Customer Reviews

Upper Chehalis Dictionary: University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics No. 7

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The dictionary covers all the major dialects of Upper Chehalis, including Satsop, and is the definitive and exhaustive source of linguistic information on this now moribund language. The fruit of over 40 years of devoted research to a native american language and its speakers, this book continues to play a role in the ongoing cultural and spiritual revival of the Chehalis people and their associated clans. Though technical in nature and using a phonolgy just a bit daunting for the average reader, this dictionary will feed the hunger of young indigenous students who long for what was lost in the cultural transmission of their heritage. Of particular interest to the average reader is the importance of plants and animals from the rainy Chehalis valley. The vocabulary of the dictionary mirrors the daily conversation of all the folks of south west Washington, both native and non-native. The bibliography of Chehalis texts is complete, and Professor Kinkade should be congratulated for his use of all of Franz Boas' original notes, among other sources, which have been languishing in Philedelphia's American Philosophical Society Library for most of the 20th century. My favorite word from Upper Chehalis is the onomonopoedic "qwaqw" for the raven. As a child in the Satsop valley, I knew the presence of the spirits of those who had walked before. After years of searching, I now have the words for many of the sights, sounds, and thoughts of that moist, gray, green, wild world.