. Carrier proper consists of two regional dialect groups, Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ) and Southern Carrier, where the latter is divided into two subgroups, Fraser/Nechakoh and Blackwater which are further subdivided into the individual dialects.

The Fraser/Nechakoh subdivision of Southern Carrier includes the Lheidli, Saik'uz, Nadleh, Nautey, Stelakoh, Stoney Creek, Prince George, and Cheslatta dialects. The Blackwater division includes the Anahim Lake, Red Bluff, Nazko, Kluskus, and Ulkatcho dialects, and is is mutually comprehensible with all other Carrier dialects.

Southern Carrier has an extremely extensive and productive system of noun classifications. It has multiple classification subsystems and they can take place in the same sentence or same verb.

The etymology of 'Carrier'

The name 'Carrier' is a translation of the Sekani name 'aghele' meaning “people who carry things around on their backs", due to the fact that the first Europeans to learn of the Carrier, the Northwest Company explorers led by Alexander Mackenzie, first passed through the territory of the Carriers' Sekani neighbors. The received view of the origin of the Sekani name is that it refers to the distinctive Carrier mortuary practice in which a widow carried her husband's ashes on her back during the period of mourning. An alternative hypothesis is that it refers to the fact that the Dakelh, unlike the Sekani, participated in trade with the coast, which required packing loads of goods over the Grease Trails (also known as the “Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail”).

Writing system

Carrier was formerly written in the Carrier syllabary, or Déné Syllabics, which was devised by missionary and linguist Adrien-Gabriel Morice in 1885. He adapted it from the syllabic writing systems developed for the Athabaskan languages of the Northwest Territories of Canada by Emile Petitot, and from the Cree Syllabics developed by James Evans.

A good deal of scholarly material, together with the first edition of the 'Little Catechism' and the third edition of a 'Prayerbook', is written in the writing system used by the missionary priest Adrien-Gabriel Morice in his scholarly work. This writing system was a somewhat idiosyncratic version of the phonetic transcription of the time. It is subphonemic and was never used by Carrier people themselves, though many learned to read the Prayerbook in it.

The Carrier syllabary was widely used for several decades for such purposes as writing diaries and letters and leaving messages on trees, but began to fade from use in the 1930s. Though the syllabary is no longer used or understood by many people, there has been a recent revival of interest in it and it occasionally appears on plaques and memorials.

In the 1960s, the Carrier Linguistic Committee in Fort St James developed an alternative writing system based on the Latin alphabet, designed to be typed on a standard English typewriter.

It uses numerous digraphs and trigraphs to write the many Carrier consonants not found in English, e.g. ⟨gh⟩ for [ɣ] and ⟨lh⟩ for [ɬ], with an apostrophe to mark glottalization, e.g. ⟨ts'⟩ for the ejective alveolar affricate. Letters generally have their English rather than European values. For example, ⟨u⟩ represents /ə/ while ⟨oo⟩ represents /u/. The only diacritic it uses in its standard form is the underscore, which is written under the sibilants (⟨s̠⟩, ⟨z̠⟩, ⟨t̠s̠⟩, and ⟨d̠z̠⟩) to indicate that the consonant is laminal denti-alveolar rather than apical alveolar. An acute accent is sometimes used to mark high tone, but tone is not routinely written in Dakelh.

Currently, the Latin-inspired CLC script is the most commonly used writing system for Dakelh.

Syntax

In general terms, Carrier is a head-final language: the verb comes at the end of the clause, adpositions are postpositions rather than prepositions, and complementizers follow their clause. However, it is not consistently head-final: in head-external relative clauses, the relative clause follows the head noun. Carrier has both head-internal and head-external relative clauses. The subject usually precedes the object if one is present.

Carrier is an 'everything-drop' language. A verb can form a grammatical sentence by itself. It is not in general necessary for the subject or object to be expressed overtly by a noun phrase or pronoun.

Contact with other languages

Dakelh is neighbored on the west by Babine-Witsuwit'en and Haisla, to the north by Sekani, to the southeast by Shuswap, to the south by Chilcotin, and to the southwest by Nuxalk. Furthermore, in the past few centuries, with the westward movement of the Plains Cree, there has been contact with the Cree from the East. Dakelh has borrowed from some of these languages, but apparently not in large numbers. Loans from Cree include [məsdus] ('cow') from Cree (which originally meant "buffalo" but extended to "cow" already in Cree) and [sunija] ('money, precious metal'). There are also loans from languages that do not directly neighbor Dakelh territory. A particularly interesting example is [maj] ('berry, fruit'), a loan from Gitksan, which has been borrowed into all Dakelh dialects and has displaced the original Athabascan word.

European contact has brought loans from a number of sources. The majority of demonstrable loans into Dakelh are from French, though it is not generally clear whether they come directly from French or via Chinook Jargon. Loans from French include [liɡok] ('chicken') (from French le coq 'rooster'), [lisel] (from le sel 'salt'), and [lizas] ('angel'). As these examples show, the French article is normally incorporated into the Dakelh borrowing. A single loan from Spanish is known: [mandah] ('canvas, tarpaulin'), apparently acquired from Spanish-speaking packers.

The trade language Chinook Jargon came into use among Dakelh people as a result of European contact. Most Dakelh people never knew Chinook Jargon. It appears to have been known in most areas primarily by men who had spent time freighting on the Fraser River. Knowledge of Chinook Jargon may have been more common in the southwestern part of Dakelh country due to its use at Bella Coola. The southwestern dialects have more loans from Chinook Jargon than other dialects. For example, while most dialects use the Cree loan described above for "money", the southwestern dialects use [tʃikəmin], which is from Chinook Jargon. The word [daji] ('chief') is a loan from Chinook Jargon.

European contact brought many new objects and ideas. The names for some were borrowed, but in most cases terms have been created using the morphological resources of the language, or by extending or shifting the meaning of existing terms. Thus, [tɬʼuɬ] now means not only "rope" but also "wire", while [kʼa] has shifted from its original meaning of "arrow" to mean "cartridge" and [ʔəɬtih] has shifted from "bow" to "rifle". [hutʼəp], originally "leeches" now also means "pasta". A microwave oven is referred to as [ʔa benəlwəs] ('that by means of which things are warmed quickly'). "Mustard" is [tsʼudənetsan] ('children's feces'), presumably after the texture and color rather than the flavor.

 Place names in Dakelh

Here are the Dakelh names for some of the major places in Dakelh territory, written in the Carrier Linguistic Committee writing system:

Sign saying "Wheni Lheidli T'enneh ts'inli" meaning “We are Lheidli T'enneh” in the Lheidli dialect.

• Mount Pope – Nak'al

• Fort St. James – Nakʼaz̠dli

• Stuart Lake – Nakʼalbun

• Stuart River – Nakʼalkoh

• Fraser Lake – Nadlehbun

• Nautley River – Nadlehkoh

• Endako River – Ndakoh

• Stellako River – Stellakoh

• Tachie River – Duzdlikoh

• Nechako River – Nechakoh

• Fraser River – Lhtakoh

• Prince George - Lheidli

• Babine Lake – Nadobun

• Burns Lake – T̠s̠elhkʼazkoh

• Francois Lake – Nedabun

• Cluculz Lake – Lhoohkʼuz

Fluent Speakers

Figures reported in 2014 stated about 680 fluent speakers of Carrier, and another 1,380 people with some knowledge of the language.

According to a 2016 census conducted by the Government of Canada, there were 1,270 fluent speakers of the Carrier language. Among the 1,270 speakers, 1,045 have the language as a single mother tongue and 225 have the language as one of their mother tongues.

Status

Like most of the languages of British Columbia, Dakelh is an endangered language. Only about 10% of Dakelh people now speak the Dakelh language, hardly any of them children. Members of the generation following that of the last speakers can often understand the language but they do not contribute to its transmission.

The UNESCO status of Carrier/Dakelh is "Severely Endangered", which means the language rates an average of 2/5 on UNESCO's 9 factors of language vitality, with 5 being safe and 0 being extinct. According to Dwyer's article on tools and techniques for endangered language assessment and revitalization, the three most critical factors out of the nine are factors numbered one - intergenerational transmission, three - proportion of speakers within the total population, and four - proportion of speakers within the total population. Carrier scores in the "severely endangered" category for all three of these most important factors, as well as most of the nine.

Revitalization and Maintenance Efforts

Carrier is taught as a second language in both public and band schools throughout the territory. This instruction provides an acquaintance with the language but has not proven effective in producing functional knowledge of the language. Carrier has also been taught at the University of Northern British Columbia, the College of New Caledonia, and the University of British Columbia. Several communities have underway mentor-apprentice programs and language nests.

The Yinka Dene Language Institute (YDLI) is charged with the maintenance and promotion of Dakelh language and culture. Its activities include research, archiving, curriculum development, teacher training, literacy instruction, and production of teaching and reference materials.

Prior to the founding of YDLI in 1988 the Carrier Linguistic Committee, a group based in Fort Saint James affiliated with the Summer Institute of Linguistics, produced a number of publications in Dakelh, literacy materials for several dialects, a 3000-entry dictionary of the Stuart Lake dialect, and various other materials.

The Carrier Linguistic Committee is largely responsible for literacy among younger speakers of the language. The Carrier Bible Translation Committee produced a translation of the New Testament that was published in 1995. An adaptation to Blackwater dialect appeared in 2002.

Documentation efforts have been varied and the extent of documentation differs considerably from dialect to dialect. By far the best-documented dialect is the Stuart Lake dialect, of which Father Adrien-Gabriel Morice published a massive grammar and dictionary. More recent work includes the publication of some substantial pieces of text by the Carrier Linguistic Committee, the publication of a grammar sketch, and the on-going creation of a large electronic dictionary, with a corresponding print version, that contains earlier material, including Morice's, as well as much new material. For other dialects, there are print and/or electronic dictionaries ranging from 1,500 or so entries up to over 9,000.

FirstVoices Language Learning

FirstVoices Website

FirstVoices is an online indigenous language archiving and learning resource administered by the First Peoples' Cultural Council of British Columbia, Canada. Dakelh/Southern Carrier language is one of the languages documented on the website. Information on alphabets, words, phrases, songs, and stories are available. Both orthography and voice recordings are provided on the website. Games and a kids portal are also available for pre-readers to engage with the language.

FirstVoices App

The Nazko-Dakelh mobile application has a bilingual dictionary and a collection of Dakelh/Southern Carrier language phrases that are archived on the FirstVoices website. It is available for free on both Apple and Android mobile operating systems.

Download a script charts for Carrier (Excel)

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Illahee

ILLAHEE

[IL'-la-hie] or occasionally [ilee-ee]  — noun.

Meaning:  Country, land, ground, earth, region, district, soil, dirt, the place where one resides.

Origin: Chinook, ilahekh  ‘land’, ‘earth’ < From a Lower Chinook stem -lkh, preserved intact in the Kathlamet and Upper Chinook forms ilkh 'land'; contracted in Lower Chinook due to the presence of a following accented vowel: thus, ilíi 'land, country'

Sometimes rendered as ‘illahie’, ‘illahe’, or in the case of Grand Ronde Chinook Jargon, ‘ili'i’, the word encompasses concepts like “land”, "earth”, and "country", and lends itself to a number of terms related to these concepts.

A “stick illahee” (forest) differed from a “tupso illahee” (prairie; pasture), while “kloshe illahee” has a similar meaning, but could also be used to mean a garden, a plot of land, a farm, or a ranch. The phrase “saghallie illahie” (mountain; highland) would later take one the additional meaning of  “sacred ground” and even “Heaven” as seen in the Christian neologisms "Saghalie Tyee yaka Illahee" (God, His Country) and "Keekwullie Illahee" (Hell).

A graveyard or cemetery was referred to as a “memaloose illahee”, while explorers would mark "tzum illahee" (surveyed land) on their maps, and one could refer to something as “hyiu illahie kopa” (dirty), or state "okoke illahee yaka hyas kloshe" (this land is very good).

Of course, “illahee” could refer to the land in both a physical and a political senses; someone might ask "kah mika illahee?" (where is your country? where do you come from?), since Illahee could also be used to denote "delate yaka illahee" (one's native land), such as "Boston Illahee" (United States), "Passaiooks Illahee" (France), "King George Illahee" or “Kingchauch Illahee" (England). It is worth noting that, as far as members of the First Nations were concerned, all other white Europeans came from “Dutchman Illahee” or “Dutchman yaka illahee” as they commonly expressed it.

Within Cascadia, “illahee” could also be used to specify specific areas, such as "siwash illahee" (First Nations territory; Reservation), or even more specifically, “Chinook Illahee” would be the term for the Chinook-speaking region or the land of the Chinook people (the lower Columbia)

Of course, one could also go the opposite direction and apply illahee to big-picture concepts, such as "konaway okoke illahee" (the world) and "konaway illahee konaway kah" (the universe).

The word ‘illahee’ and its variations lends itself to a number of names in Cascadia:

The MV Illahee was a Steel Electric Class ferry operated by Washington State Ferries which served on the inter-island route in the San Juan Islands.

The entire Steel Electric class was withdrawn from service on November 20, 2007 due to hull corrosion issues. In the summer of 2009, the Illahee and her sisters were sold to Eco Planet Recycling, Inc. of Chula Vista, California.

In August, 2009 the ferry was towed out of Eagle Harbor and was scrapped in Ensenada, Mexico.

Illahe, Oregon is an unincorporated community located in the Klamath Mountains along the Rogue River about 13 kilometers (8 miles) upriver from Agness, Oregon. The area was home to Takelma people, then to white and Karok settlers, before becoming part of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. In the 21st century, it is a stopping place for hikers, boaters, and other visitors. The area has a riverside lodge and a nearby campground, both named Illahe.

Illahee, Washington is an unincorporated community that lays between Bremerton and Silverdale. The Port of Illahee community dock was built around 1916 to serve the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, and in later years this port was used by the United States Navy to demagnetize ships.

Illahee State Park is an 82-acre (33 ha) Washington state park located in the hamlet of Illahee, just north of eastern Bremerton, on Port Orchard Bay, and is part of the Washington State Park System. The park was established when Kitsap County donated 13 acres to the state in 1934. The park's old-growth stand is home to one of the nation's oldest Pacific yews, which has been standing for approximately 400 years.

The Illahe Vineyards and Winery, located near Salem, Oregon, is an 80-acre vineyard in the Willamette Valley. Committed to dry agriculture and responsible water practices, the winery does not utilize electricity or machinery, and is one of Oregon’s few horse-powered vineyards, utilizing a team of Percheron draft horses to mow and deliver grapes to the winery at harvest.

Other locations include Illahee Meadows, which can be found 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) northeast of Clinton, British Columbia, and Illahee Elementary School is located in Camas, Washington.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Kalakala

KALAKALA

[KUH-lah-kuh-lah] — noun.

Meaning: Bird; a fowl; goose; a flock of birds; a winged insect; a wing.

Origin: Chinook i-ku-la-ku-lu ‘(male) goose’; i-k’lak’la ‘(male) geese’; ultimately derived from a Chinookan verbal stem -ka or -ga 'to fly'; -galal 'flying', said to be an imitation of the notes of a wild goose when flying, hence flying bird. There may be an etymological link between this and the Chinook Wawa word kwalal-kwalal ‘gallop’, in the sense of a horse "flying" at full gallop.

‘Kalakala’, or occasionally, ‘kullakala’ and even ‘kgalakgala’, is the Chinook Wawa word for ‘bird’ which forms the bases for many species of birds, such “tenas kalakala” (sparrow; swallow; lark), “illahee kalakala” (quail), and “kwass kalakala” (pidgeon), as well as things related to birds, such as “kalakala house” (bird’s nest) and “kalakala tupso” (feather; bird down), “kalakala yaka tupso” (quill; the wings of a bird), and “sing kahkwa kalakala” (bird-song; warble).

The term “lapeep kullakala” (pipe bird) was given to a variety of raptors, whose feathers were often used to ornament smoking pipe-stems, and the word forms the base of the Chinook Wawa word “kalakalahma” (goose). It's even used to describe flying animals that aren't birds, such as “polaklie kalakala” (bat). Flies were also sometimes referred to as “tenas kalakala”, though the french loan-word “lemosh” was often used to avoid confusion.

The word also lends its name to the Motor Vessel Kalakala, a car and passenger ferry which plied the waters between Port Angeles and Victoria from 1935 until her retirement in 1967. The first commercial vessel to ever be equipped with radar to help guide it through fog and at night, the MV Kalakala was also notable for her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling, and luxurious amenities.

Kalakala mural painted in the town of Port Angeles, Washington.

The vessel was a popular attraction for locals and tourists, and was voted second only to the Space Needle in popularity among visitors to Seattle during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

The ferry was even immortalized in the 1951 song “Black Ball Ferry Line" performed by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.

In 1967, Kalakala was retired from service and moved to the Washington State Ferries repair facility at Eagle Harbour. A year later she was sold to a seafood processing company and towed to Alaska to work as a crab cannery at Ouzinkie, Alaska. Later the Kalakala was beached in Kodiak in 1970 and used to process shrimp.

On January 4, 2015 owner Karl Anderson announced that the Kalakala would be dismantled for scrap metal, and eighteen days later the Kalakala was towed to a Tacoma dry dock and scrapping began immediately. By the first week of February scrapping was completed with only a few pieces such as windows, pilothouse, and the rudder saved and sold as souvenirs.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Mowitch

MOWITCH

[MÓW-itsh] [ MAH'-witsh] — noun.

Meaning: A deer; venison; game; wild animal

Origin: Nuu-chah-nulth, mauitsh; Ditidaht, moitsh, a deer

While the word itself refers to deer in general, as seen in “man mowitch (stag)” and "klootchman mowitch" (doe), it was occasionally applied to mountain goat or mountain sheep. It could also apply to deer meat, though if one wanted to be specific they could say "mowitch yaka itlwillie" (venison), and even be used to refer to wild animals in general, such as "huloima mowitch" ( an animal that is strange or different). The expression “hyas mowitch” (big game), on the other hand was sometimes used to refer to an elk, though they were usually called “moolock” or some similar pronunciation.

Mowitch is extremely common word throughout the Plateau and the Coast in use by both natives and non-natives alike, and is found as far southeast as Shoshone territory and up into Alaska, and is so widespread that most other language groups assume the word originated with them.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Itlwillie

ITLWILLIE

[ITL'-wil-lie] or [ITL'-u-li]— noun.

Meaning: Flesh; meat; muscle 

Origin: Upper Chinook, i-tlgwul; Lower Chinook i-tl’uli ‘meat’

If one had “itlwillie sick” (bruised/sore muscles), they would naturally complain "konaway nika itlwillie sick" (all my muscles are sore), a likely outcome for one’s “lejam itlwillie” (leg muscle) on Leg-Day.

The meat of all animals was referred to simply by the name for the animal; hence mowitch referred both to deer and venison. However, if one wished to be specific, they could say “mowitch itlwillie” or "mowitch yaka itlwillie" (venison), or something similar, such as "lemooto itlwillie”, or” lemooto yaka itlwillie" (mutton), "moosmoos yaka itlwillie" ( beef), “osho itlwillie" (hog meat; pork), and "tenas moosmoos yaka itlwillie" (veal). All good things to know if one is looking to “mahkook itliwille” (buy/sell meat), or identify “humm itlwillie" (carrion).

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Kiuatan

KIUATAN

[KIU'-a-tan] or [KHI-YU-tun] — noun.

Meaning: Horse

Origin: Generally believed to be from Chinook i-kiuatan < ikee’utan ‘horse’, though some sources claim it is of Mamachatpam (Yakima) origin.

There are several words for horses used in Chinook Wawa, though kiuatan seems to have been used more in southern regions of Cascadia, and is the most commonly used word in modern publications.

While the word simply means ‘horse,” it also extends to a number of types of horses, such as “tenas kiuatan” (colt; pony), klootchman kiuatan” (mare), "cooley kuitan” (a race horse), “lemolo kiuatan (mustang; wild horse)” and “stone kiuatan” (stallion; ungelded horse). This last term should not be confused with the act of “mamook klak stone kiuatan”  (to castrate a horse), which would give you a “burdash kiuatan” (gelding). It is also the bases of a variety of words for older horses, such as “oleman kiuatan” (old horse), “hyas oleman kiuatan” (a very old horse), and “oleman klootchman kiuatan” or “lamai kiuatan” (old mare, nag), and included words pertaining to parts of horses, like "kuitan lepee" (hoofs), professions associated with horses, such as “kuitan kapswolla" (horse thief), and activities involving horses, such as "klatawa kopa kuitan" (to ride; go by horse).

If you are on a long ride and someone tells you "nesika kuitan delate till" (our horses are very tired), then it would be best to stop and let them rest. Once stopped, someone might ask you "mika mamook kow mika kuitan?" (have you tied your horse?). If not, than you had best  "kow mika kuitan" (tie your horse), otherwise the next question someone will probably be asking you will be “mika na klap mika kiuatan?” (did you find your horse?)

A HORSE IS A HORSE OF COURSE OF COURSE

"Okoke mika kuitan?" (is this your horse?)

"Okoke kuitan kopa Alex." (This is Alex’s horse.)

"Yaka hyas kloshe kuitan?" (Is that a good horse?)

"Nika kuitan elip kloshe kopa yaka kuitan." (My horse is better than his horse).

Okoke kuitan yaka hyas oleman" (That horse is very old.)

A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Pil kiuatan comes from the Chinook particle “tlpil”, used for a bay or chestnut horse (i.e. red horse).

Leblow (also spelled Lablow or Leblau) comes from the French “Le Blond”, used for a sorrel or chestnut-coloured horse.

Leclem (also spelled Laclem, or Leklem) comes from the French “Le Creme”, used for a cream-colored or light dun horse.

Legley (also spelled Lagley) comes from the French “Le Gris” or English “Gray”, used for a gray-colored horse.

Sandelie (also spelled Sandelee) comes from the French “Cendre” or English “Sandy”, used for a roan or ash-colored horse.

Lekye (also spelled Lakai or Lekay) comes from French-Canadian word “La Caille”,  used for an appaloosa or a piebald horse.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Cosho

COSHO

[ko'-SHO] or [KU'-shu] — noun.

Meaning: Hog; pig; swine; pork; ham; bacon.

Origin: French, le cochon, ‘pig’

“Oink, oink indeed,” said the Harbor Seal.

Sometimes rendered as gosho, legosho, or lecosho in older sources, “cosho” (with the accent on the second syllable) was a French loanword used to mean pig or swine, but by context can be said to refer to the meat of the animal, though if one wanted to specify they could say "cosho itlwillie" (hog meat; pork).

Variants included  "klootchman cosho" (sow pig), “tenas cosho” (piglet), and "cosho glease" (lard) as well as “wawa kahkwa cosho” (squeal), covering the famous line of the Hog Industry, “konaway ikta pe wawa kahkwa cosho” (everything but the squeal).

The word is also used in “siwash cosho” (aboriginal pig) used to refer to the meat of a seal, being somewhat similar in appearance, if not in taste, to that of swine,  and was as much a staple of coastal First Nation life as pork was to the British or the Americans. It's worth noting that this expression was purely a jargon creation, and an equally prevalent word used throughout the region was “olehiyu” (seal), which was of Chinookan origin.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Delate

DELATE

[de-LATEY'] or [de-LEYT'] — adjective, adverb.

Meaning: accurate; authentic; certain; correct; correctly; direct; exact; definite; definitley; genuine; just; straight; plain; precise; real; really; sincere; sincerely; sure; thorough; true; truely; upright; undoubted; verily; very; without equivocation; without hesitation.

Origin: Either a corruption of English, straight; or Norman French drette > standard French droite ‘right’, both the directional and legal senses.

In Chinook Wawa, ‘delate’ is used as a superlative, which when added makes a statement positive and removes any element of doubt. Phrases like "delate nika wawa" (I am speaking the truth), "delate siah" (a very great distance), or "delate kwinnum cole ahnkuttie" (exactly five years ago) illustrate that anything ‘delate’ is the genuine article.

‘Delate’ can emphasize the quality of something, as in "delate kloshe" (very good; exquisite; pure; perfect) and "delate kahkwa” (exactly the same; identical), "delate chee" (entirely new), or “delate kimtah” (the last).

It serves as an affirmative, such as in “delate klosheh” (very good; right on), "okoke delate" (that is right; it is correct), “nawitka, delate kloshe” (yes, perfect), and "delate hyas kloshe" (majestic; magnificent; awe-inspiring).

Alternatively, it can emphasize a negative, such as “delate cultus” (absolute worthlessness; useless; mean), “wake delate" (not right; imperfect; deformed), "delate halo ticky" (to detest; dislike), “delate hyas mesachie” (terrible; terror), or if something is "delate kimtah kloshe" (very worse; worst), or declare that something or someone is being at “wake delate mamook” (fault) of something.

It can be used in the directional sense, such as "klatawa delate" (to go straight ahead; continue on), when describing size, as seen in "delate hyas" (enormous; immense; stupendous), emphasizes an exact time, such as "delate tenas sun" (dawn; daybreak), and of course all-important baking instructions, ranging from “delate tenas" (just a little) to "delate pahtl" (full to the brim; chockfull).

It can be used to express genuine feelings, such as "delate sick tumtum" (grief; very sad; very sorry) and the expression "delate nika sick tumtum" (I am very sorry), or tell someone that something is “delate ticky” (really necessary) or state if one has "halo delate kumtuks" (doubt, uncertain; obscure).

If you “mitlite delate kloshe tumtum kopa” (adore) something, you might describe it as being “delate hyas kloshe” (magnificent; majestic; awe-inspiring; very good) and that "nika tumtum delate kloshe" (my heart is very glad).

If a process results in "halo delate mamook" (not right work), one needs to "mamook delate" (to make right; correct) and “mamook delate kloshe (refine) the process in order for it to “delate kumtuks” (prove) useful.

If one is "delate yaka kumtuks" (an expert) and can "delate kumtuks" (know for a certainty; to be sure; to prove), then it is easy to "wawa delate" (speak the truth; speak correctly; affirm), especially if one is a “man yaka delate nanitch” (eyewitness) to something.

A skilled “man yaka delate kumtux potlatch wawa” (orator) will not likely “halo delate wawa” (mispronounce) words when speaking, though it will be up to the listener to determine if what they say is "delate wawa" (fact; promise; direct talk; straight truth) or “wake delate wawa” (legend; fiction; fable).

Just like the French word it is based on, ‘delate’ applies to both the legal sense, as in "delate yaka illahee" (a native of a country; one's native land), and in the physical sense, with a Delate Creek existing in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho each.

This Delate Road is located just outside of Poulsbo, Washington, across from Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula. There are many roads and streets with Chinook Wawa names in Cascadia.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Saghalie

SAGHALIE

[SAGH-a-lie] or occasionally [SAH'-ha-lie] — adjective.

Meaning: Up; above; high; heaven; sky; celestial; top; uppermost; over (above); upwards; lofty; holy.

Origin: Chinook, sakhali; Clatsop, ukhshakhali. Up; above; high.

Sometime rendered as ‘sagalie’, ‘sagalee’, ‘saqalie’, and even ‘sahhalie’ or ‘sahali’, this word was usually pronounced as if it were spelled ‘sockalie’ by Euro-Americans, while the indigenous pronunciation was closer to ‘sag-ha-lie , with the ‘g’ sound a guttural deep in the throat rather than an aspirate h.)

An adjective encompassing concepts of upwardness in direction and elevation, such as “elip saghalie” (upper; uppermost), ‘saghalie’ was used to describe the act of being on top of something, as seen in “mahsh ikta kopa saghalie” (cover) and “mitlite saghalie kopa chuck” (float), as well as describe ascension, like "mamook saghalie" (to lift; raise; elevate) and “klatawa saghalie” (to climb; ascend), as in "klatawa kopa saghalie la-montay" (to ascend to the summit of the mountain) or “saghalie kopa mountain" (on top of the mountain).

Word order and context is important in Chinook Wawa, since there is a difference between “saghalie kopa” (upon) and “kopa saghalie” (aloft; celestial).

The word also lent itself to physical features as well, such as “saghalie illahee” (mountains; highland; upland), “tenas saghalie Illahee” (hill), and even natural phenomenon, such as “saghalie chuck” (high tide), “skookum noise kopa saghalie” (thunder), and “saghillie piah” (lightning).

Zealous in their search for converts, early Christian missionaries quickly came to learn that there was no one universal deity among the FIrst Nations. For want of a native term, the evangelists instead coined “Saghalie Tyee“ (god; deity; creator) as a word of ‘Chief Above’ or ‘Great Spirit’, implying a ruler over all things.

This lead to several other neologisms, such as "Saghalie Tyee yaka book" (Bible; scripture) and "Saghalie Tyee yaka Illahee” (Heaven), as well as a number of concepts such as “saghalie tyee law” (commandments), “wawa kopa Saghalie Tyee” (to pray; prayer; worship), "potlatch kopa saghalie tyee" (dedicate; consecrate), “kloshe tumtum kopa Saghalie Tyee” (piety), “kahkwa Saghalie Tyee” (holy), “kahkwa Saghalie Tyee” (godly; godlike), “kloshe kopa Saghalie Tyee” (sacred), “wake kloshe kopa Saghalie Tyee” (profane), "Saghalie Tyee yaka wawa" (religion; sermon; gospel), and "mahsie kopa Saghalie Tyee" (praise to God; the Doxology). Even Jesus Christ was translated as "Saghalie Tyee Yaka tenas" ( God, His Son).

As a result of its use, “saghalie” also came to mean ‘sacred’ and ‘holy’, as seen in “saghalie illahee” (now taken to mean sacred or holy ground, a spirit-place, or a churchyard, but not a graveyard, which is “memaloose illahee”). There were even occasions where “saghalie” would refer to magic of the sacred or ‘pure’ kind, or be used to describe a spirit world or a spiritual state.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Hyas

HYAS

[hy-AS'] or [hay-ASH]— adjective, adverb.

Meaning: Big, great, vast, large, auspicious, powerful, important, celebrated, very.

Origin: Of obscure origin. Possible corruption of Nuu-chah-nulth iyahish "many", “much”

While similar in use to the word skookum, hyas generally has connotations of greatness, importance, or auspiciousness rather than outright strength or power.

"Hyas Sunday" was a term for a holiday, like Christmas or Fourth of July, and “hyas mahcook” could mean “a great price” or “something dear”, while “Hyas Tyee” refers to a high chief, a big boss, or even a king. This was also the common title used for the famous chiefs of the early era, such as Maquinna of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation.

The word can also be applied to size, such as “hyas wawa” (to shout), "hyas ahnkutte" (a long time ago), “hyas stick” (big tree/log; big/great woods/forest), or “hyas lamonti” (the high mountains).

One might exclaim "okoke house yaka hyas” (that house, it is large) upon seeing a  "hyas house" (mansion), and it would not be unexpected to find a large "hyas tick-tick” (clock) inside. It could even be duplicated for emphasis, such as in “hyas hyas lamonti” (the deep mountains; remote faraway mountain country).

In addition to its use as a general term for size, hyas could also be used to mean "very" or "very well", in which case it usually comes in front of the word or phrase it is modifying, such as “Hyas tenas” (very small) or "hyas kloshe" (very good), as in "hyas yaka mamook wawa Chinook lalang" (they can speak Chinook very well) or "nika hyas ticky klatawa" (I very much want to go).

The word also appears as “hyas hyas stone illahee, meaning the "greatest and biggest land of stones", or "the great barren high country" in Paul St. Pierre's novella Breaking Smith Quarter Horse. The context of the title is the vast and diverse inland alpine areas of the Coast Mountains, flanking the Chilcotin region of British Columbia where the action of the novella takes place.

The expression ‘High muckamuck’ or “High Mucketymuck’ is a corruption of “hyas muckamuck”, meaning "one who sits at the head table", i.e. an official, a bigshot, or a VIP. In modern blue-collar usage, this word is one of many mildly sarcastic slang terms used to refer to bosses and upper management.

Some scholars of Chinook Wawa believe that the words “hyas” and “hiyu” share the same origin and only one or the other may have been known or used in certain areas or periods.

Today the word lives on in local names; the town of Hyas is situated near Norquay in Saskatchewan, while Hyas Lookout and Hyas Creek can both be found in Clallam County in Washington, and no less than three Hyas Lakes are located in Washington, with a fourth in British Columbia.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Mahsie

MAHSIE

[MAH-sie] — verb.

Meaning: Thanks, thank you, thankful.

Origin: French, merci 'thank you’.

Sometimes rendered as ‘masi’, ‘mausie’ and even as “masiem”, the world was adopted from French as a way of saying ‘thanks’ or ‘thank you”, or to show that one is ‘thankful’, "wawa mahsie" (to give thanks, to praise), “kloshe nesika mahsie kopa Saghalie Tyee" (let us pray to God), and "mahsie kopa Saghalie Tyee" (the Doxology). However,  unlike French, the accent is placed on the first syllable when pronouncing the word in Chinook Wawa.

As in many languages, there is evidence in Chinook Wawa of calque, a process wherein the components of a word or phrase from one language is translated into another, preserving the direct meaning even if original source words become lost. This is evident in the expression “hayas mahsie” (thank you very much), an approximation of the French “grand merci”, both cases literally meaning ‘big thanks’.

The word saw the most use in northern British Columbia and the Yukon, and is still used in broadcast English in those areas.

Although Cascadia was never part of the French colonial claims in North America, and only one or two French ships ever visited the outer coast during the early fur trade era (the explorer-scientist La Perouse being the most significant), the French language was the main outside influence on the development of the jargon until the widespread influx of English-speaking Americans and British from the 1830s onwards. The cause of this was the important role played in the regional economy by the French-speaking Métis employees of the fur companies, including the Boston-owned Astoria Company.  The Métis voyageurs were the main contact the companies had with their native suppliers and customers, and many keywords of the jargon were adapted from the patois spoken by these intrepid travelers and woodsmen. The French borrowings were more widespread in the more northerly reaches of the jargon's territory, and in other areas where the voyageurs played a prominent role (including the Lower Columbia fur trade forts).