This is Lingít Word of the Week. Each week, we feature a Lingít word voiced by master speakers. Lingít has been spoken throughout present-day Southeast Alaska and parts of Canada for over 10,000 years.
Gunalchéesh to X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and the University of Alaska Southeast for sharing the recorded audio for this series.
This week’s word is dleit, or snow. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say dleit.
The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences.
Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Dleit.
That means snow.
Here are some sentences:
Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Ḵúnáx̱ áwé daak wusitaan wé dleit.
It’s really snowing.
Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: Dleit shaa shakée yéi yatee.
There is snow on the mountaintop.
Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Dleit daak wusitán.
It is snowing.
Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Dleit g̱aadlaan.
The snow is deep.
You can hear each installment of Lingít Word of the Week on the radio throughout the week.
Additional language resources:
Find biographies for the master speakers included in this lesson here.
Learn more about why we use Lingít instead of Tlingit here.
