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 xíxch’, or frog. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say xíxch’.
The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences.
Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Xíxch’.
That means frog.
Here are some sentences:
Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Ḵunax̱ áwé shayadihéin wé xíxch’.
There are very many frogs.
Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: Xíxchʼ yóode yaa nashkʼén.
There is a frog jumping over there.
Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Kiks.ádix̱ sitee yá xíxchʼ has du at.óowu áyá.
The frog is the Kiks.ádiʼs at.óow.
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.
