SHI for Southeast Alaska Native Language Learning

Restoring Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages is a priority. Across Southeast Alaska, we sponsor programs that document, preserve, and revitalize Native languages.

Sealaska Heritage Institute operates programs to revitalize the ancient languages of Southeast Alaska: Lingít (Tlingit), X̱aad Kíl (Haida), and Sm’algya̱x (Tsimshian). The languages were almost lost during a time of severe cultural oppression, but in recent years, a number of young people have learned their ancient tongue and are now teaching it to others with assistance from fluent Elders. SHI has also published a number of language books to document and help revitalize the languages. The languages contain a wealth of information about Southeast Alaska, including ancient geological phenomena such as the advancement and retreat of glaciers.

In the late 1990s, our Board of Trustees, realizing that time was running out, steered the institute more toward revitalization of the languages. Most fluent speakers are elderly, so the institute’s early efforts began with an immersion program where students and fluent speakers spoke only in a Native language to create language habitats. Over the years, some advanced language students began to emerge and today, they are teaching some level of Native languages in public schools.