Learning the Tlingit Language in Alaska

The Tlingit language, nearing the brink of extinction, could be saved by last month’s show of government support.

Schools in Juneau, Alaska received $3.7 million dollars in federal grants from the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation for Tlingit language and cultural instruction in local classrooms.

Originally spoken by indigenous people of Western Canada and Southeast Alaska, current speakers of the Tlingit language number less than 140 – nearly all of whom also speak English.

To teach Juneau’s children about the Tlingit, the grants will pay for Tlingit language and cultural instruction to be more widely available. Cultural instruction will include school visits by tribe elders and role models.

It will also cover a youth activities service, as well as workshops for teachers and parents on increasing the role of other cultures in school curriculum.

But what is the Tlingit language?

The Tlingit language was first recorded by Europeans around 1790, and its background is relatively unknown. Linguists believe Tlingit originated in one of the southernmost areas in Alaska – Saxman – and traveled north.

Tlingit originally existed in five dialects with significant variations, due to the wide distance between settlements.

The Tlingit language has two or three distinct tones, depending on the dialect spoken. The extinct Tongass dialect – thought to be the oldest of the five – had four different vowel systems, which many linguists believe resulted in the different tones used today.

Learn some Tlingit words!

You don’t have to benefit from the language-learning grants to learn some words and phrases in the Tlingit language. Here are some to start you off:

• aak’é (good)
• ghagaan (sun)
• sdágáa (really?)
• khaashaxáshaa (scissors)
• Káaxwei tsu eetéenaxh xhat yatee. (I need more coffee.)

The current writing system of the Tlingit language came from a group of anthropologists in the 1960s, who tried to standardize previous phonetic transcriptions.

Although the current system may be harder to read than phonetic interpretations, its consistency helps future language learners keep the Tlingit language alive!