SHI’s Language Department

Sealaska Heritage Institute

SHI FOR SE ALASKAN LANGUAGES | HERITAGE FORWARD

Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Language Learning and Resources

SHI’s Bent Wood Box for Language Learners

Lingít, X̱aad Kíl, Sm’algya̱x

Restoring Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages is a priority. Across Southeast Alaska, we sponsor programs that document, preserve, and revitalize Native languages.
education & language departments’ resources on Language learning

Revitalizing Ancient Languages of Southeast Alaska

Our mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.

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.

SHI LANGUAGE INITIATIVE’S HISTORY

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.

TLINGIT, HAIDA & TSIMSHIAN LANGUAGE RESOURCES

Click on the tab links below for a quick glimpse of our online language resources:

Tlingit Culture, Language & Literacy
Baby Raven Reads
Voices on the Land
Language
Language Resources
Scholarships
Tlingit Culture, Language & Literacy

Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy Program

(Enroll)

The Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy Program (TCLL) is place-based, culture based “school within a school” where the Tlingit language and culture are integral to daily instruction, where they are celebrated and respected. TCLL in the Juneau School District (JSD) is one of three optional programs open to all students, along with Montessori Borealis School and the Juneau Community Charter School. TCLL started with Sealaska Heritage in 2000, and it proved so successful, the school district assumed funding for the program. A study in 2013 found that the incorporation of traditional tribal values of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian directly contributes to Alaska Native student success and fosters an environment to grow leadership skills, self-confidence, and creativity. SHI’s goals are to build a thorough language immersive program within TCLL, increase teacher fluency in Tlingit language, and develop TCLL into an autonomous Optional Program in the JSD. TCLL is supported through Sealaska Heritage with federal funding from the Alaska Native Education Program.

This groundbreaking program at Harborview Elementary in Juneau is expanding to grades 6 and 7 next school year, and a 9th grade class will be added for the 2024/25 school year.

  • Where do you see TCLL in the future? Join us for an in-person or virtual dialogue to share your thoughts

 

Sealaska Heritage Institute (Flyer) 

Baby Raven Reads

Baby Raven Reads

(Enroll) Sealaska Heritage sponsors Baby Raven Reads, an award-winning program that promotes early-literacy, language development and school readiness for Alaska Native families with children up to age 5. SHI is currently offering the program in  Anchorage, Angoon, Craig, Haines, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan, Klukwan, Metlakatla, Saxman, Sitka, Wrangell, and Yakutat. 

Special thanks to our partners: Alaska Native Heritage Center, Association of Alaska School Boards, Metlakatla Indian Community, Ketchikan Indian Community, Chilkat Indian Village, Organized Village of Kake, and AEYC-SEA.   

Voices on the Land

Voices on the Land

The goal of Voices on the Land is to improve literacy skills and increase the use of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian language through performing arts and digital storytelling. Through the program’s in-school residencies, students create theatrical productions, scripts, digital stories, and illustrated storybooks based on traditional knowledge and share their productions with peers, family, and the community.  

Language

Lingít, Xaad Kíl, Sm’algyax

Restoring Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian languages is a priority. Across Southeast Alaska, we sponsor programs that document, preserve and revitalize Native languages. Our Resources page offers a variety of learning tools, including dictionaries, vocabulary lists, teaching aids and much more.

 

About our work

Through the work of fluent Native speakers working with linguists, we have been on the forefront of documenting Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian and developing orthographies for these historically oral languages, which have appeared in written form only in recent times. The Sealaska Heritage Institute has produced numerous language books, including the most comprehensive dictionaries ever produced for Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.

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.

In recent years, we launched our Haa Shuká Community Language Learning Project, designed to help revitalize the languages of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian in four Southeast Alaska communities.

 

Language Programs

 

Our Ancestors’ Echoes

Scholarships for Language Classes

(Scholarship Application) (Flyer)

Sealaska Heritage is funding University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) students interested in taking courses in X̱aad Kíl, Sm’algyax and Lingít through a new initiative, Our Ancestors’ Echoes. Through the program SHI will also fund language teachers at UAS to provide free, non-credited language classes.

This funding will be available each semester throughout the duration of the three-year project, beginning with the spring 2023 semester and concluding with the spring 2025 semester.

Scholarship applicants must be Alaska Native, planning to take an eligible language course, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 as a full- or part-time student at the UAS Juneau campus. Preference will go to applicants who are majoring in a field related to language (e.g. Alaska Native Languages and Studies) and to those who are working towards a heritage language teaching or speaking certificate.

The application is only for scholarship funding; students must register for the UAS course independently. Funding for these course credits is limited; application and necessary documents should be emailed to leah.urbanski@sealaksa.com by Jan 1, 2023. Applicants must include an unofficial transcript from their most recently attended school and documents to show tribal affiliation. Applicants will be notified via email regarding their acceptance status.


Language Scholars

(Scholarship Application) (Flyer)

Through the same project, SHI is also offering fully-funded scholarships to students seeking a bachelor’s degree in Indigenous Studies with an emphasis in the Alaska Native Languages X̱aad Kíl (Haida), Sm’algya̱x (Tsimshian), and Lingít (Tlingit).

Tuition, room, and board will be funded each semester throughout the duration of the project, ending in Spring 2025 semester for selected applicants. The three-year initiative builds on a similar program that ended in 2022.

Through the three-year program, these selected candidates will be expected to:

  • Spend four hours weekly listening to audio in their heritage language;
  • Spend each year with an advanced language speaker translating and transcribing 15 minutes of archival audio;
  • Attend SHI’s healing Summer Language Program each year; and,
  • Obtain a bachelor’s degree in Indigenous studies with an emphasis in Alaska Native Languages

 

Southeast Regional Language Committee

Lance  X’unei Twitchell grew up in Skagway and now lives in Juneau. He is of Tlingit, Haida and Yup’ik heritage and carries the Tlingit names X’unei and Du Aani Kawdinook and the Haida name K’eijáakw.

Twitchell is an Associate Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast and has been teaching the Tlingit language since 2004. He received his Ph.D. in Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and Culture Revitalization at Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in 2018. His studies are in creating safe language acquisition spaces and achieving revitalization through counterhegemonic transformation, which means a rejection of external definitions and fragmentation and a promotion of the thought world of the ancestors of language movements. He recently completed a Tlingit language workbook based on the teachings of Richard and Nora Dauenhauer, scheduled for release through Sealaska Heritage in early 2017. His grandfather, Silas Dennis Sr. of Skagway, was his first teacher.

Gavin Hudson was born and raised in Metlakatla. He graduated from college in Seattle in 1998 and moved back home in 2010. His Tsimshian name is Huk Tgini’its’ga Xsgiik and he is a member of the Laxsgiik Eagle Clan.

Hudson is one of three founders of the Haayk Foundation, along with David R. Boxley and Kandi McGilton. The nonprofit’s mission is to preserve, promote and revitalize Sm’algyax, Ayaawx (traditional Tsimshian values and protocol), Adaawx (true history), and Luulgyit (validating cultural practice) in order to cultivate a positive and healthy identity for the people of Metlakatla. Although he is not yet a fluent speaker, Hudson has logged hundreds of hours working with fluent speakers and is proficient in reading, writing, and transcription in Sm’algyax.

In 2016, as Project Coordinator for the Tsimshian Education Achievement Model grant project, Hudson helped to create the Wap Lip Algya̱g̱m House of Our Language 0-3 Years Sm’algyax Curriculum. Hudson is also a Tribal/City Councilman at Metlakatla Indian Community.

Benjamin Young was raised in Hydaburg and now lives in Ketchikan. His Haida name is K’uyáang. He is a Raven of the Yahgw’láanaas Clan.

Young learned X̱aad Kíl from his grandfather, Claude Morrison Kúng Skíis, a respected Haida elder who lived to the age of 100. As a teenager, Young taught his first language classes at SHI’s Latseen Leadership Academy. Through other language projects and programs, Young has worked with elders Woodrow Morrison, Alma Cook, Annie Peele, and Erma Lawrence.

Over the years he has also been influenced by linguist Dr. Jordan Lachler and Gwich’in instructor Hishinlai’ Peter.

Young graduated from Butler University with a degree in secondary education and began teaching in 2014. He has had many additional roles in language revitalization such as language mentor, researcher, and curriculum developer.  Young has also served as a cultural specialist with SHI, the Xaadas Kíl Kuyaas Foundation, and the Ketchikan Indian Community, among other organizations.

Language Resources

ALASKAN LANGUAGE RESOURCES

The institute encourages students and teachers to use its online resources.

Sealaska Heritage Institute produces curriculum and other education tools through its Language Program and Education Program. More tools can be found on the education resources page. 

 

Alaskan Native Language Dictionaries, Workbooks and Databases

Alaskan Tlingit Dictionary

Tlingit Dictionary: Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Dictionary of Tlingit is the product of years of documentation of the Tlingit language with assistance from fluent Elders. It’s a must-have resource for language learners and for people who are interested in learning more about the Tlingit culture. This version is a searchable pdf. (Note: To jump to sections via the table of contents, click “view” “navigation panels” “bookmarks”). Hardcopy books are available for sale through the Sealaska Heritage Store. (Buy)

Online Tlingit Verb Dictionary: A database of over 1,100 conjugated Tlingit verbs.

Beginning Tlingit: First published in 1976, Beginning Tlingit remains the major text in the field, combining a systematic introduction to Tlingit grammar with phrases and conversations for everyday use. Moving from the easiest and advancing to more complex, the book teaches students how to make new sentences of their own. The 2018 edition includes a link to online audio so students can hear how the language sounds, and follow along with the lessons. Contents include prefaces to all editions, Book One: Teacher and Student Guide, and Book Two, which consists of an introduction and nine lessons. Appendices include Tlingit verb charts, song texts, and a checklist in traditional Tlingit education. By Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer. $40. Paperback. (Audio) (Buy)

Beginning Tlingit Workbook: Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Beginning Tlingit Workbook teaches Tlingit words and concepts through imagery. The volume was written and compiled by Lance (̱X’unei) A. Twitchell, a member of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Southeast Regional Language Committee and assistant professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). It is an extension of the landmark book Beginning Tlingit—which was edited by the late linguist Richard Dauenhauer and his wife, Nora Dauenhauer, a fluent Tlingit speaker and scholar, and published by SHI. The workbook is based entirely on the teaching methods and steps developed by the Dauenhauers, as well as many other contributors over the years, but it also incorporates some of the ways people today are documenting and teaching various parts of Tlingit grammar, especially verbs. Hardcopy books are available for sale through the Sealaska Heritage Store. (Buy)

Sneaky Sounds–A Non Threatening Introduction to Tlingit Sounds and Spelling: This book takes a humorous approach to teaching tricky sounds; the book’s second subtitle is Fun with Phonology, Fonology with Phun. Tlingit is famous for having one of the most difficult and complex sound systems in the world. Tlingit presents about two dozen sounds not shared with English. Four of these sounds are unique to Tlingit – not shared with any other language on Earth (as far as linguists know). This complexity can prove discouraging for beginners and presents a major barrier to learning. The idea behind the book is to introduce students to the sounds of the language in as non-threatening a manner as possible. The book also will help fluent speakers learn to write Tlingit. The language historically was not written and the orthography used today was developed by linguists in the late 20th century.  Consequently, many Elders fluent in Tlingit do not know the writing system. By listening to the online audio and following along with the text, fluent speakers will be able to learn which symbols correspond to which sounds. The book was written by Richard and Nora Marks Dauenhauer. The audio, produced by Edwards and Albert McDonnell, was recorded by fluent speakers John Marks and June Pegues. The project was six years in the making and received support from SHI, the Juneau School District and the University of Alaska Southeast. The materials were vetted by numerous language students, auditors and community Elders. $20. Paperback. (Buy)

Alaskan Tsimshian Dictionary

Tsimshian Dictionary: Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Dictionary of Shm’algyack is the product of years of documentation of the Tsimshian language with assistance from fluent Elders. It’s a must-have resource for language learners and for people who are interested in learning more about the Tsimshian culture. This version is a searchable pdf.

Alaskan Haida Dictionary

Haida Dictionary: Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Dictionary of Alaskan Haida is the product of years of documentation of the Haida language with assistance from fluent Elders. It’s a must-have resource for language learners and for people who are interested in learning more about the Haida culture. This version is a searchable pdf. (Note: To jump to sections via the table of contents, click “view” “navigation panels” “bookmarks”). Hardcopy books are available for sale through the Sealaska Heritage Store. (Buy)

Haida Phrasebook: The Alaskan Haida Phrasebook is the first book of its kind and the most comprehensive phrasebook to date for any Alaska Native language. It will be a great aid to new learners. The Alaskan Haida Phrasebook was compiled over a four-year period as part of SHI’s ongoing Haida language project. The more than 4,000 sentences in this book cover some of the most common topics of Haida conversation, such as food, family, weather, health, traveling, fishing, working, music, and many others. It was written by Dr. Erma Lawrence, one of the few remaining fluent speakers of Alaskan Haida, and edited by linguist Dr. Jordan Lachler. Published by Sealaska Heritage Institute, 2010.

Other Alaskan Native Language Learning and Teaching Materials

Tlingit Mentor Apprentice Program Handbook

Tlingit Language Website

Tlingit Verb Website

Tlingit Verb Database (a searchable database of more than 575 Tlingit verbs)

575 Tlingit Verbs: The Paradigms (dissertation on Tlingit verbs by Keri Eggleston)

Tlingit Verb Paradigms (a component of above dissertation)

 Tlingit Introduction Format   

Haayk Foundation: The Haayk Foundation has a ton of learning materials on their website, including Sm’algya̱x language resources and games and lessons on how to weave with cedar bark.   

Apps and Games

Privacy Policy: This privacy policy governs use of the “Tlingit Language Games” and “Learning Tlingit” applications for iOS and Android mobile devices. The applications were developed by Sealaska Heritage to support Tlingit language learners and teachers. SHI collects no user information whatsoever — anonymous or otherwise. If you have any questions regarding privacy while using either application, or have questions about our practices, please contact us via email at heritage@sealaska.com

“Learning Lingít” App: This app helps to build skills in the Tlingit language. (App for iPhone) (App for Android) (Language podcast)

“Learning Shm’algyack” App: This app helps to build skills in the Tsimshian language.  (App for iPhone) (App for Android)

“Learning Haida“ App: This app helps to build skills in the Haida language.  (App for iPhone) (App for Android)

Language Games App This app teaches Tlingit words through the interactive games listed below and Haida and Tsimshian words for Birds and Ocean Animals. (App for iPhone) (App for Android) 

My House (learn the Tlingit phrases for common household items in an interactive environment. (Print word list)

Ocean Animals (learn the Tlingit words for Southeast Alaska critters in an interactive environment) (Print word list)

Move the Murrelet (learn Tlingit phrases such as above the boat and behind the boat in an interactive environment. (Print word list)

Birds (learn the Tlingit words for birds common to Southeast Alaska in an interactive environment) (Print word list)

Héen Táak (learn the Tlingit words for salmon and other marine life in an interactive environment)

Spelling (see and hear sounds in Tlingit)

Bearometer (Weather)

Counting

Critters

Roots & Stems: An Indigenous Language Podcast

Roots and Stems explores ways to support and join language revitalization efforts. Each episode features interviews with those in the field sharing their experiences in language learning and community. Listen here.

Artwork for the podcast was created by Tlingit artist Alison Bremner for Celebration 2018. Music is by Huk Tgini’its’ga Xsgiik Gavin Hudson of Metlakatla, Alaska. Lyrics to his song are as follows:

Da̱’a̱xłgm Dm Lip Al’algya̱g̱m 

Da̱’a̱xłgm dm lip al’algya̱g̱m
Da̱’a̱xłgm dm lip al’algya̱g̱m
Oh wo ho
Naan dza dip ho’n la̱xha daa na lip algya̱g̱m
O-oh ho, Oh wo ho, O-oh ho
Da̱’a̱xłgm dm lip al’algya̱g̱m
Da̱’a̱xłgm dm lip al’algya̱g̱m
Oh wo ho
Dm wilat ‘nax’nuu da gyed na lip g̱a̱’amhawm
O-oh ho Oh wo ho O-oh ho

Translation: We Can Speak For Ourselves

We can speak for ourselves.
We can speak for ourselves.
Yes.
We can speak for ourselves.
We can speak for ourselves.
Yes.
Let us fill the air with our own language.
Yes.
So that the people can hear our own voices.

Video and Audio Resources

Video: YouTube playlist: Voices of Our Ancestors language learning series. Watch as Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian language teachers say phrases in in Lingít (Tlingit), X̱aad Kíl (Haida) and Sm’algya̱x (Tsimshian). In this video series, Lance X̱’unei Twitchell, Benjamin Young, and Gavin Hudson share terms that are useful to Native language learners.

Lingít, X̱aad Kíl, and Sm’algya̱x vocabulary: These audio and video resources cover a variety of topics including verbs, tools, colors, numbers, places, carved objects, and cooking phrases. The episodes are offered in audio (.mp3) or video (.mp4) formats.

Language summit: Our first-ever language summit, Voices of Our Ancestors, was held in Juneau in November. The entire three-day event was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube, with or without English translation.

Salmon Boy: Hear and watch the ancient story of Shanyaak’utlaax̱, Salmon Boy, told in Tlingit by storyteller Ishmael Hope of the Kiks.ádi clan with illustrations by Michaela Goade, also of the Kiks.ádi clan.

Clan Names (Eagle) (Audio by John Marks and June Pegues)

Clan Names (Raven) (Audio by John Marks and June Pegues)

Let’s Learn Language: Tlingit language use in everyday speech shown through the use of puppets. Ten lessons produced in 1969 by the Juneau Indian Studies Program. The speakers were Johnny Marks, a longtime contributor to SHI’s programs, and Eva Marks. Digitized through a partnership between Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Alaska State Library.

 

Language Curricula

We have developed a number of curricula for instruction of Southeast Alaskan native languages, and encourage teachers to download them for use in class. Other curricula can be found in our education section.

Miscellaneous

  • Learning our Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Languages: Cycle A, Beginners
    (Download)

Tlingit Language

  • Primary grades (intended for the primary grades, it can be easily adapted for higher grade levels)
  • K-12

Haida Language

  • Primary grades
  • K-12

Tsimshian Language

  • K-12

Language Development based on Literature

  • High school  

Posters and Cards

Beach creature posters

Numbers poster

Number cards

Basic colors poster

Complex colors poster

Tlingit Alphabet (print this pdf version for use as playing cards)

Tlingit Alphabet (print this pdf version for use in language classes)

Tlingit Valentine Phrases (this .pef offered here thanks to Roby Littlefield and the work of many students and speakers over a period of six years)

Crazy Questions (some assembly required)

Go Fish (Berry Cards) (some assembly required)

Word Rummy (some assembly required)

Other

Tlingit Invocation

Scholarships

Scholarships

Sealaska and Judson Brown Scholarships

(Application) (Required Documents) (Schedule) Sealaska Heritage Institute provides scholarships to Alaska Natives who are Sealaska Shareholders and Descendants for college, university, and vocational and technical schools. The annual awards are funded mostly by Sealaska.  Applications must be filled out and submitted online. Send questions to scholarship@sealaska.com.  
Sealaska Scholarship

  • Students must be Alaska Native shareholders or shareholder descendants attending an accredited school.
  • Opens: December 15, Closes: March 1
  • Award amount: Varies
  • Contact: scholarship@sealaska.com

Judson Brown Leadership Award

  • Students must be Sealaska scholarship recipients attending at full-time status.
  • Application is by invitation only.
  • Award amount: $5,000
  • Contact: scholarship@sealaska.com

Ruth Demmert Leadership Award

  • Students must be Sealaska scholarship recipients majoring in Alaska Native Languages.
  • Application is by invitation only.
  • Award amount: $5,000
  • Contact: scholarship@sealaska.com

 

Northwest Coast Art & Museums Studies Scholarships

NWC Art & Museum Studies Scholarships are available to undergraduate or graduate students who are pursuing arts and science degrees with a focus in studio arts, performing arts, cinematic arts and technology, or creative writing, and who incorporate Northwest Coast Arts studies in their degree; or a degree with a concentration in museum studies

Fall 2023 Semester:

  • Students must be attending full-time at an eligible school: Northwest Coast Art degree studies: UAS or IAIA; Museum studies: any USA college
  • Opens: May 15, Closes: July 14
  • Award amount: $1,000 – $5,000
  • Contact: jay.zeller@sealaska.com

Spring 2024 Semester:

  • Students must be attending full-time at an eligible school: Northwest Coast Art degree studies: UAS or IAIA; Museum studies: any USA college
  • Opens: November 8, Closes: December 15
  • Award amount: $1,000 – $5,000
  • Contact: jay.zeller@sealaska.com

 

Our Ancestors’ Echoes Language Scholarship

SHI is funding UAS students interested in taking courses in X̱aad Kíl, Sm’algyáx, and Lingít through Our Ancestors Echoes. Through the program SHI will also fund language teachers at UAS to provide free, non-credited language classes. The funding will be available each semester throughout the duration of the three-year project, beginning with the spring 2023 semester and concluding with the spring 2025 semester. Preference will go to applicants who are majoring in a field related to language and to those who are working towards a heritage language teaching or speaking certificate.

  • Students must be Alaska Native shareholders or shareholder descendants enrolled in an Alaska Native language course.
  • Open: One to two months before each semester begins through Spring 2025 semester.
  • Award amount: Tuition for one heritage language course.
  • Contact: leah.urbanski@sealaska.com

 

Indigenizing Education for Alaska Scholarship

(Apply) Through a partnership between UAS and SHI, Indigenizing Education for Alaska provides scholarships that cover the full cost of attendance to educator preparation programs, and dedicated staff to provide intensive student-centered support. IEA also supports the UAS School of Education to indigenize their educator preparation program by providing opportunities for professional learning.

  • Students must be Alaska Native enrolled full or part-time at UAS as a junior/senior undergraduate or graduate student pursuing an education certificate/degree.
  • Open: One month before each semester begins through Spring 2025 semester.
  • Award amount: Varies
  • Contact: IEA@sealaska.com

In response to the soaring cost of getting a college education, AffordableColleges.com has compiled a useful guide to financial aid for minority students to help students.