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| Tlingit | |
|---|---|
| Lingít | |
| Pronunciation | /ɬɪ̀nkɪ́tʰ/ |
| Native to | United States,Canada |
| Region | Alaska,British Columbia,Yukon,Washington |
| Ethnicity | 10,000Tlingit (1995)[1] |
| Speakers | ~170 total (2016–2020)[citation needed] ~50 highly-proficient L1 speakers, 10 highly-proficient L2 speakers (2020, United States)[2] 120 in Canada (2016 census)[3] |
Dene–Yeniseian?
| |
| Tlingit alphabet (Latin script) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Alaska[4] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | tli |
| ISO 639-3 | tli |
| Glottolog | tlin1245 |
| ELP | Tlingit |
 | |
 Tlingit is classified as Critically Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
| Lingít "People of the Tides" | |
|---|---|
| People | Tlingit |
| Language | Lingít |
| Country | Tlingit Aaní |
Tlingit (English:/ˈklɪŋkɪt/ ⓘKLING-kit;[5]LingítTlingit pronunciation:[ɬɪ̀nkɪ́tʰ])[5] is an endangered language indigenous toSoutheast Alaska andWestern Canada spoken by theTlingit people that forms an independent branch of theNa-Dene language family. Although the number of speakers is declining, extensive effort is being put into revitalization programs in Southeast Alaska to revive and preserve the language.
Missionaries of theRussian Orthodox Church were the first to develop a written version of Tlingit by using theCyrillic script. After theAlaska Purchase, Tlingit language use was suppressed by the United States government, though preservation programs were introduced beginning in the 20th century. Today, Tlingit is spoken natively by perhaps only 100 elders.[6]
Tlingit's placement in the Na-Dene family has provoked much debate over the last century, with most scholars now considering it to form a separate branch in the phylum, the other being Eyak-Athabaskan (includingEyak and theAthabaskan languages). Tlingit is notable for its unusual phonology, especially compared toIndo-European languages, and its morphological complexity.
The early history of Tlingit is poorly known, mostly because there was no written record untilRobert de Lamanon collected numerals and five nouns during theLa Pérouse expedition in 1786.[7] The language appears to have spread northward from theKetchikan–Saxman area towardsIcy Bay[8] since certain conservative features are reduced gradually from south to north.[9] In fact, Tlingit northerly expansion intoEyak andAthabaskan territories was still taking place in recorded times.[8][10]
The first Tlingit orthography and literacy program were created by theRussian Orthodox church during theRussian colonization of Alaska.[11] However, following the 1867purchase of Alaska by the United States, native languages were suppressed in favor of English language homogeneity and assimilation.[11][12] It was not until the mid-20th century that the language literacy movement would regain ground,[11] but the total number of speakers continued to decline.[13] Beginning in the late-20th century, revitalization and preservation programs were also introduced.[14]
Tlingit is currently classified as a distinct and separate branch of Na-Dene, anindigenous language family of North America.[15] In 1915,Edward Sapir argued for its inclusion in the Na-Dene family,[16] a claim that was subsequently debated byFranz Boas,P.E. Goddard, and many other prominent linguists of the time.[17] Its inclusion in the family has proven controversial due to lack of common vocabulary despite shared phonological and grammatical features.[18]
Studies in the late 20th century by Heinz-Jürgen Pinnow andMichael E. Krauss showed a strong connection toEyak and hence to theAthabaskan languages, thus essentially proving the Na-Dene family as including Tlingit.[18]
Sapir initially proposed a connection between Tlingit andHaida,[16] but the debate over Na-Dene gradually excluded Haida from the discussion. Haida is now considered anisolate,[19] with some borrowing from its long proximity with Tlingit.[20] However, some contemporary linguists still hold that Haida is part of the Na-Dene family – such as John Enrico, a specialist in Haida.[20][21]
The first proposal linking Na-Dene and thus Tlingit to theYeniseian languages of Siberia was made by Italian linguist Alfredo Trombetti in 1923.[22] In the early 2000s,Edward Vajda presented empirical evidence for the existence of this super family,Dene–Yeniseian.[23] Although support for the hypothesis has not been universal,[24] it has been called "the first demonstration of a plausible genealogical link between languages of Eurasia and languages of the Americas".[25]
The Tlingit language was traditionally spoken from near the mouth of theCopper River atController Bay down the open coast of theGulf of Alaska and throughout almost all of the islands of theAlexander Archipelago inSoutheast Alaska.[26][27] It is characterized by about four distinct dialects,[28][29] but they are mostly mutually intelligible,[10] indicating relatively recent territorial expansion.[10][30] Almost all of the area where the Tlingit language is endemic is contained within the modern borders ofAlaska. The exception is an area known as "Inland Tlingit"[31] that extends up theTaku River and into northernBritish Columbia and theYukon aroundAtlin Lake (Áa Tleen "Big Lake"[32]) andTeslin Lake (Desleen <Tas Tleen "Big Thread"[32]), as well as aroundTagish Lake near theChilkoot Trail (Jilḵoot).[31] There is a small group of speakers (about 30) inWashington as well.[33]
Tlingit is classified as critically endangered by UNESCO.[34] In 2007, Golla reported a maximum population of 500 speakers in Alaska, and an additional 185 in Canada.[35] TheFirst Peoples' Cultural Council reported 2 fluent speakers in British Columbia out of an ethnic population of 400.[36]
Tlingit courses are available at theUniversity of Alaska Southeast, taught in part byLance Twitchell. In 2022, the university began offering these classes for free.[37][38] In April 2014, Alaska HB 216 recognized Tlingit as an official language of Alaska, lending support tolanguage revitalization.[39]
Tlingit is divided into roughly four major dialects,[29] all of which are essentiallymutually intelligible:[10]
Most dialects of Tlingit can be classified into two-tone (Northern and Transitional) and three-tone (Southern) systems.[46] Tongass Tlingit, however, has no tone, but rather a four-wayregister contrast between short, long, glottalized, and "fading" vowels.[47] (In the last type, the onset of the vowel is articulated normally but the release ismurmured, essentially a rapid opening of theglottis once articulation is begun, resulting in fading of volume and pitch.)[48]
The tone values in two-tone dialects can be predicted in some cases from the three-tone values but not the reverse. Earlier, it was hypothesized that the three-tone dialects were older and that the two-tone dialects evolved from them.[citation needed] However,Jeff Leer's discovery of the Tongass dialect in the late 1970s has shown that the Tongass vowel system is adequate to predict the tonal features all the other dialects,[49] but that none of the tonal dialects could be used to predict vocalic feature distribution in Tongass Tlingit. Thus, Tongass Tlingit is the most conservative of the various dialects of Tlingit, preserving contrasts which have been lost in the other dialects.
The fading and glottalized vowels in Tongass Tlingit have also been compared with similar systems in theCoast Tsimshian dialect, which has led some to believe that the Tongass system was inherited from Coast Tsimshian.[50] However, the Tongass system also shows remarkable similarity to theEyak system, suggesting that Tongass retained features fromProto-Na-Dene which instead developed into tonal systems in most of the Athabaskan languages and the other dialects of Tlingit.[51]
Tlingit has a complexphonological system compared toIndo-European languages such as English orSpanish. It has an almost complete series ofejective consonants accompanying its stop, fricative, and affricate consonants. The only missing consonant in the Tlingit ejective series is[ʃʼ].[52] The language is also notable for having severallaterals but no voiced[l] and for having nolabials in most dialects, except for[m] and[p] in recent Englishloanwords.[53]
The consonants in the table are given in theIPA, with the popular orthography equivalents in brackets. Dialectal, obsolete, and marginal consonants are given in parentheses.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | lateral | plain | labial | plain | labial | plain | labial | ||||
| Plosive | unaspirated | t⟨d⟩ | ts⟨dz⟩ | tɬ⟨dl⟩ | tʃ⟨j⟩ | k⟨g⟩ | kʷ⟨gw⟩ | q⟨g̱⟩ | qʷ⟨g̱w⟩ | ʔ⟨.⟩ | (ʔʷ)⟨.w⟩[a] | |
| aspirated | tʰ⟨t⟩ | tsʰ⟨ts⟩ | tɬʰ⟨tl⟩ | tʃʰ⟨ch⟩ | kʰ⟨k⟩ | kʷʰ⟨kw⟩ | qʰ⟨ḵ⟩ | qʷʰ⟨ḵw⟩ | ||||
| ejective | tʼ⟨tʼ⟩ | tsʼ⟨tsʼ⟩ | tɬʼ⟨tlʼ⟩ | tʃʼ⟨chʼ⟩ | kʼ⟨kʼ⟩ | kʷʼ⟨kʼw⟩ | qʼ⟨ḵʼ⟩ | qʷʼ⟨ḵʼw⟩ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s⟨s⟩ | ɬ⟨l⟩ | ʃ⟨sh⟩ | x⟨x⟩ | xʷ⟨xw⟩ | χ⟨x̱⟩ | χʷ⟨x̱w⟩ | h⟨h⟩ | (hʷ)⟨hw⟩[a] | ||
| ejective | sʼ⟨sʼ⟩ | ɬʼ⟨lʼ⟩ | xʼ⟨xʼ⟩ | xʷʼ⟨xʼw⟩ | χʼ⟨x̱’⟩ | χʷʼ⟨x̱ʼw⟩ | ||||||
| Sonorant | (m)⟨m⟩[b] | n⟨n⟩ | (l)⟨ll⟩[c] | j⟨y⟩ | (ɰ)⟨ÿ⟩[d] | w⟨w⟩ | ||||||
Nasal consonantsassimilating with/n/ and thevelar anduvularplosives is common among Tlingit-speakers of all dialects. For example, the sequenceng (/nk/) is often heard as[ŋk] andng̱ (/nq/) as[ɴq]. Native speakers in a teaching position may admonish learners when they produce these assimilated forms, deriding them as "not Tlingit" or "too English", but it is common to later hear such speakers producing those forms themselves.[citation needed] It is uncertain whether this assimilation is autochthonous or if it arose from contact with English, but the former is more likely from a purely articulatory perspective.
Young speakers and second-language learners are increasingly making avoiced/unvoiced distinction between consonants, rather than the traditionalunaspirated/aspirated distinction. That is because of the influence of English, which makes a similar distinction. For speakers who make the voiced/unvoiced distinction, the distribution is symmetrical with the unaspirated/aspirated distinction among other speakers.
Phonetic analysis shows that all Tlingit word final non-ejective stops are phonemically unaspirated, although there is a wide variation in ordinary speech, ranging from unreleased[t̚] to a very delayed aspiration[tːʰ].[61] The underlying phoneme is the unaspirated stop, since this form is consistently produced when the word is suffixed. The orthography usually but not always reflects that:hít "house" is written(du) hídi "(his) house" when marked with the possessive suffix-ÿí. It is possible but has not been verified that aspirated and unaspirated stops are collapsed into a single phoneme word-finally.
Phonetic analysis also shows that theejectivefricatives in Tlingit are in fact true ejectives, with complete closure of the glottis before frication begins and the larynx raising in the same manner as with ejective stops.[62] This contrasts with common analyses in some other languages with ejective fricatives, which considers them a sequence of fricative and glottal stop.[62]
Tlingit has eight phonemicvowels, four of these distinguished formally bylength. However, shorter vowels are typically pronounced more centralized,[63][64] or lesstense,[65] particularly in rapid speech.[citation needed]
| Tense/Long | Lax/Short | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| front | central | back | front | central | back | |
| close | iː⟨ee⟩ | uː⟨oo⟩ | ɪ⟨i⟩ | ʊ⟨u⟩ | ||
| mid | eː⟨ei⟩ | ɛ⟨e⟩ | ʌ⟨a⟩ | |||
| open | aː⟨aa⟩ | (ɒː⟨aa⟩)[a] | (ɐ⟨a⟩) | |||
Word onset is always consonantal in Tlingit. Thus, in order to avoid a word starting with a vowel, an initial vowel is always preceded by either[ʔ][66] or[j]. The former is universal in single words, and both are found in word-medial position in compounds. The orthography does not reflect the[ʔ] in word-initial position, but either. ory may be seen in medial position. For example:
ÿu-
ÿa-
t'áa
hot
ḵu- ÿu- ÿa- t'áa
INDH.OBJ- PERF-(ø, -D, +I)- hot
"the weather is hot"
But when the perfective prefixÿu- is word-initial, the glottal stop appears to ensure that the word begins with a consonant.
Tone is contrastive in all dialects of Tlingit but Tongass.[46] In the Northern and Transitional dialects, there are high and low tones, and in the Southern dialect there is an additional falling tone.[67] Rather than tone, Tongass Tlingit has a register system of vowel phonation and glottalization[48] that corresponds to the tone systems of other dialects. An illustration of some of these correspondences can be seen below.[68]
| Tongass register | Southern tone | Northern tone | Example translation[46] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| notation | description | example | notation | description | example | notation | description | example | |
| V | short | sha | V́ | high tone | shá | V́ | high tone | shá | "head" |
| VV | long | shaa | V́V | long high tone | sháa | V́V | long high tone | sháa | "woman" |
| VV' | long glottalized | ḵaa' | V̂V | long falling tone | ḵâa | V́V | long high tone | ḵáa | "man" |
| VV` | long fading | aa`n | V̀V | long low tone | àan | V̀V | long low tone | aan | "land" |
The very first instance of written Tlingit presents itself from theLa Pérouse expedition in 1786, where for example,tleixʼ ("one") was transcribed as"keirrk".[69] A more formal orthography based on theCyrillic alphabet was created by the Russians during their colonization of Alaska.[11] However, after Alaska was acquired by the United States, native language literacy was discouraged,[11] and until the latter half of the 20th century, Tlingit was only written by linguists for the purpose of phonetic transcription.[citation needed]
The most widespread orthography used today is based off of the transcription systems of some of these linguists, particularly Constance Naish and Gillian Story.[70] Like other popular writing systems, it uses the letters for voiced obstruents to represent unaspirated sounds; e.g.,⟨d⟩ for/t/. Uvular sounds are distinguished from velars by an underline; that is,⟨k ḵ⟩ for/kʰqʰ/. Typing an underline was straightforward on the typewriters of the 20th century, but it is no longer so on modern computers.[71] Thus, an alternative "email" orthography was developed in the 1990s[72] that replaces the underline with an appended⟨h⟩; so,⟨ḵ⟩ becomes⟨kh⟩, and so on.[71]
The Inland Tlingit orthography does not use vowel digraphs. Instead, short high vowels are marked with an acute accent, long high vowels are marked with a circumflex, and long low vowels are marked with a grave accent. Short low vowels are unmarked. So, Coastal Tlingit⟨áa⟩ and⟨aa⟩ are Inland⟨â⟩ and⟨à⟩ respectively. Coastal⟨éi⟩ and⟨ei⟩ are Inland⟨ê⟩ and⟨è⟩; Coastal⟨ée⟩ and⟨ee⟩ are Inland⟨î⟩ and⟨ì⟩; and Coastal⟨óo⟩ and⟨oo⟩ are Inland⟨û⟩ and⟨ù⟩.[citation needed]
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Tlingit grammar at first glance appears to be highlyfusional, but this is an incorrect assumption. There are predictable processes by which the basic phonetic shapes of individual morphemes are modified to fit various phonological requirements. These processes can be described with a regular language, and such descriptions are given here on a per morpheme basis by giving rule schemas for the context sensitive phonological modification of base morphemes. Analyzing all the possible combinations of morphemes and phonological contexts in Tlingit and constructing a regular language to describe them is a daunting but tractable task.[citation needed]
Despite not being a fusional language, Tlingit is still highlysynthetic as anagglutinating language, and is evenpolysynthetic to some extent. The verb, as with all the Na-Dene languages, is characteristicallyincorporating. Nouns are in comparison relatively simple, with many being derived from verbs.
Tlingitword order isSOV when non-pronominalagent andobjectphrases both exist in the sentence. However, there is a strong urge to restrict the argument of theverb phrase to a single non-pronominalnoun phrase, with any other phrases being extraposed from the verb phrase. If a noun phrase occurs outside of the verb phrase then it is typically represented in the verb phrase by an appropriate pronoun.
Tlingit has a complex system ofpronominals, which vary depending on their relationship to the verb. The subject pronominals are incorporated into the verb in its subject slot.[73] The object pronominals are essentially graphically independent. They are divided into three classes: the verbal object, nominal object, and postpositional object. There are also independent pronominals which are completely separate from the verb; they can be used in dependent clauses or in subject or object position.
The pronominals can be visualized in the following table.[73][74]
| Type | Subject | Object | Independent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VO | NO | PO | |||
| 1SINGULAR | x̱a- | x̱at,ax̱ | ax̱ | x̱a- | x̱át |
| 1PLURAL | too- | haa | haa | uháan | |
| 2SINGULAR | ee- | i- | i | wa.é | |
| 2PLURAL | yi- | yee- | yee | yeewáan* | |
| 3RECESSIVE | a-, Ø- | a | a- | ||
| 3NEUTRAL | Ø- | a-, Ø- | du | u- | hú |
| 3SALIENT | ash | ash | |||
| REFLEXIVE | sh-, Ø- | chush | |||
| RECIPROCAL | woosh | woosh | |||
| INDEFINITE HUMAN | du- | ḵu-,ḵaa- | ḵaa | ḵu- | |
| INDEFINITE NON HUMAN | at- | at | |||
| PARTITIVE | aa- | ||||
The numbers in the first column represent the usual concept of person, i.e. first, second, or third. Story and Naish identified afourth person, but this term is inappropriate since they did not describe a clear separation between the so-called fourth person and the other impersonal pronominals.[citation needed]
When analyzing a sentence, the pronominal type is given first, then the form (subject, object, independent) is given following a period. This uniquely represents the pronominal as a two dimensional unit. Thus 1SINGULAR SUBJECT is the first person singular subject pronominal, realized asx̱at. TheRECIPROCAL does not uniquely identify one of the two reciprocal pronominals, but since they are both phonetically identical aswoosh, it is generally unnecessary to uniquely identify them.
There is also a notional zeroth person which can be of subject, object, or independent form. This is not realized in Tlingit, instead it is an empty placeholder for analysis.
The subject pronominals are all incorporated into the verb. Thus when the subject is represented as a pronominal, the syntactic subject position of the sentence is empty.
Object pronominals are divided into three classes, the verbal, nominal, and postpositional.[citation needed]
The verbal object pronominals function similarly to the subject pronominals in that they preclude an explicit object when used.
The nominal object pronominals are similar in some respects to the possessive pronouns of English. They precede a noun and represent the object of the noun, typically implying possession of the noun.
Postpositional object pronominals function as objects to which postpositions are attached. They act as the object of a postposition in a manner similar to an ordinary noun suffixed with a postposition.
Strictly speaking, the Tlingit directionals can be classified as nouns on the basis of their syntactic function. However, they form a distinct semantic set of nouns which indicate direction relative to some stated position. They also show stem variation depending locative suffixation, in particular with the allative suffix-dei. These stem variants also occur with the adverb constructionN1-da-N2-(i)n "N2N1-ward" whereN2 is an anatomic noun andN1 is a directional stem.
| Noun | N-dei | N-naa | Adverb (+15) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| up above | (di-)kée | (di-)kín-dei | (di-)kee-naa | kei, kéi |
| down below | (di-)yée | (di-)yín-dei | (di-)yee-naa | yei, yéi, yaa |
| upstream | naakée | nán-dei | naa-nyaa ~naa-naa | – |
| downstream | ix-kée, éex | íx-dei | ixi-naa | – |
| from landshore, interior | dáaḵ | dáḵ-dei | daḵi-naa | daaḵ |
| toward landshore | éeḵ | íḵ-dei | iḵi-naa | yeiḵ ~eeḵ |
| toward seashore | yán | yán-dei | — | yan |
| from seashore, out to sea | dei-kí | dák-dei | daki-naa ~diki-naa | daak |
| across, other side | diyáa | diyáa-dei | — | yan |
| inside | neil | neil-dei | — | neil |
| outside | gáan | gán-dei | — | — |
| back | — | ḵúx̱-dei | — | ḵux̱ |
| aground, shallow water | — | kúx-dei | — | kux |
Particles function as neither noun nor verb. They are restricted to positions relative to phrases in the sentence.
The focus particles follow the left periphery ("forephrase" per Leer) of a sentence. The Naish–Story term for them is "post-marginals". Many of them may be suffixed with a demonstrative (-yá, -hé, -wé, -yú), and they may also be combined with the interrogative (-gé). Focus particles are stylistically written as separate words, but phonetically, they may be indivisible from the preceding utterance.
The combination of the focusá with the demonstratives gives the frequently used particlesáyá andáwé, and the less commonáhé andáyú. Combination of the interrogativeágé with the demonstratives gives the confirmative particlesákwé andákyá (ák-hé andákyú are uncommon), used to elicit a yes/no response from the listener.
The interrogativeágé also usually contracts toág beforetsú "also":ág tsú "also?" <ágé +tsú.
The particlesá is obligatory in formingwh-question phrases. It can be combined with a demonstrative, the dubitative, the rhetorical interrogative, and the emphatic assertion:
Phrasal particles may occur after focus particles that occur with or without demonstrative finals. The following are postphrasal particles, thus they may only occur after the phrase that they modify.
Except forxʼwán andtsé, the above may occur after the focus particles.
The following are prephrasal particles, i.e. they occur before the phrase that they modify. Naish and Story call these "pre-marginals".
These particles may occur before or after any phrase in a clause.
Compare the mobile particletsu with the postphrasal particletsú. Both the sentencekáaxweitsu eetéenaxh xhat yatee "I need more coffee" and the sentencekáaxweitsú eetéenaxh xhat yatee "I also need coffee" are acceptable. However the sentence*tsú káaxwei eetéenax̱ x̱at yatee is syntactically inadmissible because the particletsú is postphrasal, i.e. it cannot precede the phrase it modifies, in this case the noun phrasekáaxwei. The corresponding sentence with thetsu particle in front,tsu káaxwei eetéenax̱ x̱at yatee "I need coffee again/still" is in contrast syntactically acceptable. Thus a Tlingit listener will recognize thetsu particle in a phrase-initial position without confusion but tone is necessary to distinguish it in a phrase-final position. For this reason thetsu particle is often used prephrasally although it is syntactically admitted in either position. Thus the song nameTsu Héidei Shugaxhtootaan could also behéidei tsu shugaxhtootaan, but placing thetsu in front has the advantage of unambiguity, and thus seems moreeuphonious to native speakers.
These particles may only occur at the front of a sentence. Naish–Story term these "clause marginals".
TheIrish TV seriesAn Klondike (2015–2017), set in Canada in the 1890s, contains Tlingit dialogue;[75] as does the American comedy-dramaNorthern Exposure.[citation needed]
In 2023, theCentral Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes announced the release of the first of nine Tlingit-language children's books and animated videos. As a collaborative effort between Tlingit and Haida, the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, Cedar Group, and illustratorsKelsey Mata andNick Alan Foote, the project is funded under a three-year grant through theUnited States Department of Education's Alaska Native Education Program. The first book is titledKuhaantí (2023) and was released on October 27, 2023.[76]
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