The phonetic structure is very simple, and contains no sound or combination that is not easy to Englishmen and Frenchmen as well as to Indians of at least a dozen tribes. The numerous harsh Indian velars either disappear entirely or are softened to h and k. On the other hand, the d, f, r, v, z of the English and French become in the mouth of a Chinook t, p, l, w, s. Examples:
The forms in parentheses are those of the French glossary (1853).
It will be noticed that many of the French words have the definite article affixed (a trait noticed in many words in the French Creole dialect of Mauritius). More than half of the words in Hale’s glossary beginning with l have this origin, thus labutai bottle, lakloa cross, lamie an old woman (la vieille), lapushet fork (la fourchette), latlá noise (faire du train), lidú finger, lejaub (or diaub, yaub) devil (le diable), léma hand, liplét missionary (le prêtre), litá tooth. The plural article is found in lisáp egg (les œufs)—the same word in which Mauritius French has also adopted the plural form.
Some of the meanings of English words are rather curious; thus, kol besides ‘cold’ means ‘winter,’ and as the years, as with the old Scandinavians, are reckoned by winters, also ‘year.’ Sun (son) besides ‘sun’ also means ‘day.’ Spos (often pronounced pos), as in Beach-la-mar, is a common conjunction, ‘if, when.’
The grammar is extremely simple. Nouns are invariable; the plural generally is not distinguished from the singular; sometimes haiu (ayo) ‘much, many’ is added by way of emphasis. The genitive is shown by position only: kahta nem maika papa? (lit., what name thou father) what is the name of your father? The adjective precedes the noun, and comparison is indicated by periphrasis. ‘I am stronger than thou’ would be weke maika skukum kahkwa naika, lit. ‘not thou strong as I.’ The superlative is indicated by the adverb haiás ‘great, very’: haiás oliman okuk kanim, that canoe is the oldest, lit., very old that canoe, or (according to Gibbs) by elip ‘first, before’: elip klosh ‘best.’
The numerals and pronouns are from the Chinook, but the latter, at any rate, are very much simplified. Thus the pronoun for ‘we’ is nesaika, from Chinook ntshaika, which is the exclusive form, meaning ‘we here,’ not including the person or persons addressed.
Like the nouns, the verbs have only one form, the tense being left to be inferred from the context, or, if strictly necessary, being indicated by an adverb. The future, in the sense of ‘about to, ready to,’ may be expressed by tike, which means properly ‘wish,’ as naika papa tike mimalus (mimelust) my father is about to die. The verb ‘to be’ is not expressed: maika pelton, thou art foolish.
There is a much-used verb mámuk, which means ‘make, do, work’ and forms causatives, as mamuk chako ‘make to come, bring,’ mamuk mimalus ‘kill.’ With a noun: mamuk lalam (Fr. la rame) ‘make oar,’ i.e. ‘to row,’ mamuk pepe (make paper) ‘write,’ mamuk po (make blow) ‘fire a gun.’
There is only one true preposition, kopa, which is used in various senses—to, for, at, in, among, about, etc.; but even this may generally be omitted and the sentence remain intelligible. The two conjunctions spos and pi have already been mentioned.