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 aasgutú, or forest. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say aasgutú.
The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences.
Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Aasgutú.
That means forest.
Here are some sentences:
Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Ldakát át aasgutúdáx̱ yéi daatoné.
We work with everything from the forest.
Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: Aasgutúdé woo.aat wé watsíx.
The caribou walked into the forest.
Keihéenák’w John Martin: Yá shayadihéin yá Aas Gutú Ḵwáan yéi tsú s duwasáakw, Lingít.
The Lingít call the Tree People by many names.
Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Aasgutúde woogoot.
He walked into the forest.
You can hear each installment of Lingít Word of the Week on the radio throughout the week.
Find biographies for the master speakers included in this lesson here.
Learn more about why we use Lingít instead of Tlingit here.
