Edna Deacon Biography

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This material was funded by National Science Foundation grant 0651787. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Symobls used in the transcription

  • {false start}
  • (added for clarity)
  • [translator/transcriber's note]
  • ??? = can’t understand
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Time-aligned text for this video was accomplished using ELAN, Versions 6.0 (2020), 6.1 (2021), and 6.3 (2022) Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive. Retrieved from https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan

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Edna Deacon recording Deg Xinag in 2023.
Edna Deacon Biography
Edna was raised in Upper Shageluk by her parents Anna and Peter Matthews, who spoke the local Deg Xinag language in their home.  She went to school in Shageluk and learned English but continued to use the Deg Xinag language at home and with her friends. When she married Wilson Deacon and moved to his village of Holikachuk, she continued to speak her own Deg Xinag language with other women from her home village.  Edna moved with her family to Grayling when Holikachuk village moved and kept in close contact with her mother who still lived in Shageluk.

In Grayling Edna continued to use the Deg Xinag language and worked with other elders, both Deg Xit’an and Holikachuk people, on stories and cultural projects in the community. She was one of the contributors to the Deg Xinag Learners’ Dictionary, and also one of the elders involved in the “Conversational Deg Xinag” telephone class. While working on the dictionary Edna recorded various events in her life, which give an important picture of the lifestyle of her family. These recordings are available with bilingual transcripts at https://uas.alaska.edu/arts_sciences/humanities/alaska-native-studies/alaska-native-languages/deg-xinag/index.html

In 2024 Edna serves as a mentor, teaching her language by Zoom and making new recordings in Deg Xinag.

Clay Pots
Ethok Łats. Potting Clay. Told by Edna Deacon at the home of Alta Jerue in Anvik, AK, October 2002.
This material was funded by National Science Foundation National Science Foundation grant 0651787 and by the Doyon Foundation 2023-24 Mentor Apprentice Program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Doyon Foundation.
Translated by Edna Deacon, Donna Miller MacAlpine, and Alice Taff. Transcribed by Donna Miller MacAlpine and Alice Taff with Edna Deacon.
Istl'idong sito',
When I was small, my father,
"Gan iy ethok łats?" viditlqit.
“What is potting clay?” I ask him.
And he say, ah, "That's what they make pot out of," he tell me. I tell him, "What kind of pot?" "Ethok," he said, "cooking pot." Then I want to know how they mix it, to make it into a pot.
"Gitth'ithgi vitux dalyayh," ne sito'.
“(With) feathers in it they mix it,” says my father.
And, naghixiyinitłtth'inh.
And they knead it.
Like a bread dough.
Naghixiyinitltth'inh and then,
they knead it and then,
(AJ) Really knead it.
(ED) Yeah, they knead it.
But I didn't ask him what kind of feathers they put in there. It's just, ah, grouse feathers, I think. And it have to be just right feathers in there, he said.
Iy gitth'ithgi vitux dalyayh.
Those feathers among it they mix it.
And, naghxiyintltth'inh.
Kneading it into it.
Xidigał xełedz xineyh,
Finally it's good.
Meaning it turn just good, just right to make the pot. Then they start forming,
viye givatr iy, pot.
a pot. [Lit. in it, it cooks]
Ingtthaq xeyitl'onh.
They put it by the fire (to keep it warm).
Gits'an xiyiłghith,
They turn it
meaning they turn it "gits'an" this way by hand and they have something straight to keep,
...around (turn)...
(AJ) Yeah, they use a little paddle and as they turn it they pat it flat so it won't, you know, get out of shape, or something. She said she didn't watch her do it. She didn't watch her doing it. She was doing it outdoors. She had a little fire outdoors.
(ED) Then after while when I wanted to know more about it, he said I talk too much. My dad tell me I talk too much so I have to quit. But I know it's that ethok łats, the mud that's used to make a cooking pot.
… potting clay…
(AJ) Oh, and where he got the mud from?
(ED) It's somewhere Innoko River or they came out on the Yukon to get it.
That's what I wanted to know but, he said I was talking too much so I have to quit.
(AT) Do you want to say the whole thing in deg xiq'i so we can have it all in one piece now? Say what you just said but without any English to it.
…the local language…
Ethok Łats
Potting Clay
"Sito', gan iy ethok łats?" vidisne.
“My father, what is potting clay?” I say to him.
"Etho yixigheghok, he'?
“Pots, how they used to make them, eh?
Etho łats axa," siłne.
With potting clay,” he tells me.
Gan sre' di'iłne.
I don't know what he's telling me.
"Ethok łats yixeghoyh,
“They used to make mud pots.
Yidong dixił'anh," yiłne.
Long ago they made them,” he tells me.
Ndagh sre' deg Yiqin or edixi. Ndagh sre'.
Where I don't know, around Yukon or up there (Innoko River). I don't know.
{yixiz} Nixiyalyayh ts'in'.
They brought it (the clay) down.
Gitth'ithgi
Feathers
xiy tux ilayh.
are mixed in.
Ts'i naghixiyintltth'inh.
They knead it in.
Getiy xełedz dineyh tux.
It's mixed until it’s really nice.
"Agide.
“OK.
Viye givatr iy tr'itiłtse," ne.
A cooking pot, we'll make,” he says.
"Di ethok xiq'i iy xiłtse,
“A pot like they made,
engthe xididhiq'undi xighun'.
(and put it) down near the fireplace.
Xits'i xiy di'oyh ts'in',
By it they put,
ah, tritr,
ah, wood,
dit'its xiy axa.
flat, by means of it. [The piece of wood is just right to put under the pot.]
Gits'an xiy do'oł,
(So you can) move it around (so you don't touch the pot),
tr'ixeneg ts'i.
carefully.
Yuxudz xaxa toggingh'," yiłne.
Completely that's how it will dry,” he says.
Yuxudz nixał'an iłt'e gits'an xiy do'oł ts'i xidigał,
All the time they keep doing that until finally,
yuxudz xaxa diggoyh.
completely, that's how it dries.
And your ethok {nn} viq'i elnek.
And your pot is finished.