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Opinion: ‘Sokum’ will do ... for an off-Coaster

The right way and wrong way to pronounce ts’ukw’um
tsukwum_sign

Prompted by last week’s front-page story (“Two shíshálh Nation names restored on Sunshine Coast”), some readers have asked us to print the phonetic spelling for the restored place names. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

In the pioneer era, if ts’ukw’um (Wilson Creek) had been retooled for ease of communication, it might have come out like “Sokum.” People of the day would have pronounced it “soak ’em.” Everyone can say soak ’em.

The problem is, that’s not the right way to pronounce ts’ukw’um. It could get you by in a pinch, but you would have a real off-Coast accent.

To improve your delivery, you lay a T against the S to make the word “so” but with a T in front of it – like “tso.”

That’s the first syllable and it is heavily stressed.

The second syllable sounds like “comb” but really more like “quome” or “kwome.”

Combine the two and you’ve got “tso-kwome” – but there’s more to it yet.

The way to learn the correct pronunciation is to go to shishalh.com and click on language. Scroll down and you’ll get to the place names. Raquel Joe (ch’elkwilwet) and Steven Feschuk (xwash) provide excellent audio pronunciation.

In the notes for ts’ukw’um included on the BC Geographical Names website, other nuances are spelled out:

• The “ts” sounds like the “ts” in English “cats” but it has a throat-catch.

• “kw” sounds like the “qu” in English “quote” but is produced farther back in the mouth and has a throat-catch.

Yes, that’s two throat-catches and one of them is executed while producing the sound farther back in the mouth.

Daunting as all that may sound, ts’ukw’um is back. Both the community of Wilson Creek and the creek itself are now officially renamed ts’ukw’um. The meaning isn’t definite, but it might be a reference to the fresh water at the creek. That’s because ts’ukw’um is very close to the shíshálh word ts’ukwum, which means fresh water, without flavour.

Even way back then, it was all about the water.

Our reader question last week was, “Will you now refer to Wilson Creek as ts’ukw’um?” Of the 611 votes tallied by Wednesday evening, 499 said no. That rounds off to 82 per cent who aren’t playing.

It’s to be expected. We all know where Wilson Creek is and if we were calling in an emergency from there, we would still give Wilson Creek as our location. It’s easy to say (doesn’t have a single throat-catch) and everyone recognizes it.

So why are we doing this? Because restoring the place names is a small but vital part of the job of preserving the language of the place. The last three fully fluent shíshálh speakers passed away three winters ago and the spoken language will either be preserved in this generation, or it will die out. The shíshálh have no intention of letting it die out.

What makes these ancient names beautiful is that they embody thousands of years of connection between a particular people and a particular place.

Give ts’ukw’um a try. Start with “Sokum” and take it from there.