SHI releases first-ever instructional videos on Tlingit gesture system

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Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has released the first instructional videos on the Tlingit Gesture System (TGS), marking a major step forward in efforts to document and teach this form of Indigenous nonverbal communication.

The videos, now available on SHI’s YouTube channel, feature visual demonstrations of more than 100 traditional gestures identified by SHI linguist Jeff Leer, Ph.D., in the late 1980s through work with fluent gesturer and Elder Elizabeth Nyman of the Yanyeidí clan. The release is part of an ongoing initiative to preserve and grow the TGS and explore whether similar systems existed among the Haida and Tsimshian.

The TGS differs significantly from English gesture conventions. As Leer observed in his original manuscript, many Tlingit gestures were not merely emphatic but conveyed meaningful narrative content, sometimes even anticipating or replacing spoken elements of a story.

“Several observations concerning the use of gestures convinced me beyond doubt that her gestures are primarily meaningful,” Leer wrote of Nyman. “When she told the narrative more than once… she frequently used the same gestures at the same points in the narrative that she had previously.”

The new video series is intended in part to support Tlingit language revitalization. In a 2023 paper prepared for SHI, Leer recommended that language teachers introduce key gestures before Tlingit vocabulary, using visual signs to communicate meaning without resorting to English.

“I am strongly convinced that teaching Tlingit by translating with gestures and signs will prove to be much more efficient and intuitively apprehensible than using English,” Leer wrote.

SHI is also planning a session for Leer to work with language teachers to introduce them to the gesture system.

Unlike spoken translations, which can interfere with students’ ability to absorb Tlingit grammar and word order, gestures can be performed in coordination with the Tlingit being spoken—allowing what Leer calls the “gesticulatory-optical pathway” to support, rather than compete with, the spoken language. SHI recommends that teachers introduce the gestures needed for a unit first, then use those gestures to teach the corresponding Tlingit words and phrases in real time. According to Leer, this method allows gestures to align with Tlingit word order—something that cannot be done with English translation.

The gesture system was historically used in contexts where verbal speech was not possible or appropriate, such as during hunting or boat-to-boat communication, and may also have served as a “home sign” system for deaf individuals in Tlingit communities.

SHI launched its current documentation project in 2023 with support from reparation funds given by Ḵunéix̱ Hídi Northern Light United Church, Northwest Coast Presbytery and Presbyterian Church (USA). The payment was meant to atone for the 1963 closure of a Juneau church ministered by the late Tlingit spiritual leader Dr. Walter Soboleff.

The long-term vision for the project includes expanding the gesture system into a full Tlingit Sign Language (TSL) through the development of new signs for specific vocabulary and grammatical concepts.

To view the videos, visit: bit.ly/TlingitGesture

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a tribal organization founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. SHI also conducts scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee, a Southeast Regional Language Committee and a newly formed Education Committee.

CONTACT: Therese Pokorney, SHI Communications Officer, therese.pokorney@sealaska.com