Album: Chinuk Wawa Word of the Week

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

At Fort Vancouver, from 1825 to the 1840s, many languages were spoken. One language that crossed cultural boundaries and made trade possible was Chinuk Wawa, also known as Chinook Jargon. This language was a combination of Chinookan dialects, Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootkan), English and French. Chinuk Wawa was the most commonly spoken language at Fort Vancouver. Here, its speakers crossed ethnic boundaries, including Indigenous and Métis trappers and traders from tribes throughout the region, Hawaiian farmers and laborers, European fur traders, and American missionaries. In addition to being a language of trade and commerce, Chinuk Wawa was also a language of families, and was spoken by the many multiethnic families living in the Fort Vancouver Village. In 2019, in honor of the United Nations' International Year of Indigenous Languages, these Chinuk Wawa Words of the Week were shared on the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Facebook page.