Chinuk Wawa
History | Diversity of Languages | What does Chinuk Wawa sound like | What will you learn | Course Objectives
The Chinuk Wawa program at Lane was started in 2006 in collaboration with the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community.
Together we have built a program that offers an alternative for students to learn a language of the people of Grand Ronde - the lingua franca of the Northwest; and to learn about the people of Grand Ronde and the history and culture of the First People of this area.
Over 70 students at Lane have studied Chinuk Wawa and met Oregon University System requirements for admission.
More than 40 students have graduated from universities in Oregon with Chinuk Wawa as their language of study.
3 students have studied Chinuk Wawa to meet their Master of Arts language requirement.
High School students have studied Chinuk Wawa for over 12 years to meet language requirements, and students at Willamina High School can graduate with 2 years of Chinuk Wawa meeting both their high school and Oregon University System requirements through Lane's College Now program. High School students receive college credits for studying Chinuk Wawa!
History of Chinuk Wawa and the first language of Oregon
Let's look briefly at the history of Chinuk Wawa and the first language of Oregon.
The history of chinuk wawa, also called shawash-wawa, jargon, chinuk...
Chinuk Wawa arose at the mouth of the Columbia River to The Dalles and began as a Pidgin – a contact language used for communication that is not the first language of any of its speakers. Over years it developed into a Creole - a Pidgin language that has become the first language of a community, although it was never the only first language of a community as most communities and speakers were at least bilingual.
As the lingua franca of the Northwest, Chinuk Wawa served as the language of communication between speakers of different regional languages – tribal and non-tribal. It was prevalent in all areas west of the Rockies, from Northern California to Alaska, and was found as the language of exchange and trade at Celilo Falls and at other sites along the Columbia River.
Chinuk Wawa is composed primarily of 4 languages and words from many other languages such as Hawaiian for example:
- 55% Old Chinook
- 7% Nuu-chaa-nulth
- 10% English
- 10% French
- 18% Other
Diversity of Languages and Dialects in the Pacific Northwest
In present-day Oregon at the time European Americans first arrived, 18-25 languages of roughly 13 different families were spoken.
(Gross 2007; D. Hymes 2007)
The following map shows where the different languages of Oregon were spoken before contact with white settlers.
From Native American Tribes of Oregon website
Many speakers of other Oregon languages, for example, Alsea, Yaquina, Tualatin, Yonkala, Tillamook, Chinook, Kathlamet, Clatskanie, Rogue River, Molalla, Cayuse, Hanis and Miluk Coos, Klamath, Walla Walla, Kiksht, Ichishkiin and Deeni' languages also spoke Chinuk Wawa. And Chinuk Wawa words are found in many of these languages.
The Tribe worked with Dr. Henry Zenk to create both the Chinuk Wawa Lexicon and the Chinuk Wawa Dictionary.
What does Chinuk Wawa sound like?
Chinuk Wawa has many consonants and few vowels.
Many consonants are different than other languages. For example Chinuk Wawa has 6 different ways to pronounce variations on [k].
kənim
Artwork by Jaeci Hall
kʰalakwati
Artwork by Jaeci Hall
And Chinuk Wawa has sounds you may not have heard before.
The Sound System of Chinuk Wawa
The origin of Chinuk Wawa is in Old Chinookan, which like Chinuk Wawa was spoken from the mouth of the Columbia River up to the Dalles. Old Chinookan preceded Chinuk Wawa by thousands of years.
Because Chinuk Wawa has the sounds of Old Chinookan, we believe that Chinuk Wawa was spoken in this area before the time of contact with non-Native people.
Chinuk Wawa Sounds
What will you learn?
What kind of language ability will you have if you study Chinuk Wawa? What kinds of things will you be able to say and talk about?
After the first term of Chinuk Wawa you will be able to:
- Greet your classmates, friends and other speakers of Chinuk Wawa
- Introduce your self to others in a culturally appropriate way •Ask someone how they are, how they are feeling
- Ask questions about others
- Express numbers 1-100
- Express days of the week
- Inquire about the time of day
- Tell time – general and specific
- Identify things: body parts, classroom objects, animals, pets, foods, beverages, family members and use se th
- Tell someone you need something or want something
- Know more about the culture of the Grand Ronde
At the end of 1 year of studying Chinuk Wawa you will be able to:
- What their favorite foods are and why? Talked about what they ate for dinner last night and what foods they like to cook.
- Read stories about Grand Ronde in the 1930s; ikanum – stories of winter, letters and biographies of Grand Ronde tribal members.
- Talk about activities they do on weekends, and things things want to do this summer.
- Play games – Go Fish, Uno and talked about designing a Clue game in Chinuk Wawa.
- Made breakfast for dinner in Chinuk Wawa with the 203 class.
- Write biographies of Chinuk Wawa elders; and wrote and illustrated a story book for the preschool at Grand Ronde.
At the end of 2 years of studying Chinuk Wawa you will be able to:
- Talk about things you do everyday
- Talk about your location, how to get somewhere and give directions to someone
- Talk about what you like and dislike
- Express the amount of something
- Perform social interactions such as thanking, apologizing, greeting and interacting with elders, exchanging pleasantries about weather, or an event, or something about a family member
- Talk on the phone, answer the phone, and take simple messages •Ask for clarifications/repetitions
- Make food with friends, write and share recipes
- Go shopping for food, clothing with friends
- Play games in Chinuk Wawa
- Joke in Chinuk Wawa
- Ask for a person's cooperation or help
- Talk about plant life, gathering and harvesting food, making baskets
- Talk about the lifeways of the people of Grand Ronde
- Describe actions that are taking place now, yesterday or in the past, tomorrow or at a later date.
- Ask friends for information about things
- Ask and answer questions
- Compare and contrast things and events
- Make appointments and reservations
- Have conversations about things you know about
- Know and can talk about stories and ikanum
- Better understand the culture and can talk about cultural things
Chinuk Wawa Skills you will learn
You will learn how to:
- Listen and understand Chinuk Wawa
- Speak Chinuk Wawa
- Understand the Culture of Chinuk Wawa speaking people
- Read in Chinuk Wawa
- Write assignments, stories, books, songs
Chinuk Wawa Course Objectives 100 Level
100 Level Student Objectives: Students will (1) learn the sound system of Chinuk Wawa to be able to (2) converse in a variety of common everyday settings using vocabulary and structures presented in class. Emphasis is placed on daily speaking, writing, reading and listening of Chinuk Wawa and learning about the cultures of the people who spoke and still speak the language.
Chinuk Wawa Course Objectives 200 Level
200 Level Student Objectives: Students will (1) learn the culture and history of the Grand Ronde people; (2) converse in a variety of common everyday settings; (3) learn to use more advanced verb structures; (4) learn to work (a linguistic emphasis) with texts. Emphasis is placed on daily speaking, writing, reading and listening of Chinuk Wawa and learning about the cultures of the people who spoke and still speak the language.
Why study Chinuk Wawa?
Hopefully you have your own reasons to study Chinuk Wawa now. Students say it opens them to seeing the world differently. They learn about the land they live on. The course gives them an appreciation of the people of this area and their lifeways. They have fun learning new sounds. They feel good about supporting Chinuk Wawa language revitalization.
'Hopefully we see you in Chinuk Wawa school!'