Tlingit language

Golla (2007) reported a decreasing population of 500 speakers in Alaska. The First Peoples' Cultural Council (2014) reported 2 speakers in Canada out of an ethnic population of 400.

As of 2013, Tlingit courses are available at the University of Alaska Southeast.[9] In April 2014, Alaska HB 216 recognized Tlingit as an official language of Alaska, lending support to language revitalization.[10]

Consonants in the popular orthography are given in the following table, with IPA equivalents in brackets. Marginal or historical phonemes are given in parentheses.

		Labial	Alveolar			Palato- alveolar	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral		plain	labial	plain	labial	plain	labial
Plosive	unaspirated		t ⟨d⟩	ts ⟨dz⟩	tɬ ⟨dl⟩	tʃ ⟨j⟩	k ⟨g⟩	kʷ ⟨gw⟩	q ⟨gh⟩	qʷ ⟨ghw⟩	ʔ ⟨.⟩	ʔʷ ⟨.w⟩[lower-alpha 1]
	aspirated		tʰ ⟨t⟩	tsʰ ⟨ts⟩	tɬʰ ⟨tl⟩	tʃʰ ⟨ch⟩	kʰ ⟨k⟩	kʷʰ ⟨kw⟩	qʰ ⟨kh⟩	qʷʰ ⟨khw⟩
	ejective		tʼ ⟨t'⟩	tsʼ ⟨ts'⟩	tɬʼ ⟨tl'⟩	tʃʼ ⟨ch'⟩	kʼ ⟨k'⟩	kʷʼ ⟨k'w⟩	qʼ ⟨kh'⟩	qʷʼ ⟨kh'w⟩
Fricative	voiceless			s ⟨s⟩	ɬ ⟨l⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩	x ⟨x⟩	xʷ ⟨xw⟩	χ ⟨xh⟩	χʷ ⟨xhw⟩	h ⟨h⟩	hʷ ⟨hw⟩[lower-alpha 1]
	ejective			sʼ ⟨s'⟩	ɬʼ ⟨l'⟩		xʼ ⟨x'⟩	xʷʼ ⟨x'w⟩	χʼ ⟨xh’⟩	χʷʼ ⟨xh'w⟩
Sonorant		m ⟨m⟩[lower-alpha 2]	n ⟨n⟩		l ⟨ll⟩[lower-alpha 3]	j ⟨y⟩	ɰ ⟨ÿ⟩[lower-alpha 4]	w ⟨w⟩

Nasal consonants assimilating with /n/ and the velar and uvular plosives is common among Tlingit-speakers of all dialects. For example, the sequence ng (/nk/) is often heard as [ŋk] and ngh (/nq/) as [ɴq]. Native speakers in a teaching position may admonish learners when they produce these assimilated forms, deriding them as "not Tlingit" or "too English", but it is common to later hear such speakers producing those forms themselves. It is uncertain whether this assimilation is autochthonous or if it arose from contact with English, but the former is more likely from a purely-articulatory perspective.

Young speakers and second-language learners are increasingly making a voiced/unvoiced distinction between consonants, rather than the traditional unaspirated/aspirated distinction. That is because of the influence of English, which makes a similar distinction. For speakers who make the voiced/unvoiced distinction, the distribution is symmetrical with the unaspirated/aspirated distinction among other speakers.

Maddieson, Smith, and Bessel (2001) note that all word final non-ejective stops are phonemically unaspirated. That contrasts with the orthography that typically represents them as aspirated stops: t [tʰ] for the more accurate d [t]. There is a wide variation in ordinary speech, ranging from unreleased [t̚] to a very delayed aspiration [tːʰ]. However, the underlying phoneme is certainly unaspirated /t/ since it is consistently produced when the word is suffixed. The orthography usually but not always reflects that: hít "house" is written (du) hídi "(his) house" when marked with the possessive suffix -ÿí. It is possible but has not been verified that aspirated and unaspirated stops are collapsed into a single phoneme word-finally.

Maddieson and colleagues also confirm that the ejective fricatives in Tlingit are in fact true ejectives, despite the widely-held assumption that ejective fricatives are not actually phonetically ejective but are as a sequence of fricative and glottal stop. In Tlingit, at least, the articulation of ejective fricatives includes complete closure of the glottis before frication begins, and the larynx is raised in the same manner as with ejective stops.

Characteristically, the ejective fricatives in Tlingit feature a much smaller aperture for frication than is found in ordinary fricatives. That articulation provides increased resistance to counter the continual loss of dynamic airstream pressure. Also, ejective fricatives appear to include tightening of the pharyngeal muscles, which reduces the diameter of the air column and so further increases pressure. That pharyngeal constriction is not true pharyngealization, however, since the diameter is still greater than what is found in pharyngealized consonants in other languages.

Tlingit has eight vowels, four vowels further distinguished formally by length. However, the length distinction is often in terms of tenseness rather than length, particularly in rapid speech. For the Northern dialect, the dominant spoken dialect of Tlingit and the standard for written Tlingit, every vowel may take either high or low tone; in the orthography high tone is indicated by an acute accent (áa) and low tone is unmarked (aa). The Southern and Transitional dialects have a mid tone which is unmarked and additional low tone which is marked by a grave accent (àa).

The Inland Tlingit orthography does not use vowel digraphs. Instead, short high vowels are marked with an acute accent, long high vowels are marked with a circumflex, and long low vowels are marked with a grave accent. Short low vowels are unmarked. Coastal Tlingit <áa> and <aa> are Inland <â> and <à> respectively. Coastal <éi> and <ei> are Inland <ê> and <è>, Coastal <ée> and <ee> are Inland <î> and <ì>, and Coastal <óo> and <oo> are Inland <û> and <ù>.

	Tense/Long			Lax/Short
	front	central	back	front	central	back
close	iː ⟨ee⟩		uː ⟨oo⟩	ɪ ⟨i⟩		ʊ ⟨u⟩
mid	eː ⟨ei⟩			ɛ ⟨e⟩		ʌ ⟨a⟩
open		aː ⟨aa⟩	(ɒː ⟨aa⟩)		(ɐ ⟨a⟩)

As noted in the vowel chart above, there is an allophone of /aː/ (orthographic aa) which is realized as [ɒː] under the influence of uvular consonants, however this is not consistent for all speakers. The backness influence arises from articulation with uvular consonants and so the word kháa "person" is often spoken as [qʰɒ́ː], but the word (a) káa "on (its) surface" is said as [(ʔʌ) kʰáː] by the same speakers.

Word onset is always consonantal in Tlingit and so words never begin with a vowel. Where a vowel would theoretically have occurred, such as by prefixing or compounding, the vowel is always followed by either [ʔ] or [j]. The former is universal in single words, and both are found in word-medial position in compounds. The orthography does not reflect the [ʔ] in word-initial position, but either . or y may be seen in medial position. For example:

But when the perfective prefix ÿu- is word-initial, the glottal stop appears to ensure that the word begins with a consonant.

Tlingit word order is SOV when non-pronominal agent and object phrases both exist in the sentence. However, there is a strong urge to restrict the argument of the verb phrase to a single non-pronominal noun phrase, with any other phrases being extraposed from the verb phrase. If a noun phrase occurs outside of the verb phrase then it is typically represented in the verb phrase by an appropriate pronoun.

See main article: Tlingit noun

Tlingit has a complex system of pronominals, which vary depending on their relationship to the verb. The subject pronominals are incorporated into the verb in its subject slot. The object pronominals are also technically incorporated into the verb (i.e. the verb "complex"), but most are graphically independent. They are divided into three classes, the verbal object, nominal object, and postpositional object. There are also the independent pronominals which are completely separate from the verb and can be used in dependent clauses or in subject or object position.

The pronominals all have related semantic values, and their organization can hence easily be visualized in a table.

Type	Subject	Object			Independent
		VO	NO	PO
1 SINGULAR	xha-	xhat, axh	axh	xha-	xhát
1 PLURAL	too-	haa	haa		uháan
2 SINGULAR	ee-	i-	i		wa.é
2 PLURAL	yi-	yee-	yee		yeewáan*
3 RECESSIVE		a-, 0-	a	a-
3 NEUTRAL	0-	a-, 0-	du	u-	hú
3 SALIENT		ash	ash
REFLEXIVE		sh-, 0-	chush
RECIPROCAL		woosh	woosh
INDEFINITE HUMAN	du-	khu-, khaa-	khaa	khu-
INDEFINITE NON HUMAN		at-	at
PARTITIVE		aa-

The numbers in the first column represent the usual concept of person, i.e. first, second, or third. Story and Naish identified a fourth person, but this term is inappropriate since they did not describe a clear separation between the so-called fourth person and the other impersonal pronominals.

When analyzing a sentence, the pronominal type is given first, then the form (subject, object, independent) is given following a period. This uniquely represents the pronominal as a two dimensional unit. Thus 1SINGULAR SUBJECT is the first person singular subject pronominal, realized as xhat. The RECIPROCAL does not uniquely identify one of the two reciprocal pronominals, but since they are both phonetically identical as woosh, it is generally unnecessary to uniquely identify them.

There is also a notional zeroth person which can be of subject, object, or independent form. This is not realized in Tlingit, instead it is an empty placeholder for analysis.

The subject pronominals are all incorporated into the verb. Thus when the subject is represented as a pronominal, the subject position of the sentence is empty.

Object pronominals are divided into three classes, the verbal, nominal, and postpositional.

The verbal object pronominals function similarly to the subject pronominals in that they preclude an explicit object when used.

The nominal object pronominals are similar in some respects to the possessive pronouns of English. They precede a noun and represent the object of the noun, typically implying possession of the noun.

Postpositional object pronominals function as objects to which postpositions are attached. They act as the object of a postposition in a manner similar to an ordinary noun suffixed with a postposition.

Strictly speaking, the Tlingit directionals can be classified as nouns on the basis of their syntactic function. However, they form a distinct semantic set of nouns which indicate direction relative to some stated position. They also show stem variation depending locative suffixation, in particular with the allative suffix -dei. These stem variants also occur with the adverb construction N₁-da-N₂-(i)n "N₂ N₁-ward" where N₂ is an anatomic noun and N₁ is a directional stem.

	Noun	N-dei	N-naa	Adverb (+15)
up above	(di-)kée	(di-)kín-dei	(di-)kee-naa	kei, kéi
down below	(di-)yée	(di-)yín-dei	(di-)yee-naa	yei, yéi, yaa
upstream	naakée	nán-dei	naa-nyaa ~ naa-naa	–
downstream	ix-kée, éex	íx-dei	ixi-naa	–
from landshore, interior	dáakh	dákh-dei	dakhi-naa	daakh
toward landshore	éekh	íkh-dei	ikhi-naa	yeikh ~ eekh
toward seashore	yán	yán-dei	—	yan
from seashore, out to sea	dei-kí	dák-dei	daki-naa ~ diki-naa	daak
across, other side	diyáa	diyáa-dei	—	yan
inside	neil	neil-dei	—	neil
outside	gáan	gán-dei	—	—
back	—	khúxh-dei	—	khuxh
aground, shallow water	—	kúx-dei	—	kux

Particles function as neither noun nor verb. They are restricted to positions relative to phrases in the sentence.

The focus particles follow the left periphery ("forephrase" per Leer) of a sentence. The Naish-Story term for them is "post-marginals". Many of them may be suffixed with a demonstrative (-yá, -hé, -wé, -yú), and they may also be combined with the interrogative (-gé). Focus particles are stylistically written as separate words, but phonetically, they may be indivisible from the preceding utterance.

• sá — wh-question
• gé — dubitative, unlikelihood, "perhaps", "maybe, "it would seem..."
• á — focus
• ágé — interrogative (< á + gé)
• ásé — discovery, understanding of previously unclear information, "oh, so..."
• ásgé — second hand information, "I hear...", "they say..." (< ásé + gé)
• khu.aa — contrastive, "however"
• xháa – softening, "you see"
• shágdéi — dubitative, likelihood, "perhaps", "probably"
• dágáa — emphatic assertion, "indeed", "for sure"
• shéi — mild surprise
• gwáa, gu.áa — strong surprise
• gwshéi, gushéi — rhetorical interrogative, request for corroboration, "I wonder", "perhaps"
• óosh — hypothetical, "as if", "even if", "if only"

The combination of the focus á with the demonstratives gives the frequently used particles áyá and áwé, and the less common áhé and áyú. Combination of the interrogative ágé with the demonstratives gives the confirmative particles ákwé and ákyá (ák-hé and ákyú are uncommon), used to elicit a yes/no response from the listener.

The interrogative ágé also usually contracts to ág before tsú "also": ág tsú "also?" < ágé + tsú.

The particle sá is obligatory in forming wh-question phrases. It can be combined with a demonstrative, the dubitative, the rhetorical interrogative, and the emphatic assertion:

• sáwé (< sá + áwé), sáyá, ... — focused question, "... is that?"
• sgé (< sá + gé) — dubitative question, "maybe?", "perhaps?"
• ságwshéi — "I wonder?"
• sdágáa (< sá + dágáa) — "(what) on earth?", "really?"

Phrasal particles may occur after focus particles that occur with or without demonstrative finals. The following are postphrasal particles, thus they may only occur after the phrase that they modify.

• tsá — "only then"
• tsú — "also"
• s'é — "first", "really!"
• déi — "now", "this time"
• x'wán — "be sure to"
• tsé — "be sure not to"

Except for x'wán and tsé, the above may occur after the focus particles.

The following are prephrasal particles, i.e. they occur before the phrase that they modify. Naish and Story call these "pre-marginals".

• ch'a — "just", "the very"
• ch'as — "only", "just"
• ch'ú — "even"
• tlaxh — "very"

These particles may occur before or after any phrase in a clause.

• tlei — "just," "simply," "just then"
• déi — "already," "by now"
• tsu — "again", "still", "some more"

Compare the mobile particle tsu with the postphrasal particle tsú. Both the sentence káaxwei tsu eetéenaxh xhat yatee "I need more coffee" and the sentence káaxwei tsú eetéenaxh xhat yatee "I also need coffee" are acceptable. However the sentence *tsú káaxwei eetéenaxh xhat yatee is syntactically inadmissible because the particle tsú is postphrasal, i.e. it cannot precede the phrase it modifies, in this case the noun phrase káaxwei. The corresponding sentence with the tsu particle in front, tsu káaxwei eetéenaxh xhat yatee "I need coffee again/still" is in contrast syntactically acceptable. Thus a Tlingit listener will recognize the tsu particle in a phrase-initial position without confusion but tone is necessary to distinguish it in a phrase-final position. For this reason the tsu particle is often used prephrasally although it is syntactically admitted in either position. Thus the song name Tsu Héidei Shugaxhtootaan could also be héidei tsu shugaxhtootaan, but placing the tsu in front has the advantage of unambiguity, and thus seems more euphonious to native speakers.

Note that déi is a homonym with the noun déi "path, way, road". [How are these differentiated in speech?]

The particle tlei is easily confused with tléil "no, not", but as with the tsu/tsú pair the tone makes them unambiguous.

These particles may only occur at the front of a sentence. Naish-Story term these "clause marginals".

• tléik, l — negative, "not"
• gwál — dubitative, "perhaps"
• gu.aal — optative, "hopefully"
• khaju, xhaju — contrary, "actually", "in fact"
• khashde — "I thought..."