Chinook Wind - Pronunciation in The Pacific Northwest

Pronunciation in The Pacific Northwest

In British Columbia and other parts of the Pacific Northwest, the word Chinook is often pronounced ] (i.e., tshinuk, as in Salish. In central Washington, Alberta, and the rest of Canada, it is pronounced (i.e.,shinuk), as in French. This difference may be because it was the Métis employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were familiar with the Chinook people and country, brought the name east of the Cascades and Rockies, along with their own ethnified pronunciation. Early records are clear that tshinook was the original pronunciation, before the word's transmission east of the Rockies.