TENAS WAWA--The Chinook Jargon Voice Talk Box

Negatives in Jargon

Generally speaking, wake is used as a simple negative imperative "No."

 

Wake or halo can be used indiscriminately as a negative prefix, though if the word following wake starts with a "K" sound, use halo. It sounds better. Compare:

wake kullhalo kull
wake kumtuxhalo kumtux
wake colehalo cole
wake klatawahalo klatawa

    When a word is needed that is not in the jargon, sometimes forming a negative compound works. For example:

far = siahnear = not far = wake siah
heavy = tilllight = not heavy = halo till
many = hiyusome = not many = wake hiyu
win = tolofail = not win = wake tolo
soft, smooth = kliminrough = not soft, not smooth = halo klimin
sharp = tsishdull = not sharp = halo tsish

(Copyright © 1990 by Duane Pasco)


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