Alaska Native Languages

An empty classroom at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in Juneau on July 20, 2022. (Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska Native scholars propose statewide reading standards for the state’s Indigenous languages

Sealaska Heritage Institute working with specialists to develop proposed curriculum.

 

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, speaks during a rally on behalf of Alaska residents with disabilities at the Alaska State Capitol on March 1, 2023.

Bills by Juneau legislator adding official Indigenous state languages, upgrading dock safety become law

Safety bill by Rep. Story also contains provision by Sen. Kiehl expanding disaster aid eligibility.

 

A new online dictionary features Lingít, X̱aad Kíl, Shm’algyack and English. (Mircea Brown / Courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Neighbors: Sealaska Heritage Institute debuts multilingual online Alaska Native dictionary with audio

Platform includes resources for Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian languages.

 

Rep. Andi Story, a Juneau Democrat, listens to a presentation during a House Education Committee meeting on Friday at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau lawmaker’s bill adding four Indigenous languages to state’s official list unanimously passes Senate

Legislation by Rep. Andi Story also renames, expands size of state Native languages council.

Rep. Andi Story, a Juneau Democrat, listens to a presentation during a House Education Committee meeting on Friday at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
X’unei Lance Twitchell teaches an advanced Tlingít course at University of Alaska Southeast on Monday. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska Native languages at crucial juncture, biennial report says

Call to action urges systemic reforms to the state’s support and integration of Native languages.

X’unei Lance Twitchell teaches an advanced Tlingít course at University of Alaska Southeast on Monday. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
(Photo courtesy of the Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Neighbors: SHI, stakeholders to develop first-ever Alaska Native language reading standards

Two virtual meetings scheduled next week to consult with Alaskans statewide.

(Photo courtesy of the Sealaska Heritage Institute)
A still image of “Birds!” from “SHI: Language Games.” (Image courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Neighbors: SHI launches new apps to teach Haida, Tsimshian languages

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has launched its first apps that teach the Haida (X̱aad Kíl) and Tsimshian (Shm’algyack) languages, both of which are considered to… Continue reading

A still image of “Birds!” from “SHI: Language Games.” (Image courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)
Felicia Price, an employee of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, hands a copy of the Lingít-language book “Kuhaantí” to her son, Brayden, 8, while staffing the distribution table for the book with co-worker Genevieve McFadden during its release party Friday night at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Landmark Lingít-language children’s book is an ‘orphan’ with a very large family

“Kuhaantí,” first release of its kind in decades, part of nine-story collaborative tribal project.

Felicia Price, an employee of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, hands a copy of the Lingít-language book “Kuhaantí” to her son, Brayden, 8, while staffing the distribution table for the book with co-worker Genevieve McFadden during its release party Friday night at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
An empty hallway at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska seeks to create statewide reading standards for Alaska Native languages

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development is seeking a specialist in Alaska Native language education to create state standards for reading in Alaska… Continue reading

An empty hallway at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)
Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, explains during Wednesday’s floor session how a bill she is sponsoring will add to the number of Alaska Native languages officially recognized by the state and expand the role of a Native language preservation council.

Alaska Native language expansion passes House

Bill by Juneau lawmaker adds more officially recognized dialects, expands preservation council’s role

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, explains during Wednesday’s floor session how a bill she is sponsoring will add to the number of Alaska Native languages officially recognized by the state and expand the role of a Native language preservation council.
Salmon Northwest Coast art on the Wrangell Cooperative Association community smokehouse. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)

Planet Alaska: Smokehouse values

There are many ways to smoke salmon, but it takes discipline to take the time to learn and listen.

Salmon Northwest Coast art on the Wrangell Cooperative Association community smokehouse. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, X’unei Lance Twitchell, analyses a ChatGPT story in Lingít while teaching his Intermediate Tlingit II class Thursday evening.

Does AI have a place in Tlingit language revitalization?

UAS professor weighs in.

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, X’unei Lance Twitchell, analyses a ChatGPT story in Lingít while teaching his Intermediate Tlingit II class Thursday evening.
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Ayuq Blanchett and Josaia Lehauli recieve awards for their work at the Tlingit Culture Language and Literacy program at Harborview Elementary School Monday morning.

Tlingit language and culture program expands its reach

The optional district program is extending to eighth grade, hiring full-time principal

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Ayuq Blanchett and Josaia Lehauli recieve awards for their work at the Tlingit Culture Language and Literacy program at Harborview Elementary School Monday morning.
Fredrick Brower, center, helps cut up a bowhead whale caught by Inupiat subsistence hunters on a field near Barrow, Alaska, Oc. 7, 2014. After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive flood damage to homes along Alaska's western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents largely Alaska Natives repair property damage. Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency brochures expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup'ik or Inupiaq instead were reading nonsensical phrases. (AP Photo / Gregory Bull)

FEMA fires group for nonsensical Alaska Native translations

For many, it was a reminder of culture and language suppresion.

Fredrick Brower, center, helps cut up a bowhead whale caught by Inupiat subsistence hunters on a field near Barrow, Alaska, Oc. 7, 2014. After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive flood damage to homes along Alaska's western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents largely Alaska Natives repair property damage. Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency brochures expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup'ik or Inupiaq instead were reading nonsensical phrases. (AP Photo / Gregory Bull)
Screenshot / Clarise Larson More than 60 people joined in on a Zoom meeting Monday afternoon to participate in an Indigenous Language revitalization class and panel that addressed the future of Lingít, X<strong>̱</strong>aad Kíl, and Sm<strong>ʼ</strong>algya<strong>̱</strong>x.

Celebrating learning on Indigenous Peoples Day

Community leaders talk future of Indigenous Southeast Alaska languages

Screenshot / Clarise Larson More than 60 people joined in on a Zoom meeting Monday afternoon to participate in an Indigenous Language revitalization class and panel that addressed the future of Lingít, X<strong>̱</strong>aad Kíl, and Sm<strong>ʼ</strong>algya<strong>̱</strong>x.
Artists of the inaugural Rock Aak’w Indigenous Music Festival gather beneath the mural of Elizabeth Peratrovich on the Juneau waterfront on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. This year the ceremony was all virtual, but organizers wanted to open the festival in person. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Rock Aak’w festival opens with songs, dancing and drumming

Rock Aak’w by seawalk.

Artists of the inaugural Rock Aak’w Indigenous Music Festival gather beneath the mural of Elizabeth Peratrovich on the Juneau waterfront on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. This year the ceremony was all virtual, but organizers wanted to open the festival in person. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Tlingit master carver Wayne Price, left, and students from Angoon High School wheel a dugout canoe down to the Angoon waterfront on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, for a ceremony commemorating the bombardment of the village by the U.S. Navy in 1882. Dugout canoes were specifically targeted by the navy for destruction, and Price said crafting a new one was a way of healing from the past. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Remembering and rebuilding: Angoon residents commemorate 139 years since bombardment

‘We’re still here.”

Tlingit master carver Wayne Price, left, and students from Angoon High School wheel a dugout canoe down to the Angoon waterfront on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, for a ceremony commemorating the bombardment of the village by the U.S. Navy in 1882. Dugout canoes were specifically targeted by the navy for destruction, and Price said crafting a new one was a way of healing from the past. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Courtesy photo / CCTHITA Tribal leaders from across the Southeast, including President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson of Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, left; President Gloria Burns of the Ketchikan Indian Community, center; and Marina Anderson, Tribal Adminitrator of the Organized Village of Kaasan, right; and many others attended a consultation with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service last week to meet and set the ground for replacing protections for the Tongass National Forest.

Federal officials meet with Southeast tribal governments

The current administration says they’re trying to have a better relationship than the previous one.

Courtesy photo / CCTHITA Tribal leaders from across the Southeast, including President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson of Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, left; President Gloria Burns of the Ketchikan Indian Community, center; and Marina Anderson, Tribal Adminitrator of the Organized Village of Kaasan, right; and many others attended a consultation with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service last week to meet and set the ground for replacing protections for the Tongass National Forest.
Haida artist Janine Gibbons poses with the book she illustrated, the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s first children’s book in the Haida language Xaad Kíl, a translation of the traditional story “The Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales.” (Courtesy photo / Janine Gibbons)

Haida-language children’s book released as part of award-winning series

The book is a re-issue in X̱aad Kíl of a previously released traditional story.

Haida artist Janine Gibbons poses with the book she illustrated, the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s first children’s book in the Haida language Xaad Kíl, a translation of the traditional story “The Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales.” (Courtesy photo / Janine Gibbons)
The pageantry of western opera will join forces with the Tlingit culture’s rich history of storytelling, song and dance to create the world’s first Tlingit opera. The opera, which is currently untitled, will premiere at the Perseverance Theatre around 2025. (Courtesy Photo / Sealaska Heritage Institute)

First-ever first Tlingit opera will premiere locally

It is a collaboration between Perseverance Theatre and the Sealaska Heritage Institute.

The pageantry of western opera will join forces with the Tlingit culture’s rich history of storytelling, song and dance to create the world’s first Tlingit opera. The opera, which is currently untitled, will premiere at the Perseverance Theatre around 2025. (Courtesy Photo / Sealaska Heritage Institute)