Narratives & Conversations in Tlingit (TLI) Northern Haida (HDN) & Tsimshian (TSI)

Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau AK

Investigators

Abstract

There are three languages which are indigenous to the region of southeast Alaska: Tlingit (TLI), Northern Haida (HDN) and Tsimshian (TSI). All three are seriously endangered. Research shows that Tlingit is spoken by approximately 200 of the roughly 10,000 Tlingit people in Alaska. Northern Haida has four fluent speakers in Alaska, with perhaps another 10 in Canada. Tsimshian has an estimated 15 fluent speakers in Alaska, with perhaps 500 more in Canada. While the three groups share many cultural traits, the three languages are unrelated to one another and are quite distinct, especially in the areas of morphology and syntax. This project, by the Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI), is a collaboration between researchersand indigenous scholars in Alaska and Canada to examine a 30 hours of narratives and conversations among fluent speakers in each of the three languages. These will be transcribed and translated, and the results will be made available to researchers and community members in various electronic formats. Much of the data for this project comes from recordings made 30 or more years ago with the last generation of speakers who were more dominant in their Native language than in English. The result of this project will be a vast increase the quantity and quality of documentation available for these three endangered languages. The data that are gathered will be immediately useful in SHI's on-going dictionary and curriculum development projects for all three languages. As part of the International Polar Year, NSF has made documentation of endangered languages one of its priorities. These three languages, although spoke by sub-Arctic peoples, can provide important insights for understanding many of the indigenous languages of the Arctic and SubArctic regions and therefore this project is an important part of the research on endangered langauges that will be performed during the IPY.