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]
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Software Used

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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SLEXIL is documented here, maintained on github, can be run interactively on the web, and is actively supported by Paul Shannon.

 




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.

Spring Camp 3
Speaker is Edna Deacon recorded by Alice Taff March 18, 2010, At the home of Donna MacAlpine.
Transcribed and translated by Edna Deacon with Donna MacAlpine and Alice Taff.
«Tr'iye nixuxlyayh,» dina iłne, sito'.
“To the boat carry them,” he tells us, my father.
Yitots'i tr’iye nontr'ixalyayh.
So then we carry it (our camping stuff) into the boat.
Engthi' ts'in'
Out there
niq xits'i engthi' ts'in' do' ts'i
from the shore out there down river
valgats ye tr'itathdatl tinh tux.
in the boat we went among the ice (peices floating around).
Sito' giłt'uq.
My father was rowing.
Xidigał
Finally
engosin
on the other side
ih, niq xingthegh
uh, to shore on the other side
ntr'inedatl giłt'uq xingo.
we went while he's rowing. [My dad wanted us to steer clear of the ice by hugging the shore.]
And singonh,
And my mother,
enet dathdo ts'i qhiqał, idedig.
back there she sat paddling [and steering], her too.
Xidigał, ih,
Finally, uh,
Five Mile Island gho xinedhit
We got to Five Mile Island
{my} sit'o giłt'uq xingo.
while my father was rowing.
«Yit, tinh qul,» xi'ne.
“There, no ice,” he says.
Xingo engtthegh,
While the main river chanel,
tiłt xenetr,
in the middle,
tinh xelanh.
ice is there.
Yit sito' naghalyiyh.
There my father rested.
{at the m} at the mouth, behind the island.
«Drogg nazrididlnik xik'idz xiyozr,» dina iłne.
“We'll have a little lunch here,” he told us.
{ing} «Ingdivalgats,» ih, dina iłne.
“Get in the boat,” he tells us.
Q'idz xiyozr ts'in' ts'i che,
In just a little while,
nasrithidatl, sito' giłt'uq
we are going, my father rowing
and singonh qhiqał enet.
and my mother paddling in the back.
Xidigał,
Finally,
ih, neniq xughi trantr'idedatl.
uh, from behind the island we came out.
Nedo' ts'i qay xits'in' yitots'in',
Down toward the village then,
yit xonet, qay xonet tr'antr'idedatldi,
for there, for the village (when we came out around the bend of the river) we were going back,
vizro, ih, gidinałdikdi ixidot'an'.
clearly, uh, we could see the schoolhouse.
Sraqay tanxididiłdi nonxididhit vinixiłyiq.
Children at recess time had come out in the morning. [Kids had a half hour break in the morning and afternoon.]
Dinaghitth'e yitots'i
Down below our home then
valgats niggon xinetonh.
the boat came to the shore.
Yit xiy yiq yitots'i.
We hurry out of it then.
{din} Ditr'indiyet.
We ran out of it.
«Gitr'ideniłdik,» xivarzne ts'in'.
“We are going to school,” we told them.
Ngine', ih,
Up there, uh,
ih, gidinałdikdi
uh, school
xits'i diliggok.
to it we ran.
Xangixidiniłan
The teacher
dina idiłqit,
asked us,
«Bacon q'aduxt'a, he'?» dina iłne.
“Do you want bacon?” he asked us.
«Ee,» varzne.
“Yes,” we tell her.
I didn't. I just put it in there.
Edna Deacon recorded this in McGrath, AK, on March 18, 2010, Alice Taff recording.