19 Pueblos: The Languages

Looking across Rattlesnake Ridge toward Cochiti Pueblo

Here is something wonderful about moving to the northern part of New Mexico: We will be nearer to the 19 northern pueblos, which are Acoma, Cochiti, Jemez, Isleta, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and Zuni. I hope to be able to learn about the people, their culture, and their language.

We heard a little of what might have been Keres (the language of the Cochiti and the nearby Santo Domingo Pueblos, among others) being spoken, mother to child, in the store at Cochiti the other day.

To hear audio samples of the most of the languages being spoken, go to Language of the 19 Pueblos.

Here are a few common words in English and in Keres, as spoken at the Cochiti Pueblo. The list is part of one from Vocabulary Words in Native American Languages, which is a section of a larger resource, Pueblo Indian Languages.

English	Cochiti
One	ishk
Two	kyuh'mi
Three	chahm
Four	kya'nah
Five	t'ahm
Man	hachtzeh
Woman	k'uyaw
Dog	tiya
Sun	oshach
Moon	tahwach
Water	tz'itz
White	k'ahshah or sch'amotz
Yellow	kuchin
Red	kukain
Black	muh'nah'kain

Love Over Scotland; A Logophile's Delight

It's very easy... [to] increase the sum total of human happiness. By these little acts. Small things. A word of encouragement. A gesture of love. So easy. ~Alexander McCall Smith, in Love Over Scotland.

I've just finished reading this title, the third novel in the 44 Scotland Street series, and what a lovely experience it has been. But here's the thing: I've been reading novels since I was 8 years old--reading and reading and reading. The books I have read must number in the thousands by now, wouldn't you think? And I have never come across a book with so many words that are totally unfamiliar to me. Perhaps I have seen one or two of them before--palimpsest and autodidact, in fact, come to mind--but I still had no idea of the meaning of these words and phrases.

But here's a warning--I am in love with words (logophile = lover of words); with their spelling and pronunciation and their origins. I believe it started when I was a child, an insatiable early reader, and the passion only grew when I was first introduced to Middle English in a course on Chaucer. That class, taught by a nun dressed in a habit, was held in a very cold morning room with a marble fireplace, a room where the five students sat around a wicker table, and was conducted almost entirely in Middle English. Once I heard these words from the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, I was a goner (although very worried about being able to pass the course):

Whan that Aprile with his shoures soote

The droughte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne en swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour...

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

Just take a look at these words and phrases from Love Over Scotland. Some are obviously in the Scots language and some are what I like to think of as more obscure English words. All are lovely and ha! totally unfamiliar to SpellCheck, which gives me some relief about my ignorance.

fantoosh (flashy, showy)

making siccar (making sure or certain)

...[the eyes of the moudie] would break ilka heart, but no the moudie man's... (ilka means each or every, and I believe the moudie man is the mouse or mole catcher)

palimpsest (a manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased)

orra jumper (odd pullover sweater)

bogles (supernatural beings)

anglice (in the English form. For example, in Italy, the city is called Firenze; anglice, Florence)

godowns by the river (in India or East Asia, a warehouse, especially by a river)

yonks and yonks (ages, a long time)

...run into a group of neds (a derogatory term for certain young people in Scotland, hooligans)

glens and straths of Scotland (a glen is a deep valley--I've heard the word a million times and have never had a mental picture of its meaning; a strath is a river valley, wide and shallow)

on the machair of a Hebridean island (a stretch of low lying land adjacent to the sand of the seashore)

his hodden skirts (coarse homespun, undyed woolen cloth of grayish color)

quinquennium (well, I figured that one out--happening every five years)

a study being rendered completely otiose (serving no useful purpose)

haud yer wheesht (shut your mouth, be quiet)

walked with a hirple (a limp)

smelling of school jotters (small notebooks)

ockers (used both as a noun and an adjective for Australians who talk and act in an uncultured manner)

lawyers in their stripit breeks (striped trousers)

[she was] a resourceful autodidact (a person who has taught herself)

I ken he's no a guid man (sure, you can work this one out. Doesn't it sound lovely, though? I know he's not a good man)

it wisnae meant to be funny (was not)

... reminiscent of the shades with which the Victorians liked to paint the anaglypta (thick embossed wallpapers, designed to be painted)

A Little More of That West Texas Talk

Here are a few more West Texas sayings that didn't fit into yesterday's post:

The chances are slim to none, and slim done got up and left

Tired of listening to a line, or tired of listening to a telephone solicitor: I've got a cow; I don't need your bull

If it wud'n for the flies, she'd have no friends at all

You're looking at me like a cow at a new fence 

Smiling like a jackass eating cactus

If dumb was dirt, he'd cover about an acre

Here are some handy words and phrases:

I might could do that

I was just fixin' to do that

Y’all, and its plural, ALL y’all

A little guide to some of the words you will hear: 

All = oil

Ass = ice, or iced (Note: When your waitress asks if you want ass-tea, don't be offended)

Far = fire 

Hah, h'ar yew = Hi, how are you?

Tard = tired

Last, but not least, here's a little West Texas jibe at Yankees:

Yankees are kinda like hemorrhoids, they're not too bad when they come down and go back up, but they're a real pain in the butt when they come down and stay.

Say What?

I've moved a lot in my life, mainly within the United States, except for several years in Canada. It seems like every time I get settled in a new place I have to learn a new language. As much as we often tend to talk like TV newscasters--that "neutral" or midwestern-ish accent--there are still lots of regional variations, thank goodness. Long may they continue!

Different accents are fairly easy to get your ear tuned to, especially when you are surrounded by a particular regional one. Think of a southern drawl, or a Boston "pahk the cah" kind of accent. It may be puzzling or even a little jarring at first, but you will eventually make the adjustment. For instance, when I lived in British Columbia, I was able to work out the word "Chewsday" from its context--as in, "I'll see you next Chewsday (Tuesday)." Believe me, the British Columbians were onto me right away. I would get just a couple of words out before they would nod and say knowingly, "So, you're a Yank, eh?"

But every region still has a number of sayings or expressions that you might not hear elsewhere. West Texas (and let me tell you, the plains of eastern New Mexico are considered a part of West Texas) has plenty of exceptionally delightful ones. I've been making a little collection, which I present to you here. Definitions are at the bottom of the page. A few of them might sound familiar, especially as our former President lived in West Texas.

1. Whopper-jawed

2. Out of pocket

3. Looks like she's been rode hard and put up wet

4. Gully washer

5. Root hog, or die!

6. Djeetyet?

7. This ain't my first rodeo

8. It's so dry the trees are bribin' the dogs

9. All hat and no cattle

10. They ate supper before they said grace

11. They're splittin' the sheets

12. We've howdied but we ain't shook yet

13. You can put your boots in the oven but that don't make them biscuits

Definitions:

1. Whopper-jawed: Crooked--or cattywampus, in some sections of the country

2. Out of pocket: Absent, can't be found--Keys, for instance, can be out of pocket (not necessarily lost, just not immediately findable); although I've heard a person say they've been "out of pocket" after a short absence

3. Looks like she's been rode hard and put up wet: This might describe a haggard-looking female

4. Gully washer: Hard rain

5. Root hog, or die!: Do it yourself, no one else is gonna

6. Djeetyet?: Did you eat yet?

7. This ain't my first rodeo: I've been around a while

8. It's so dry the trees are bribin' the dogs: We could really use some rain

9. All hat and no cattle: All talk and no action

10. They ate supper before they said grace: They are living in sin

11. They're splittin' the sheets: They are getting a divorce

12. We've howdied but we ain't shook yet: We've met briefly but haven't been formally introduced

13. You can put your boots in the oven but that don't make them biscuits: You can say whatever you want about something but that doesn't change what it is

***

Sources:

flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/texan/discuss/10551/

DJ’s Texas State of Mind

Speaking Locally

When I first moved to New Hampshire from Washington state I really had trouble understanding what some New Englanders were saying. A man was telling me about "Kearsarge" (the place) on the phone--it sounded like "keeaahsahj" to me and since I had never heard of the place I couldn't figure out what he meant. Asking him to spell it didn't help... K-E-A-Ahhh-S-A-Ahhh-G-E just didn't make any sense either.

An odd question I got when first working at a New Hampshire library sounded to me like "Wayah's a bubblah?" which I asked the kid to repeat a great many times until he gave up in disgust and went away. I couldn't begin to translate what he was saying and besides, had no idea what a bubbler (drinking fountain) was or where he could find it anyway.

My then 9-year old son earnestly got us all to agree that we would never get accents like "these people" in New Hampshire. Of course he considered himself accentless, as we all do. However, within a week or two he came home one afternoon enthusiastically asking for something called ottahpups, which he had eaten as a treat over at a friend's house. We had no idea what he was talking about until we discovered "Otter Pops" in the frozen food case at the grocery store. Still a weird name, if you ask me. Poor child, he was getting an accent faster than any of us, as we could tell when he referred to the "arthur and title" (author and title) of a book he had been reading. He could leave out and insert the letter "R" with the best of our neighbors.

When we left New Hampshire after 23 years and moved to New Mexico I had a whole new set of accent and language problems. I worked in a southern New Mexican school and while I was on my first lunch duty, a little boy asked, in Spanish, if he could go to the bathroom--which I somehow mentally translated to "May I have some more pizza?" That led to all kinds of trouble when I told him to go over to the lunch lady and she would help him!