Thomas Paul's Sametl

A pidgin may share with other languages patterning of narrative in lines and groups of lines (verses). Chinook Jargon texts show patterns of the same kind as found in the speakers' respective Indian languages. A Saanich Salish jargon text is examined in detail, and its cultural and aesthetic interest pointed out, as well as its contribution to a general analysis of travel and outcome in Indian narratives. The recurrence in languages, including pidgins and creoles, of just a few alternative types of ethnopoetic patterning suggests an innate basis, but a functional explanation cannot be ruled out.