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SPOCAMERICAN

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In 1790, Uteer Chafe (1758-1806) settled in America together with his Ergynnic Ÿrtōlle sect, as the extreme beliefs which this sect held regarding rituals met with a great deal of opposition, certainly in the Roman-Catholic west of Berref, where Uteer Chafe lived (in the town of Lammafin). They settled in a spot close to the present city of Spokane (Washington). In the next fifty years, more Spocanians emigrated to these woodlands, not because of their religious views, but simply in search of a better life. A curious creolized language developed within the impoverished and practically illiterate Spocanian community in America, incorporating both Spocanian and English elements and called Spocamerican. As the speakers were untutored and lived isolated in the forests, there are very few written sources regarding Spocamerican, and nowadays the language is all but extinct. Therefore, it is very gratifying that, in 1991, mrs. Geneva Ÿzolufo-Orešy, head of the Manuscript department of the Royal Academy in Hirdo, happened upon a scrap of paper in her library with 10 lines in Spocamerican. The unsteady handwriting reveals a person for whom writing was certainly not an everyday activity. That, as far as writing goes, his education had been in English, not in Spocanian, can be gathered from his spelling: without exception, all the words are English or else they are anglicized Spocanian, and everything conforms entirely to English orthography. Nothing in the writing betrays any knowledge of Spocanian spelling rules, while also the use of the Latin alphabet indicates that this person learned to write in the United States. Until the beginning of the 20th century, only the Pegrevian alphabet was used in Spocania. This unique written source of Spocamerican has been examined in more detail by the Irish professor Ian O'Brien, who resided in Spocania for years and is nowadays attached to the University of Hirdo as a visiting lecturer in Celtic languages and Old Spocanian (an interesting combination!). The scrap of paper shows the date 11(?).2.1832 (11? February 1832), but this was probably written (by a librarian) after it had voyaged from America to Hirdo. According to O'Brien, the text was written by a hunter somewhere between 1820 and 1830, on American paper. He has carefully analized the text, resulting in the annotation and translation below. Also read about the origin of the name of the American city Spokane! Below, the 10 lines in the illustration are elucidated: The verbatim text on the paper is printed in black; The elements constituting this Spocamerican are printed in blue: English words in principle, but when it is clearly a question of Spocanian words they are underlined. Sometimes a word may possibly be English as well as Spocanian, for instance shot in line 4; Of the blue line, a word for word translation is given in red. 1. In ee smile thur mens sit in a smyl dur men sit in a cabin three men sit 2. Thee wait ee pitchee comen they wait a pytšutū coming they wait a bear coming 3. Plurt en ef thee, he rep ee pitchee see be me plirtof one of them he reppe a pytšutū see by me suddenly one of them he says a bear see by me 4. First man put sin gun an rep he shot first man put sener gun/gun and reppe he shoot/šote first man put his gun and says he shoot 5. Sec man put sin gun an shot tur rep not second man put sener gun/gun and shoot/šote tūre reppe not/nert second man put his geweer and shoot but.not says not[hing] 6. Thur man rep not teer dead ee third man reppe not/nert tur dead ?is third man says not[hing] but dead is 7. Thur man my prefdeaf third man melde prefdef third man is prey 8. Sec man my workif second man melde ierquf second man is hunter 9. First man my pitchees fooder first man melde pytšutūs fooder first man is bear's fooder 10. Ee pitchee my poor ef pytšutū melde poir[e] the bear is living/alive Translation: Three men sit in a cabin They wait until a bear is coming Suddenly one of them shouts: I see a bear The first man takes his gun and says that he shoots The second man takes his gun but says nothing The third man says nothing but falls dead The third man is the prey The second man is the hunter The first man is the food for the bear The bear is still alive How do we interprete this story? The first man is a coward; he asserts that he shoots but he does not. Result: the bear eats him up. The second man is a noodle; he says nothing but he shoots. However, he hits the third man and not the bear: it is still alive. The third man is a dud: he forgets to shoot or to say something, and is killed by the second man. The bear is the victor.

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