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Tlingit Conversation #58
(Yoo x̱at) duwasáakw Lingít x̱ʼeinax̱.
(I) am called in Lingít.
Iʼm called, uh, G̱unaakʼw in Tlingit.
My name is Fred White.
Aa yáatʼát áyáa ax̱ tuwáa sigóo a daat yóo x̱ʼax̱wataanée yáa x̱wsiteeni át.
So, I would like to talk about what I have seen.
Yáa déex̱ táakw shoowaxeex de, yáa Yaakwdáatxʼ ḵúnáx̱ ḵuyawutʼaayée.
Two years have passed now, since the weather here in Yakutat got very hot.
Yóo Sʼitáḵxʼ ḵa Aan Tleinxʼ áyá ax̱asg̱eiwú nuch. Am.
I setnet fish in the Situk and Ahrnklin rivers. Um.
At Gadax̱íttʼ Dísi kát áwé kootlʼéetʼaa haax̱ kalyeech.
In May [breeding month], the arctic terns usually fly up here.
Yóo naaliyéidáx̱ yáa, lingitʼaaní tayeedáx̱ haax̱ kalyeech.
From very far away, they fly here from the underside of the Earth.
Dleit ḵáa x'éináx̱ Antarctica yóo duwasáakw.
In English it's called Antarctica.
Áwé has x̱wusiteen, ah,
Well I saw them, uh,
ḵutaan kaanáx̱.
throughout the summer.
Ḵuyaawatʼáa.
The weather was hot.
Á áwé kootl'éetʼaa kʼwátʼig̱áa wtuwa.aat Sʼitáḵde.
So we went out to Situk to gather tern eggs.
Aan Tleinx' tlákw áx̱ too.aat
We always walk around over at Ahrnklin
katoodatxʼu nuch.
???
Áwé wáa sáyóo wé kootlʼéetʼaa s awsikóo ḵuyakg̱watʼaayée?
Now how did the terns know that the weather was going to be hot?
Tle yóo naakéexʼ áwé has awdlikʼwátʼ wé chookán x̱ooxʼ.
They nested further up the river where all the beach grass was growing.
Tsʼootaatxʼ áwé yaklahéen nuch.
In the morning, the surface (of the grass) would have dew on it.
Á áwé átx̱ has awliyéx̱ wéi chookán daatx̱ wé héen.
So they used the water that was on the beach grass.
Wé hasdu kʼwátʼi hél kakg̱washtóok.
Their eggs wouldnʼt crack.
Am, ax̱ léelkʼwch áwé ax̱ een kaawaneek
Um, my grandfather told me
wéi ḵutaanx'
that in the summer
ch'a yákʼwdáx̱ séew daak wustaaní,
when we have a sudden downpour of rain,
kéidladee k'wátʼi kakg̱washtóok yís.
itʼs so the seagull eggs can crack.
Kang̱ashtóogu yís áwé daak ustaanch.
It rains so that they can crack.
Ách áwé yawx̱aatín wé aadé yaa naneen yé.
Thatʼs why I recognized what was happening.
Wáa sá s awsikóo wé kootl'éet'aa
How did those terns know
ḵuyakg̱watʼaayée wé ḵutaan ḵaanáx̱?
that we were going to have a hot summer?
Á áwé hasdu ah, kúdee naakéexʼ yéi s awsinee wé chookán x̱ooxʼ.
So they uh, made their nests farther up among the beach grass.
Ḵa {wéi} yá Dís Yádi yawux̱eeyée áwé,
And as the month of September [child moon] goes by,
cháasʼ atoosg̱eiwú yú naakéexʼ. [naatéexʼ?]
we fish humpies upriver.
Á áwé wtusiteen wé atgutóodáx̱ daak uwagut xóots, du yádi teen.
Thatʼs when we saw this bear that came down out of the woods with her cubs.
De Dís Yádi áwé, September yát áwé,
It was September at that time, it was during September,
ch'oo yéi has kudzigéink' wé {a yá} wé xóots yádi.
those bear cubs were still pretty small.
At Gadax̱íttʼ Dísi kát ḵug̱asteech át áwé.
They're usually born in the month of May.
De {chʼa yeis de násʼk táakw} nás'k dís áwé shoowaxeex
Three months had all ready gone by
ag̱aa has ḵugasteech yé.
since they should have been born.
á áwé ch'oo yéi has kudzigéi.
but they were still small. [They should have been bigger.]
Á áwé tsóo haa yáa ḵut woonee, chʼa yeisóos ḵuwdzitiyi át áwé de
That really shocked us too, that they were tiny cubs yet. [That they were things that had just been born.]
Dís Yádi, dleit ḵáa x̱ʼéináx̱ September yéi duwasáakw.
in September, what they call September in English.
Aag̱áa áwé daak uwa.át wé xóots du yádi teen.
Thatʼs when that bear walked down with her cubs.
Ḵa wéi a,
And the um,
shákwg̱aa áyá tsóo wtuwaḵoox̱ yáa ḵutaan.
we went out on the boat for strawberries in the summer.
De am, Shaaxʼw Xeiyí Dísi kát áwé, August,
It was um, Mountain Shadow Moon [when the mountains cast shadows on Tlingit Country], August,
wutusiteen g̱uwakaan.
we saw deer.
Wé ax̱ keidlí áwé a kát wujikʼén wé a yádi.
My dog jumped on its fawn.
Á áwé át wujixíx. Wé a yádi ḵwaawé chʼa yeisú ḵuwdzitiyéyáx̱ áwé duwatéen.
Then it took off running. Itʼs fawn though, it looked like it had just been born.
Wéi dleit yáx̱ kayateeyi át áwé du daakáa wootee, chʼa yeisú ḵuwdzitee.
Those little round white things were covering itʼs body, it had just been born.
Ch'a August ḵu.aa áyá.
But it was in August.
Hás tsú June yát áwé has kustee nuch.
They are also usually born in June.
Yéi áwé at wutusiteen yá, yá taakw, yáa haa ḵutí teen aadé yaa naneen yé.
This is what we have seen this year (2008) with what is happening with our weather here.
Yáa haa aanée kát woo.aadée atgutu.ádi.
The animals that live on our land.
Yéi áwé sh kakḵwalneek. Gunalchéesh.
That is all of the story I am going to tell. Thank you.
Speaker is G̱unaakʼw Fred White. Recorded Oct 8, 2008, in Yakutat, Alaska, by Ḵaa Saayí Tláa Amanda Porter.
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 and English translation by Ḵaa Saayí Tláa Amanda Porter. Edited by Shag̱aaw Éesh Devlin Anderstrom. 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
SYMBOLS: {false start}. (added for clarity). [translator/transcriber's note]. ??? = can’t understand. «Lingít quotation marks».