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 náaḵw, or octopus. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say náaḵw.
The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences.
Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Náaḵw.
That means octopus.
Here are some sentences:
Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Daa sáwé aan yeedanáḵw? Há náaḵw áyá.
What are you baiting with? Oh, it’s octopus.
Keihéenák’w John Martin: Náaḵw tsu haa atx̱áayix̱ sitee.
Octopus is also our food.
Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: A tlʼeiḵ káx̱ yaa kdag̱wátʼch, náaḵw.
The octopus is crawling along on its tentacles.
Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Náaḵw dutáax’in.
People used to bite octopus.
Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Náaḵw du ḵoowú tóodáx̱ daak wujiḵáḵ.
The octopus crawled out of it’s den.
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.
