Topics in Tlingit Verb System and Orthographies
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Topics in Tlingit Verb System AND Orthographies Yukon Native Language Centre Whitehorse, Yukon and Dr. Jeff Leer Alaska Native Language Center Based on the Tlingit Literacy Session September 11-13 2006, YNLC fan 2007 Topics in Tlingit Verb System AND Orthographies Yukon Native Language Centre Whitehorse, Yukon and Dr. Jeff Leer Alaska Native Language Center Based on the Tlingit Literacy Session September 11-13 2006, YNLC 2007 ISBN: 1 - 55242 - 247 -X Table of Contents General Table of Contents 1 Tlingit Orthographies of the 20^*^ Century Historical Relationships 3 Tlingit Orthographies of the American Period 4 Comparative Chart of Tlingit Orthographies 6 Vowels 14 Text Readings Tlanaxiddkhw, Don Cameron 16 The Origin ofthe Mosquitoes, Louis Shotridge and Franz Boas 22 Gospel ofJohn 1:43-51, Naish and Story 28 Tom Peters'speech from Haa Tuwundagu Yis 30 Grammar Readings Kelly and Willard - To Tell 32 Boas - Conjugation Markers 40 Story - Conditional a.k.a. Conjunctive Modes 44 Leer - Past Narrative Sequence 50 Tlingit Verb System Writing System Comparison 53 Tlingit Verb Modes 55 Imperfective 58 Perfective 60 Future 62 Perfective Habitual 63 Potential 65 Imperative 66 Hortative 67 Conditional 68 Admonitive 69 Realizational 70 Tropics in T'fingit Ver6 System and Ortfiograpkies -YJiLC -200/ (Page i Tlingit Verb System (cont) ExampleEvent Verb - "It Rains" 72 Compound (Composite) Modes 74 Progressive (Epiaspects) 75 Types of Imperfectives 79 Verbs of Striking and Missing 82 Body PartNouns Incorporated into the Verb 84 Noun Compounds 87 Introduction to Noun Classes 89 Verbs of Washing Different Kinds of Objects 90 Verbs of Eating Different Kinds of Objects 92 Verbs of Cooking Different Kinds of Objects 94 Tlingit Literacy Session September 2006 Participants 95 Schedule 97 Tlingit Vowel Chart Tlingit Consonant Chart 99 Photos 100 Photo Identifications 104 'fopks tn T'Cmgit VerS System ancCOrtfiograjjfiies -YOiLC -2007 Tage 2 Historical Relationships E. Sapir's Na-Dene originally consisted of Haida, Tlingit and Athabascan, and Eyak was later added to this group. We have now been able to demonstrate that Tlingit, Eyak and Athabascan are without doubt related, but that the relationship with Haida is doubtful at best. So we have proposed a new name for the language family consisting of Athabascan, Eyak and Tlingit, namely Tlina-Dene. This is based on the Athabascan, Eyak and Tlingit words for person. Proto-Athabascan: *d0ne: "person" Eyak: lila:' "man" Tlingit: tin-git "person" from earlier lina-git (git is Haida for "child") Eyak I regularly develops from earlier n , so Eyak Ilia:' "man" regularly corresponds to Tlingit *tlna , evidently the original word for "person", referring also to "The People", that is, the original Tlingit of the interior. When a "tina" man married a woman of a different tribe (such as a Haida or Tsimshian), their children would be referred to as "Lina-git", that is, "Child of the Lina". As the Tlingit became more and more intermarried in the process of becoming a coastal nation, these children of mixed ancestry became the majority, and eventually the name "Lina-git" came to symbolize the emergence of the Tlingit among the prosperous nations of the Northwest Coast. Therefore in the new name Tlina-Dene , the first part (Tlina) refers to the two coastal nations (Tlingit iina and Eyak lila:', originally meaning "person") and the second part refers to the widespread Athabascan family (Dene). This term has the advantage of being similar to E. Sapir's term Na-Dene , but the change of Na- to Tlina- emphasizes that Haida is no longer included in this ancient family of languages. To sum up: Athabaskan Tlina-Dene Eyak L Tlingit does not include Haida (an isolated language). T'opks in T'Cmgvt VerS System ancCOrtkograpkies - YO^LC -2007 Tage 3 Tlingit Orthographies during the American Period Many of the early European explorers gathered at least a few words and phrases in the native languages they encountered in their journeys. These words and phrases were not written in any systematic way, as a rule, but impressionistically, with little or no appreciation of unfamiliar sounds. Most of these explorers described the sound systems of the Northwest Coast languages such as Tlingit as "harsh" and "guttural", and made no secret of their distaste for these languages. Their purpose in documenting the languages was motivated by a desire to establish profitable trade relations with these native people; most of them had little or no interest in the languages per se.There were notable exceptions, however, in particular the Russian Orthodox priest Father Ivan Veniaminov, who later became Bishop Innocent and is now St. Innocent. Hewas genuinely interested in the languages and cultures of the people among whom he preached, and madea good startat distinguishing the various unfamiliar soundsof Tlingit. In the American period, the linguistic documentation of the Tlingit language became more precise and detailed. In 1904, the missionary William A. Kelly and Francis H. Willard, a Chilkat Tlingit, published their Grammar and Vocabulary of the Tlingit Language of Southeastern Alaska, at the same time as ethnologist John R. Swanton collected Tlingit myths, histories, songs, clan names and the like under the supervision ofthe "father ofAmerican anthropology" Franz Boas. It was unfortunate that these teams did not collaborate; together they could have gained a much deeper understanding of Tlingit. Kelly and Willard succeeded in identifying all contrasting consonants except dl and tl', and their transcriptions are virtually perfect except for tone, and distortions based on Kelly's insistence on "Websterian orthoepy". Swanton had a much less evolved understanding of the sound system; his transcriptions are often difficult to decipher. In 1914 Boas himself worked on Tlingit with Louis Shotridge (Stuwukha), also a Chilkat Tlingit. They achieved a complete phonological analysis, identifying all the consonants, vowels, and tone as well. However, there are sometimes errors of transcription due to Boas misperception of the vowel system. He distinguished the vowels as reduced a e L u as opposed to full a e i u , evidently identifying the difference as one ofvowel quality: actually, the crucial distinction is that of vowel length; the vowels a e i u (and the rare o) can occur long or short. It is true that in most Northern dialects, and particularly the Chilkat dialect, short vowels are pronounced more lax than long vowels: kats "lime" sounds like English "cuts", and hit "house" sounds like English "hit". These vowels are nevertheless clearly short. Long vowels are usually tense, but in the T'^ics in 'ffingit Ver9 System andOrtkoQraykxes -rOSfcC -2007 Tage 4 Northern dialects, particularly Chilkat, stem-final long low i and u tend to be pronounced lax, as in ye yati, where the last syllable can sound almost like the Irish pronunciation of "tea" / tii / or even with a completely lax vowel / ti •/. At any rate. Boas not infrequently confuses the "lax" and the "tense" vowels with each other. Naish and Story, on the other hand, distinguish stem vowels correctly, but do not consistently distinguish the length of prefixal vowels; they often write "oo" for both short u and long ij in prefixes, and sometimes also "ee" for both i and i. This is the only flaw in their spelling system. Another problem with the vowel system is that the vowels ofsuffixes ending with -i / -u (as the possessive suffix), the decessive suffix -in / -un, the prohibitive suffix -ikh / -ukh, and the postposition -de "to, toward" can be pronounced short, half-long or fully long. Such suffixes are underlyingly long; but are fully long only in emphatic and deliberate speech. More usually the suffix vowel is half-long, but it can also be pronounced completely short. The same is true of enclitics like tsu/ tsu "also", tsa/tsa "only then", khu.a/khu.a "however", aya / aya "this is awe / awe "that is ..." and the like, as well as some very particles like de / de "already", tie / tie "just (then)", ch'u / ch'u "even". This variability in the length of many of the most common suffixes and short words is one of the main motivations behind the Interior Tlingit system of writing both the short and the long vowel with the same symbol ( a e i u ) and indicating vowel length together with vowel tone by means of diacritics. In this way, words are written with the same letters even if the length ofthe final syllable can vary from speaker to speaker or even from sentence to sentence. The variable length is distinguished simply by thechoice of diacritic, which does not stand in the way ofthe readability of the word. Simply stated, the Interior Tlingit orthography is easier to read and it is easier to learnto write than the Coastal Tlingit orthography. Following is a comparative chart of the Tlingit orthographies that have been used in the century. Five of them are "scientific" orthographies and four of them are "practical" orthographies. Leer's "practical scientific" orthography is designed for the Tlingit, Eyak and Athabascan languages, as well as neighbouring languages such as Haida and Tsimshian. Very few special symbols are allowed: accented vowels, y and I, all of which are found on standard fonts. (In email, all these may be avoided by using e.g. /a for a, \a for a, and '^a for a, as well as y" for y and L for t.) T'cyics in T'Cingit VerB System andOrtfiograpfiies - YI^LC -2007 Tage 5 Comparative Chart of Tlingit "Scientific" Orthographies Obstruents Swanton ^ Boas & Naish & Story Leer Leer "Practical