An Introduction to Tlingit Sounds

This slideshow is an introduction to Tlingit sounds, and is intended to provide a student a means to practice making the sounds necessary to speak and understand the Tlingit language. Please pay close attention to the symbols so you will reconize them later in reading and writing.

[@sashaepan8592]

my ancestors spoke this language, being the first time trying these..some of them came easily for me 🤗 like it was natural 👌 and cleared my scratchy throat lol look forward to learning new things from this culture 😊

[@heatherreynolds421]

Thank you for teaching us our language. I'm passing this on to my family

[@katherineclark-nilsson153]

Thank you for your hard work and dedication that is keeping this language alive. Very useful and informative.

[@moist_onions]

it is very hard to find auditory lessons for tlingit, this is very helpful

[@moist_onions]

but, how would you say yéil

[@alextheturkey5695]

I am Tlingit but I have no idea

[@darthapple87]

@@moist_onions Almost like yay and then the L is more like a sort of air snapping near the molars. Have you heard the word Lingít in Tlingit language? Like that L is pronounced. Haha that's why English first language folks kept putting different letters before the L in Lingít-- they couldn't figure out how to indicate the way we pronounce our L sound.

[@moist_onions]

darthapple87 oh yeah! This comment is so old and I feel stupid now. The way we pronounce L’s was the hardest thing for me (with distinguishing g̱ and k̲ being a close second). I’ve been studying via x̲unei’s videos and a lot of SHI and gold belt resources

[@Whelknarge]

Not that it's a competition or anything, but I put this up there as the hardest language to pronounce that I've ever come across. I honestly think I could tackle the clicks of the !Kung languages more easily. Listening to someone render the sounds correctly is like watching a skilled athlete perform their art!

[@kewaso_5313]

Not on the level of the Tuu and Kx'a click language families but it's likely to be one of (if not the) more complex of the America's. Only 2 other languages in the world have an l' and x' sound except the underbarred x' which as far as linguist know it's completely unique to tlingit.

[@IndigenousPeacemaker]

I'm so grateful that you have made this available for us - so easy to understand and the clarity of voice is exceptional. Gunalchéesh!

[@rzeka]

Tlingit orthography seems very straightforward. I like it.

[@geraldscarff8097]

Gunalcheesh!! I am Tlingit and Nisgha . Raised mostly Nisgha and white.. I am only now learning my Dad's language!! He and I are both Tlingit from Carcross/Tagish.. I believe we are duchwede clan.. Please forgive my spelling.. Gunalcheesh!!! Keep teaching, We need it!!!!! God bless you and yours!! Amen

[@EstherLemmens]

I visited Alaska some years ago and was fortunate enough to meet some Tlingit people, and practice a handful of the sounds. Blew my mind! And who knew it would come in handy for learning Klingon?? 😂

[@mohammedjalloh7658]

I nearly cried doing this...it's so hard! Most of the consonants aren't found in any other languages, i bet

[@alextheturkey5695]

Oof I should learn quickly because I am Tlingit

[@kameradimran2163]

@@alextheturkey5695 best of luck. Please preserve your beautiful native language

[@alextheturkey5695]

@@kameradimran2163 thx edit : or Gunalcheesh

[@LifeInJambles]

@@alextheturkey5695 I'm also Tlingit, and I've been thinking of learning for years. Definitely need to put some time into this. It's got so many interesting sounds.

[@alextheturkey5695]

@@LifeInJambles yea

[@konner5456]

Thank you for all this. Much love, me

[@earvonhisser2890]

Seems so natural for me, a CTFN living in Vancouver, Cheers!

[@paintedonthefly9142]

Thank you so much for your lessons!!! I am grateful to hear and attempt my ancestors language.

[@claplantine]

Thank you, your explanations are very clear !

[@bobbiestrella8160]

Thank you for posting this! I've always been curious about my family's ancestral language. This is amazing!

[@user-mg7lt1hj6x]

I been serching for a teacher of Tlingit for such awhile it's not as easy as serching up other languages. But my reason for learning this is my girlfriend speaks this one and I wanna surprise her. Cause I speak cree and blackfoot pretty darn good.

[@user-mg7lt1hj6x]

Luis Muñoz sad part tho is me and this one broke up awhile ago. And lady I’m seeing now speaks bisaya. Thank goodness a lot of words seem to be borrowed from tagolog. So it wasn’t to hard for me to transfer over and learn that. Since I always spoke a good deal of tagolog from living in city’s here in northern Canada. ❤️

[@user-mg7lt1hj6x]

Luis Muñoz basic (farsi/Persian Punjabi,Hindi ,aribic, Somali , mandarin, Korean, lots of tagolog), (Blackfoot , and Stoney(only cause there the other type of natives I seem to run into and I don’t want them to stab me for old tribal beefs so I’ll talk there tongue so they don’t know I’m cree) the one I’m currently learning is bisaya. Only cause the woman I’m seeing took it apon her self to learn my native language. And only learnt these cause I noticed living in the city I’d get a lot of free shit saying a basic greeting or having a small conversation and learnt English don’t give a shit if you speak English or not lol. And that’s awesome honestly I wish I kept learning Spanish when i was younger a lot of good dudes I met I wish I can say more to besides giving praise 😂 but I do speak fluent in my native language cree. But that’s awesome a lot of my video games friends live in Alaska I can’t remember how to say whiteboy in those Alaskan tongues. Lol

[@bant7883]

ᓂᐦᑕᒋᐁᐧᐃᐧᐣ ᓱᐦᑫᔨᒧᐤᐅᑯᓯᒫᐤłńÿ

[@ndeertrack]

Thanks for putting this together. I'm going through this and the sound words every night!

[@kewaso_5313]

Everything about this language is like navajo on steroids, the complexity and depth of every aspect of it is insane.

[@the_biblioklept2533]

I'm going to start learning Tlingit soon

[@adrianarenee5018]

K'áxnaat ? I believe that's how you spell my tlingit name.. I was hoping maybe I could find someone knew the meaning of my name and tell me. I've always been so curious but my grandmas tlingit is a little fuzzy so she forgot some thing since she hasn't spoke tlingit since a young girl. Any answers would be greatly appreciated. Btw I'm named after my grandma and I would love to be able to tell her the meaning of our name.

[@thedeadscientist]

Good video. Very informative. Please, can anyone tell me, if this "unvoiced l" is the same as in the Welsh language? (written "ll", the air flows on the sides of the tongue, as far as I know, without using the vocal chords)

[@sigmaminus3296]

Linguist here, yes it is!

[@kuuleikanahele7306]

Mahalo nui!

[@laladoodieincarnate]

6:40 awesome! I knew this sound must had come from a real natural language! Friends were telling me they've never heard such a consonant ever except in the Tenguar Lord of The Rings script & my own personal constructed script which I spell out in the Latin Script as "HL" try saying the word "helix" but remove the vowels so you get "HLX" thus the name of this letter. It is a swirly letter resembling the helix spiral of a snail shell.

[@the_linguist_ll]

It can also be found in Nahuatl and Welsh, it's a fun sound

[@kosukemiyata9033]

ありがとうございます。

[@jaycee330]

What the difference in the tongue placement for "tl" and "l"? They sound similar, and the "l" sounds much like the "ll" in Welsh.

[@jaycee330]

It sounds to my ear like "tl" is a combination of a "k" and "ll" sound.

[@kcolfer6]

Thank you so much!

[@edwardmorris3453]

The 'l' sounds like Welsh 'll'.

[@jaycee330]

I thought so as well, but I'm trying to figure out the tongue placement for "tl"

[@ethanschenck9714]

I'm writing a fantasy series based on the mythologies of many native groups and my main characters are Tlingit based. If you could give me some advice on names I would be gratefull. My current names for them are Dleit Yeil, Kanat'a Itskw and X'aan Ch'aak

[@geraldscarff8097]

Very throat active. Like Nisgha..sounds Somewhat..?

[@bryttniwilliams79]

Awesome!

[@michelleharstead1631]

How do you say these words ḵáawu, Ax shaawádi, Dikée Aanḵáawu

[@jimgreen9059]

X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell, to my untrained English ear, it sounds as if you're pronouncing your Tribe's/language's name any one of 3 different ways. Which one is actually correct? I've always pronounced it KLINK-it, but I think I heard you also pronounce it KLING-git, and HLING-git (with the 'hl' being a lisping sound.

[@UASANLS]

It is Lingít, which has an unvoiced L sound that is found in a number of North American languages. The first letter is like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKGnYoGGiqd7kNk

[@backyardhistorian8290]

For some reason I have a hard time discerning the “tl” sound specifically. It sounds to me like “tl” is pronounced almost like an English k sound. Would it be a mistake to say Tlingit is pronounced like “klinkit” for the uninitiated? Thank you for the vid!

[@the_linguist_ll]

Check the Wikipedia page for 'Voiceless Alveolar Lateral Affricate' and for 'Voiceless Alveolar Lateral Fricative'. They might help by teaching how the sounds are pronounced. Your not alone in thinking it sounds like 'kl' by the way, but if you need to approximate it, a cluster of 't' and 'l' is closer phonetically, so /tl/. The sound is /t͡ɬ/ though

[@backyardhistorian8290]

@@the_linguist_ll thank you, much obliged!

[@heavenangell8684]

Gunalchéesh

[@lance007008]

I cannot get anywhere near to pronounce L'...

[@odilbekb-sarkaev1052]

Not easy language for europeans 😂

[@urrconpetet9258]

-kw sounds like Igbo kw through mÿ ears

[@user-ub2jp7tg6k]

Is tlingit like haida

[@ziu1163]

No. the Haida language has no known language relative.

[@blacksheep4987]

Zildgen Unzicker Although there are similarities in their phonologies.

[@UASANLS]

There are a number of shared words, but they are completely different in structure and cannot be used to communicate.

[@sharonwachter303]

I did the L sound & my cat thought I was hissing at him 😂

[@SCK_Reboot]

I could not do X.....😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@SCK_Reboot]

i can do it now it's literally just a voiceless velar fricative 💀

[@victorhotch8196]

gunaĺchèesh

[@michelerodriguez3416]

This guy's voice makes me tired.

[@xhunei]

Haha! Iʼll try drinking more coffee.

[@bant7883]

-k_’w was the easiest

[@urrconpetet9258]

No o

[@urrconpetet9258]

Or ó/ό

[@urrconpetet9258]

:Buffering: