274 



CHINOOK JARGON 



[b. a. e. 



to slaves. This custom later lost its force 

 to some extent among the tribes of the 

 upper Columbia. 



Linguistically they were divided into 

 2 groups: (1) Lower Chinook, comprising 

 two slightly different dialects, the Chinook 

 proper and the Clatsop ; {'I) Upper Chi- 

 nook, which included all the rest of the 

 tribes, though with numerous slight dia- 

 lectic differences. As a stock language 

 the Chinookan is sharply differentiated 

 from that of surrounding families. Its 

 most striking feature is the high degree 

 of pronominal incorporation, the pho- 

 netic slightnessof verbal and pronominal 

 stems, the occurrence of 3 genders, and 

 the predominance of onomatopootic proc- 

 esses. The dialects of Lower Chinook are 

 now practically extinct. Upper Chinook 

 is still spoken by considerable numbers. 



The region occupied by Chinookan 

 tribes seems to have been well populated 

 in early times, Lewis and Ciark estimat- 

 ing the total number at somewhat more 

 than 16,000. In 1829, however, there 

 occurred an epidemic of what was called 

 ague fever, of unknown nature, which in 

 a single summer swept away four-fifths 

 of the entire native population. Whole 

 villages disappeared, and others were so 

 reduced that in some instances several 

 were consolidated. The epidemic was 

 most disastrous below the Cascades. In 

 1846 Hale estimated the number below 

 the Cascades at 500, and between the Cas- 

 cades and The Dalles at 800. In 1854 

 Gibbs gave the population of the former 

 region as 120 and of the latter as 236. 

 These were scattered along the river in 

 several bands, all more or less mixed with 

 neighboring stocks. In 1885 Powell esti- 

 mated the total number at from 500 to 

 600, for the greater part on Warm Springs, 

 Yakima, and Grande Ronde reservations, 

 Oreg. The fusion on the reservations has 

 been so great that no accurate estimate is 

 now possible, but it is probable that 300 

 would cover all those who could properly 

 be assigned to this family. 



Most of the original Chinookan bands 

 and divisions had no special tribal names, 

 being designated simply as "those living 

 at such a place." This fact, especially 

 after the general disturbance caused by 

 the epidemic of 1829, makes it impos9il)le 

 to identify all the tril;)es and villages 

 mentioned by writers. Tlie following list 

 includes the different tribes, divisions, 

 and the villages not listed under the 

 separate tribes: Cathlacomatup, Cathla- 

 cumup, Cathlakaheckit, Cathlamet, 

 Cathlanahquiah, Cathlapotle, Cathlath- 

 lalas, Chakwayalham, Charcowa, Chil- 

 luckittequaw, Chinook, Chippaiicbick- 

 chick(?), Clackama, Clahclellah, Clahna- 

 quah, Claninnatas, Clatacut, Clatsop, 

 Clowwewalla, Cooniac, Cushook, Dalles 



Indians, Ithkyemamits, Kasenos, Katla- 

 gulak, Ivatlaminimin, Killaxthokle, Kle- 

 miaksac, Knowilamowan, Ktlaeshatlkik, 

 Kwulkwul, Lakstak, Lower Chinook, 

 Multnomah, Namoit, Nayakaukaue, Ne- 

 chacokee, Necootimeigh, Neerchokioon, 

 NemaLphnner, Nenoothlect, Scaltalpe, 

 Shahala, Shoto, Skilloot, Smackshop, 

 Teiakhochoe, Thlakalama, Tlakatlala, 

 Tlakluit, Tlalegak, Tlashgenemaki, Tlegu- 

 lak. Upper Chinook, Wahe, Wahkiacum, 

 Wakanasisi, Wappatoo, Wasco, Watlala, 

 Willopah, Wiltkwilluk, Yehuh. (l. f.) 

 >Cheenook. — Latham in Jour. Ethnol. Soc. Lond., 

 I, 236, 1848. = Chinook. —Gatschet in Mag. Am. 

 Hist., 1(57, 1877 (names and gives liabitat of 

 tribes). > Chinook. — Bancroft, Nat. Races, III, 

 .^65, 626-628, ls.v2 (emiiiu'ratcs Chinook, Wakia- 

 kum, 0-\thhuiiet, Clatsdii, Mnltnomah, Skilloot, 

 WatlaiiiV = Chinookan.— Powell in 7th Rep. B. 

 A. E., 6,1, 1891. >Chinooks.— Gallatin in Trans. 

 Am. Antiq. Soc, ii, 134, 306, 1836 (a single tribe at 

 month of Columbia). =Chinooks. — Hale in U. S. 

 Exjil. Expcd., VI, 198, 1846. <Chinooks.— Keane 

 in Stanford, Compend., Cent, and So. Am., 474, 

 1878 (includes Skilloots, Watlalas. Lower Chi- 

 nooks, Wakiakums, Cathlamets, Clatsops, Cala- 

 pooyas, Clackamas, Killamooks, Yamkally, Chi- 

 mook Jargon; of these Calapooyas and" Yam- 

 kallv are Kalapooian, Killamooks are Salishan). 

 >Chinuk.— Latham, Nat Hist. Man, 317, 1850 

 (same as Tshinuk; includes Chiniiks proper, 

 Klatsops, Kathlamut. Wakiiikam, Watlala, Niha- 

 loitih). X Nootka-Columbian. — Scouler in Jour. 

 Roy, Geog. Soc. Lond., xi, 224, 1841 (includes 

 Cliecnooks and Cathlascons of present family). 

 X Southern. — Scouler, ibid., 224 (same as his 

 Nootka-Cohimliian family above). =Tschinuk, — 

 Berghaus (l.sfii), Physik. Atlas, map 17, 1852. 

 =Tshinook. — (Jallatin in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 

 in, 402, 1853 (Chinooks, Clatsops, and Watlala). 

 = Tshinuk.— Hale in U. S. Expl. Exped., vi, 562, 

 569, 1846 (contains Watlala or Upper Chinook, 

 including Watlala, Nihaloitih, or Echeloots; and 

 Tshinuk, including Tshinuk, Tlatsap, Wakai- 

 kam). >Tshinuk. — Buschmann, Spuren der 

 aztek. Sprache, 616, 1859 (same as his Chinuk). 

 = Tsinuk. — Gallatin, after Hale, in Trans. Am. 

 Ethnol. Soc, II. pt. 1, 15, 1848. =T'sinuk,— Dall, 

 after Gibbs, in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., I, 241, 1877 

 (mere mention of family). 



Chinook jargon. The Indian trade lan- 

 guage of the Columbia r. region and the 

 adjacent Pacific coast from California 

 far u]> into Alaska. It was first brought 

 to public notice in the early days of the 

 Oregon fur trade, about 1810. In addi- 

 tion to the Indian elements it has now 

 incorporated numerous words from va- 

 rious European languages, but there can 

 be no doubt that the jargon existed as an 

 intertribal medium of communication long 

 before the advent of the whites, having 

 its parallel in the so-called "INIobilian 

 language" of the Gulf tribes and the sign 

 language of the plains, all three being the 

 outgrowth of an extensive aboriginal sys- 

 tem of intertribal trade and travel. The 

 Indian foundation of the jargon is the 

 Chinook proper, with Nootka, Salish, and 

 other languages, to which were added, 

 after contact with the fur companies, cor- 

 rupted English, French, and possibly 

 Russian terms. Hale, in 1841, estimated 

 the number of words in the jargon at 250; 

 Gibbs, in 1863, recorded about 500; Eells, 



