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Tlingit Conversation #38
Speakers are Kaséix̱ Selina Everson, Seidayaa Mary Anderson, Ḵeixwnéi Nora Marks Dauenhauer, and Tánkʼ Smitty Katzeek. Recorded August 11, 2010, at the Grotto near Atlin, YT, Canada, by Ljáaḵkʼ Alice Taff.
This material is based on work supported by National Science Foundation grant 0853788 to the University of Alaska Southeast with Ljáaḵkʼ Alice Taff as Principal Investigator, and by National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship 266286-19 to Ljáaḵkʼ Alice Taff. 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 National Endowment for the Humanities.
Tlingit transcription by X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell. English translation by Kaséix̱ Selina Everson with Ljáaḵkʼ Alice Taff. Edited by Shag̱aawu Éesh Devlin Anderstrom.
SYMBOLS: {false start}, (added for clarity), [translator/transcriber's note]. ??? = can’t understand, «Lingít quotation marks» [Time-aligned text for this video was accomplished using ELAN ((Versions 6.0 (2020), 6.1 (2021), and 6.3 (2022) [Computer software]. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive. Retrieved from https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan]
Daat náx̱ sá?
Where is it from? [Or: What does it flow through?]
Daa sáwé?
What is it?
Daat náx̱ sá kanaadaa?
Where is it flowing through?
Wé g̱ílʼ tayeenáx̱.
It comes through from under the cliff.
Aaá.
Yes.
Wé a tóodáx̱ áwé kanaadaa.
It flows out of there.
Aaá.
Yes.
Daa sáyá yáat?
What is this here?
Kaxwéix̱ áwé.
High bush cranberries.
Kaxwéix̱ ák.yá?
Are these high bush cranberries?
Aaá.
Yes.
Watch out right there.
Dleit ḵaa x̱’éináx̱ áwé.
Itʼs white manʼs language.
Lingít x̱’éináx̱ «shaanax̱héeni» yóo gí duwasáakw?
Is it called ʼriver-through-the-mountainsʼ in Tlingit?
Tle wé ??? a tóonáx̱ áwé naadaa.
And from over there, through it the creek flows.
Náakw áyá yéi yatee yá héen yíxʼ ??? [duneeyí?].
It is medicine to ??? in the river (valley, or near the river).
A tayee, a tóode, tle yáat, tle chʼas, chʼa áwé yéi yatee.
Underneath it, going into it, just like here, it is all (solid) rock.
Wé ax̱ x̱án.aach áwé «Aadé, aadé, a tóode nax̱too.aat,» yóo x̱at daayaḵá.
That spouse of mine, “(In)to there, (in)to there, letʼs go inside there,” he said to me.
«Xá, a ihí!» yóo daayax̱aḵá, «Tlél ax̱ tuwáa ushgú aadé x̱wagoodí.»
“Oh, stop!” I said to him, “I donʼt want to go (in) there.”
«Yei gax̱tusatéen goodáx̱ sáyú naadaa,» yóo x̱ʼayaḵá.
“Weʼll see where that water flows out from,” he said.
Daa sáyá?
What is this?
[At shooḵ]
[Laughter]
What did he say?
Kaxwéix̱.
High bush cranberries.
Hó!
Oh!
Gunalchéesh.
Thank you.
[At shooḵ]
[Laughter]
Ḵuk’éet’ woogoot.
S/he went berry picking.
Yáadu i héeni. I aayí ák.wé?
Here is your water. Is that yours?
Aaá, yá ax̱ aayí áwé.
Yes, that one is mine.
Hóoch’i aayí áwé. Thatʼs her bottle.
That is the last one.
Tlél tsu us.át’x̱ yóo kdunéek tle ch’a tleix̱ yáa yéi yan ul.láaych.
They say it never even gets cold, it just stays thawed out like this all the time.
You get the most beautiful {weath} watercress in here.
Yeah?
Good water.
Á áwé.
That it is.
Kaayag̱ijeit.
A chair.
Ax̱ jeewú á.
I have one.
Watercress.
Ná.
Here.
Wáa sá duwasáakw Lingít x̱ʼéináx̱?
What is it called in Tlingit?
Hél x̱wasakú.
I donʼt know.
Tlél a saayí ḵoostí.
It doesnʼt have a name.
Dleit ḵaa x̱’éináx̱ ḵu.aa watercress shákdéi áwé.
In English, though, I think itʼs watercress.
Is it watercress?
Yes.
Nice for salad.
Get a plastic bag or something so we can put it in there. Weʼre gonna have it for supper.
Woo!
Itʼs dripping all over you. Want to keep it?
Mhm.
Yes.
Thereʼs a plastic bag on the floor in the back of Maryʼs (car). Right by my feet I noticed there was a bag.
Tláakw áyáa ḵut woonei aadé at yateeyi yé.
The way that things are has quickly gotten lost.
Itʼs coming out of the ground. Is it coming out of the ground?
Itʼs coming up from that rock right there.
So itʼs yours?
Yeah. But this one is more ??? from the earth.
Yeah. Itʼs bigger, yeah. Mineʼs
Thereʼs a mountain ??? under the rock.
Oh. Uhuh.
The one at mine is just coming under a rock, too.
???
First time I ever seen it.
X̱át tsú.
Me too.
A saayí gé ḵudzitee Lingít x̱’éináx̱ «sacred»?
Does “sacred” have a name in Tlingit?
Lingít x̱’éináx̱ sá.
Say it in Tlingit.
Yisikóo gé?
Do you know it?
All I can think of is, «tulig̱aas.»
All I can think of is, “tulig̱aas.”
Oh.
We hold it sacred, or above.
We hold it sacred, or above.
Dleit ḵáa haat ḵoowatín.
The white people came here.
Aadóo sá ayatéen wé náakw ???
Whoever sees that medicine ???
??? haa daayaḵá, «Kaysahá, tlax̱ ḵúdáx̱ áwé litseen,» yóo. «Tlél ushkʼé,» yóo haa daayaḵá.
??? they said to us, “Dig it up, itʼs far too potent,” thatʼs what they said. “Itʼs bad,” they tell us.
???
A saayí gé ḵudzitee Lingít x̱ʼéináx̱ yáat?
Does this place have a Tlingit name?
A saayí gé ḵudzitee Lingít x̱ʼéináx̱ yáat?
Does this place have a Tlingit name?
Tlél a saayí ḵoostí.
It doesnʼt have a name.
Tlél x̱wasakú.
I donʼt know.
Wáanixʼís a saayí ḵudzitee, I donʼt know.
Maybe it has a name, I donʼt know.
Mhm.
Yes.
You see here, did you go down there and just go right by close to the rocks? My husbandʼs trying tell me, "Let's go crawl up in there."
«Goodáx̱ sáyú ??? naadaa?» yóo daayax̱aḵá.
“From where ??? it flows?” I say to him.
???
???
???
He was walking in this water. He walk in it all the way down. My sister was walking in it; sheʼs older than Violet; and they ask ???. Here she's making faces and things sheʼs ??? and they got big tree, he throw it in the water and he had her screaming going down. It always sounds so peaceful, Iʼm glad you set tent up.
Aaá.
Yes.
I bet you Iʼll sleep the whole night, too. Maybe all day.
[At shooḵ]
[Laughter]