| Chinook Jargon | |
|---|---|
| chinuk wawa, wawa, chinook lelang, lelang, chinook 𛰣𛱇𛰚𛱛𛰅 𛱜𛱜 | |
| Native to | Canada, United States |
| Region | Pacific Northwest (Interior and Coast): Alaska, The Yukon, British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Northern California |
Native speakers | 1 (2013)[1] |
| De facto Latin, historically Duployan; currently standardized IPA-based orthography | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | De facto in Pacific Northwest until about 1920 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | chn |
| ISO 639-3 | chn |
| Glottolog | pidg1254 (pidgin)chin1272 (creole) |
| ELP | Chinook Wawa |
 Chinook Jargon is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa or Chinook Wawa, also known simply as Chinook or Jargon) is a language originating as a pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then to British Columbia and parts of Alaska, Northern California, Idaho and Montana. It sometimes took on the characteristics of a creole language.[2] The contact language Chinook Jargon should not be confused with the Indigenous language Chinook.[3]
Reflecting its origins in early trade transactions, approximately 15 percent of its lexicon is French. It also makes use of English loan words and those of other language systems. Its entire written form is in the Duployan shorthand developed by French priest Émile Duployé.
Many words from Chinook Jargon remain in common use in the Western United States and British Columbia. It has been described as part of a multicultural heritage shared by the modern inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest. The total number of Jargon words in published lexicons is in the hundreds.[4] It has a simple grammatical system. In Chinook Jargon, the consonant /r/ is rare. Such English and French loan words as rice and merci, for instance, have changed after being adopted to the Jargon, to lays and mahsi, respectively.
- ^ Grant, Anthony (2013). "Chinuk Wawa structure dataset". Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
- ^ Lang, George (2008). Making Wawa: The Genesis of Chinook Jargon. Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN 9780774815260.
- ^ "Chinook Jargon". Yinka Dene Language Institute. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- ^ Gibbs, George (1863). "Dictionary of the Chinook Language, or, Trade Language of Oregon" (PDF) (Abridged ed.). New York: Cramoisy Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 4, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012 – via University of Washington Library.