An Annotated Bibliography of Tahltan Language Materials John Alderete, Simon Fraser University
[email protected] Tanya Bob, University of British Columbia
[email protected] Thomas McIlwraith, University of New Mexico
[email protected] Purpose. To list and summarize materials on the Tahltan language, including linguistics papers, dictionaries, collections of stories, and teaching materials. We hope that the bibliography will give language teachers, linguists, anthropologists, and all others interested in Tahltan language and culture an awareness of what materials exist and how they might be useful in a range of scholarship. Transcription Note. The consonant and vowel sounds transcribed here are presented in the Tahltan Practical Alphabet (TPA) developed by the Tahltan Tribal Council. See Carter (1991) for TPA chart and the Sound Correspondence Chart to see how the same sounds have been written by other linguists. Acknowledgements. Thanks to Patricia Shaw and Keren Rice for valuable comments. This bibliography was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (SES-9904360). General Introduction. Most speakers of the Tahltan language live in Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut, British Columbia, Canada. These three communities are on or near the Stewart- Cassiar Highway which joins central British Columbia to the Alaska Highway in the southern Yukon. Some Tahltan speakers live in Lower Post, British Columbia and Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, and some of these texts reflect research in those communities. In addition to these northern communities, Tahltans live today in several other urban centres, including Smithers, Terrace, Prince George, and in Greater Vancouver. Early twentieth century ethnographers (including G.T. Emmons and James Teit) concentrated their research documenting Tahltan traditional culture and stories at Telegraph Creek and Tahltan Village; recent research with Tahltans has taken place in Iskut and Dease Lake as well.