HOW I LEARNED THE LANGUAGE:
THE PEDAGOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE TALTAN LANGUAGE
By
Hotseta Na-Dene
Oscar Dennis
BA University of Northern British Columbia, 2000

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTERS OF ARTS
In
FIRST NATIONS STUDIES

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
November 2014

© Oscar Dennis 2014

UMI Number: 1526478

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Abstract
This thesis investigates the morphological structure of Taltan, a northern Athapaskan
language. This thesis does not examine the morphemic properties o f Taltan from a linguistic
perspective. Instead, this thesis focuses on the pedagogical structure, which has been neglected
and misunderstood in the previous research and literature, from a second language learning
experience. This thesis also examines the cultural differences between Taltan and English, the
translation language. Based on the morphemic findings, and observed behavior governing
syllable structure, I argue that the Taltan Language is structured around the pronouns in a way
that is patterned into the paradigms with a consistency that simplifies the learning process when
a second language learner understand how it works. The thesis also points out how deeply the
cultural understanding of the universe is embedded in the structure and nature of the language.

I

Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................... I
List of Figures.....................................
IV
Acknowledgement.............................................................................................................................. V
Chapter 1. BACKGROUND TO THESIS__________________________________________ 1
Welcome
................................................................................................................................1
Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1
The Current Taltan Language Program............................................................................................ 4
Language Revitalization...................................................................................................................5
The Rationale/Purpose of the Study.................................................................................................. 5
Taltan Language...............................................................................................................................9
Tl’abandt’In................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................................................14
Comprehensive Resource Material.................................................................................................14
Barriers to Understanding the Language and Culture......................................................................15
Cultural Knowledge....................................................................................................................... 22
Written vs. Oral Differences.......................................................................................................... 23
The Iskut English Dialect............................................................................................................... 25
Objective........................................................................................................................................27
Chapter 3. METHODOLOGY................................................................................................... 29
Oral Tradition.................................................................................................................................29
Traditional Tahltan Worldview...................................................................................................... 31
Respect and Peaceful Co-existence: Its Impact on How to Say What You Say............................... 32
My Tahltan Perspective Framework............................................................................................... 34
Chapter 4. RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYSIS..................................................................41
Data Collection Techniques............................................................................................................41
Technology and the Speech Environment.......................................................................................43
Data Analysis................................................................................................................................ 46
Interpretation................................................................................................................................. 47
Chapter 5. BASIC TALTAN LANGUAGE STRUCTURE....................................................... 51
Word-phrases.................................................................................................................................52
Format of the Tables...................................................................................................................... 54
Terminology.................................................................................................................................. 55
Pronouns and Grammatical Person.................................................................................................56
Possessives and Grammatical Person............................................................................................. 59
The Possessive and Postposition.....................................................................................................60
Chapter 6. BASIC PATTERNS__________________________________________
62
Basic Personal Pronoun-marker..................................................................................................... 62
Intransitive and Transitive Phrases................................................................................................. 63
Basic Intransitive Phrase................................................................................................................63
Basic Transitive Phrase.................................................................................................................. 64
Basic Intransitive Pattern Two........................................................................................................65
Chapter 7. PATTERN ONE .......................................................................................................67
Intransitive Phrase..........................................................................................................................67
Intransitive Verb-phrase and Postposition-phrase........................................................................... 69
Chapter 8. PATTERN TWO....................................................................................................... 70

II

Transitive Pattern Two - A .............................................................................................................70
Transitive Pattern One - B...............................................................................................................71
Transitive Pattern One - C...............................................................................................................72
Chapter 9. ANIMATE & INANIMATE___________________________________________75
The Animate and Inanimate Pronoun Form in Questions................................................................ 75
Building a Simple Pronoun-phrase..................................................................................................76
Changing Concepts with the Personal Pronoun.............................................................................. 76
Chapter 10. DUALITY________________________________________________________79
Dual Intransitive Verb-phrase.........................................................................................................79
Counter Stem..................................................................................................................................80
Chapter 11. CLASSIFICATORY VERBS...................................................................................82
Mass Classificatory Stem............................................................................................................... 82
Classificatory Kinship.................................................................................................................... 83
Mother, Father and Children.......................................................................................................... 84
Aunts and Uncles........................................................................................................................... 84
Siblings.......................................................................................................................................... 85
Cousins......................................................................................................................................... 85
Grandparents..................................................................................................................................86
Chapter 12.PREFIXES, AFFIXES AND SUFFIXES.................................................................... 87
Prefixes.......................................................................................................................................... 87
Prefixes used with Counter and Descriptive Stem-classifier........................................................... 89
Affixes........................................................................................................................................... 89
Suffixes......................................................................................................................................... 91
Affix - prefix/suffix....................................................................................................................... 92
Chapter 13. CONTRACTION..................................................................................................... 95
Putting It All Together................................................................................................................... 98
Chapter 14. CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................100
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................103
Appendix 1......................................................................................................................................107
Appendix 2......................................................................................................................................110
Appendix 3......................................................................................................................................112
Appendix 4......................................................................................................................................115
Appendix 5......................................................................................................................................118
Appendix 6......................................................................
119

III

List of Figures

Figure 1.

Tahltan T erritory........................................................................................ 1

Figure 2.

First Nations o f British Columbia Canada...................................................8

Figure 3.

Northern Athabascan D ialects.................................................................10

Figure 4.

Tahltan Tribal T e rrito rie s........................................................................ 11

IV

Acknowledgement
I wish to thank all the members of my thesis committee, Dr. Antonia Mills, Dr. John
Alderete and Dr. Wade Davis for all their support, encouragement and invaluable advice. I
would like to extend many thanks to my advisor Antonia Mills for graciously encouraging me to
always keep my principles guiding me and for her guidance throughout my undergraduate and
graduate programs. I would like to extend my thanks further to John Alderete for all the
encouragement over the past years as I struggled to stay focused on my language. I would also
like to give a special thanks to Wade Davis for the kick in the butt he gave me when I tried to
make excuses on why I should just scrap my MA program.
I would like to express my greatest gratitude for the native speakers who contributed to
my study of the Taltan language from the onset of my interest in learning to speak. They include
my first teachers, the late Robert Quock, and the late Pat Carlick. I would especially like to thank
my brother Robert Dennis, whom is the last native speaker of our precious language, for his
patience in the beginning when I used to stick my cassette recorder in his face each time he said
something I wanted to know in our language.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the elders in Iskut, British Columbia,
who graciously shared their knowledge of the Taltan language and culture with me. I would also
like to thank the Iskut Band Council, who funded my undergraduate studies and my graduate
courses and I would also like to thank TRICORP for paying for my tuition during the writing of
my thesis.
I would like to thank my mother for her dedication to learn and speak our language along
with me over the years. Nedischa edla nini ja etiye - 1 love you mother you’re the best. Thank
you for always showing me that anything is possible! And thanks for all the support, feeding my
sled dogs and all the good, healthy cooking while I wrote.
I would like to acknowledge my high school teacher Tony Shaw for always giving me
that something extra and always responding to my curiosity during the many hours we
spent together outside of the classroom.
Finally, this thesis would not of been possible without my father Bata (James Dennis oral
teacher) and the brilliant minds of Ishkadi (Reginald Dennis) and Tl’d’oks (Ryan Dennis). All
the hours we spent breaking down the cultural and structural meaning of our language will be
with me to the end my Ch’iyone (Wolf), brothers. I appreciate everything we’ve done together
and all that we have acquired in the quest for our true identity as Labanot’Ine men. Meduh!

V

Chapter 1.

BACKGROUND TO THESIS

Welcome
My name is Oscar Dennis and my Taltan name is Hotseta (Mountain father), I am a
member of the Tahltan Nation and my people are from Tlego’Tn (Telegraph Creek) and Luwe
Chon (Iskut) British Columbia, Canada. I come from the Talok’otme tribe. I am a member o f the
Tsesk’iye (Crow/Raven) Clan. My
parents are Mary (Brown) and James
Dennis. Mary is the daughter o f Hazel
I P S ? " ""

MSpik
Siililllti

(Henyu) and Murray Brown. My
grandmother Hazel’s parents are Daisy
(Edzertza) and Peter Henyu. My people
are a matrilineal society and I follow
my mother and grandmother's lineage.
Daisy’s mother is Ethe’eni and I come
from her house —the Ethe’eni house.
My father comes from the Tlabanot’Tn
tribe and he is Ch’iyone (Wolf) clan.
He belongs to the Simk’alt’ede house.

Figure 1. Tahltan Territory British Columbia Canada (Albright, 1984:9).

Introduction
This thesis presents results of research conducted in the Tahltan community of Luwe Chon
(Iskut) on the grammar o f the Taltan Language. It represents the results o f my successful attempt
to combine our oral methodology with the contemporary formal writing method in the oral study

1

and preservation of my indigenous language. It also demonstrates how I learned to speak the
Taltan language with my father as my oral teacher and in the process deciphered some o f the
complex grammatical structure and so surpassed/overcame the language and cultural barriers that
have been preventing our language from being passed-on to second language learners.
The decision to do my thesis in this field stems from:
1. My personal interest in learning to speak my language
2. My interest in and concern with the preservation and revitalization of my
indigenous language.
3. My desire to gain insight into why our language is on the brink of extinction in
the midst of our ongoing (35 years) Taltan Language Program.
On a personal level I made a vow to myself that I will not die speaking the colonial
language o f my oppressor and in order for me to truly identify with my land and heritage I felt it
was necessary that I speak my indigenous language.
In concern for the preservation and revitalization o f my language, I wanted to digitally
record and archive as much o f the language as possible before the native speakers are gone and
create comprehensive/pedegogical resource material for others who may be interested in learning
the language as a second language.
In regards to the over-arching question of ’why our language continues to die amidst our
language program I wanted to explore what the ‘linguistic and cultural barriers’ are, as I
studied, rather than focus on how the ‘colonial impact’ (English dominance) has contributed to
the demise of our language in general. I also didn’t set out with that research question guiding

2

me, rather the question was merely an interest and the answer revealed itself naturally as I
learned and explored the language orally.
In regards to the ‘linguistic and cultural barriers’ that are preventing our language from
being passed on, I wanted to go beyond the many rationales (“Our language is not being used in
the home”; “Our language is an elective and not allotted enough time in the schools for our
children to catch on”, etc.) and all the other obvious reasons that contribute to the problem and
are commonly cited in regards to language loss in the midst o f our formal language program.
With the knowledge acquired in the process of learning the language as a second language and as
the Tahltan Language Revitalization Coordinator, I ultimately plan to develop pedagogical
resource materials that I hope will surpass the barriers that are preventing our language from
being passed on to those attempting to learn Taltan as a second language.
However, this is not comparative research in the sense that I did not study the current
method o f teaching the language that is utilized in the formal education system (in the Tahltan
communities) to compare it to my method of studying/learning the language. Rather, I studied
the language and now speak it as a second language and through the process of learning the
language I have in-depth pedagogical grammatical knowledge on the structure o f the language. I
use this as a means to validate that I have overcome the barriers that are preventing the language
from being passed on as a second language and thus have shown that my method works in
comparison to the method that is being utilized in the Taltan language program (where no one is
learning to speak the language).
Pedagogical grammar is defined as:
Grammatical analysis and instruction designed for second-language students.
"Pedagogical grammar is a slippery concept. The term is commonly used to denote
(1) pedagogical process - the explicit treatment of elements of the target language
systems as (part of) language teaching methodology; (2) pedagogical content -

reference sources o f one kind or another that present information about the target
language system; and (3) combinations o f process and content." (Little, D. 1994. P:
99/
It is the in-depth knowledge that I acquired in the process of learning to speak Taltan that I
will present ‘pedagogical ly’ as my thesis.

The Current Taltan Language Program
With respect to the current Taltan Language program, it has always been and still is a part
o f the formal education system and it has been ongoing in the three Tahltan communities since
the mid 1970’s with zero results in producing one fluent speaker to date. I am one of the former
students who studied the Taltan language, formally, between 1974 and 1978 in the mission
school in the community o f Iskut British Columbia. The extent of my learning the language in
the formal education setting was nil and it is common knowledge in the Tahltan communities
that the ongoing language program in the local schools has not produced one fluent, or semi­
fluent speaker in its thirty-five years in existence in our community(s).
I confirmed this by testing former and current students informally in our community. As I
became comfortable with speaking Taltan I spoke to family members who are enrolled in the
program, and I spoke to many former and current students, in the Taltan language. My findings
are: not one student was able to understand me and respond appropriately in Taltan beyond the
formal greeting. Most could not understand the formal greeting. Thus, I can say with confidence
the ongoing program is not successful in producing semi-fluent and/or fluent speakers and there
is a desperate need for the development of a new approach to teaching the Taltan language, an
approach that surpasses the barriers that are preventing our language from being passed on, an
approach that puts a major emphasis on our traditional and contemporary epistemology.

4

Language Revitalization
In February 2012 I was employed by the Iskut First Nations as The Tahltan Language
Revitalization Coordinator. In this position, I have been privileged to work both individually and
as a team member with the Iskut elders and the bright and eager minds of the colleagues (youth)
with whom I am employed. In regards to language revitalization:
In terms of positive effects, language revitalization can be the start of a process in
which we begin to heal from the impacts of past losses by reclaiming our language,
culture, and identity, thereby allowing our voices to become stronger and healthier.
(Thompson, 2012: iv)

The development of practical comprehensive resource material is essential to language
revitalization and personal decolonization, however, in the Taltan language practical
comprehensive resource materials are at a bare minimum. According to a paper on BC
Indigenous languages (Poser, 2000) Taltan is a poorly documented language. There is no
extensive dictionary, no comprehensive grammar and few textual materials. It has only been
within the last twenty-five years that a practical orthography has been developed by the Tahltan
Government (Carter, 1992/1994) and the situation observed by Poser remains relatively the
same.

The Rationale/Purpose of the Study
Taltan is severely endangered with roughly thirty native speakers remaining and all are
over the age o f sixty with one exception - a male in the community of Iskut who is in his early
forties. The majority o f the native speakers can be equally divided between the communities of
Luwe Chon (Iskut) and Tlego’in (Telegraph) - the Luwe Chon Dialect(s) and Tlego’in Dialect.
There is one dialect spoken in Tlego’in and two in Luwe Chon. This means that the Taltan
language is at risk o f extinction within the next ten years unless vigorous measures are taken to
develop a new approach to teaching the language and an all-out effort is taken to revitalize it.

5

The Luwe Chon Dialect has only sixteen native speakers remaining today and it can be
roughly divided into two equal dialectal variants/groups, referred to as the Iskut or Tl’abanot’Tn
Dialect (my father’s), and the Caribou Hide or Me’ets’endane Dialect. The distinction I make
between these two dialects is based on direct accounts given to me by the native speakers with
experience with both dialects. They make their distinction on some differences in vocabulary,
otherwise the dialects are basically the same. Based on these numbers, it is clear that the
individual dialects in the community of Luwe Chdn are at a far greater risk of extinction than the
overall language. Therefore, my rationale for this particular research is on a personal level, and
for academia, to contribute to the preservation/revitalization of my father’s dialect - the
Tl’abandt’In Dialect. My goal was both to learn to become a fluent speaker of the Tl’abanot’Tn
Taltan Dialect and to use what I learned to help Taltan youth to learn the language through
digital media.
During my (our) study o f the language I (we) was/were never taught the deep meaning and
structure o f the language, instead I (we) were taught the words and phrases with free translation
and it was left to me (us) (the students) to figure it out on my (our) own and as mentioned earlier,
there are no pedagogical resources available to rely upon for help.
Clearly there is a need for the development of practical comprehensive resource material
that takes into consideration the oral teaching methodology, linguistic barriers and cultural
dynamics, while at the same time utilizing the ‘current adapted visual learning methodology’ and
’social media’ that our society has adapted to (Emails, Facebook, iTunes, podcasting, screen
casting, eBooks and emagazines, YouTube etc.).
Michael Haenlein and Andreas Kaplan (2014) define social media as:
“a group o f Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated

6

content." Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to
create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, cocreate, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce substantial and
pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals.
Social media differ from traditional or industrial media in many ways, including quality,
reach, frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. (Wikipedia, Social media. 2014)
With today’s digital technology and self-publishing software, the potential to produce
pedagogical resource material that is unique to the demands of our specific language and
compatible with today’s social media is at our finger tips. Whether the resource is providing
teaching aids to learn at home, online or in the classroom, with today’s technology the students
from all levels can enjoy the opportunities to experience our language and culture at the tap o f a
screen.
Both personally and professionally, I believe that it is imperative that the current social
digital mobile technologies (IPod, IPad, and IPhone) be given special attention in the
development o f cultural resource material(s) and the potential that these technologies offer be
honored both inside and outside of the classroom. Thus, one of the objectives of the thesis is to
present/develop pedagogical resource material of the Taltan language structure in a format that
can be easily transferable to digital media. Resource material that:
• Is unique to the structure of our language and tradition.
• Overcomes the linguistic and cultural barriers that are preventing our language from
being passed on to subsequent generations.
• Takes advantage o f technology and the modem day social media that I myself and our
children have grown accustomed to.

7

One of the objectives of my research was to provide Taltan language texts that I could use
and that can ultimately be published as pedagogical grammatical interactive digital resources for
second language learners, using modem digital technology. With modem technology being a
major part of our current culture, I have always strongly believed that in order for our language
to be taught in a manner that is most effective, it should be taught in a way where modem
technology and social media are included in the process. As a researcher, student o f my
Indigenous language and a member of a group of second language speakers, I can personally
attest to the fact that second language learners respond well to learning when the subject matter
is offered to them through a medium that is a part of their everyday experience while at the same
time taking advantage o f the opportunities
to participate in traditional cultural events.
As a child I spent many hours with
my great grandfather Pete Henyu (Hale and
O’Grady 1965) fishing on the Stikine River
and listening to stories around the fire in the
evenings in the smoke house. My great
grandfather was bom in 1886 and O’Grady
and Hale recorded him in 1965 when he was
79 years old. I learned a lot of the language
from the audio recordings between 2011
and 2014. My grandfather literally taught
me from the grave through these audio

Figure 2. First Nations Of British Columbia Canada (Muckle 1998: 7).).
This map is reprinted with permission o f the publisher o f The First
Nations o f British Columbia by Robert J. Muckle © University of British
Columbia Press 1998. All rights reserved by the Publisher.

recordings that I digitized and formatted for my iPod Touch and iPhone. This is the experience I

8

want to make available to the people with my father’s recording when we are both long gone!

Tattan Language
Taltan is a dialect of the ‘Kaskan Language Group that is spoken by the Southwestern
Dene o f Northern British Columbia, Canada (Redis, 1998 —2011). The Kaskan language has
also been historically classified as ‘Nahane (Emmons, 1911), which literally means ‘People of
the north’. However, it is a term that is no longer in use (Albright, 1982) in North American
Linguistic Taxonomy. The Kaskan Language is a ‘south-western dialect’ of the ‘Northern
Athabascan Language Family’ and it is broken down into three distinct tribal dialects - Kaska,
Taltan and Tagish (Tagish was spoken in the southern Yukon. (See Fig 1. labeled as Taku on this
particular map). The Athabascan Language family is Native North American; its geography
reaches from as far north as what is now known as Alaska and northwestern Canada, to the
western and southwestern United States and Mexico.
The Athapaskan language family is made up of three subgroups, which are spread
out across North America: Northern, Pacific Coast and Apachean. The Apachean
subgroup o f languages are spoken in the southwest of the United States, while the
Pacific Coast languages are spoken along the pacific coast of the United States. The
Northern Athapaskan languages are spoken in the northwest of the United States and
Canada. More specifically, the Northern Athapaskan languages are spoken in:
interior Alaska, Northwest Territories, Yukon, interior British Columbia, northern
Alberta, northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba (Bob, 1999: p. 1).
The Athabascan Language family is actually a part o f the larger Na-Dene Language
Family. Na-Dene is considered to be the largest language group on the North American
continent. There are four branches within the Na-Dene Language Family (Ruhlen 1998) with
many dialects within each branch. Edward Sapir coined the term ‘Na-Dene’ in 1915 as a result of
his classification o f the Haida language, which he claimed was an Athabascan Language
(Fitzhugh and Crowall 1988; Levine 1979). Although controversial in linguistic taxonomy of

9

Sapir’s day, there are more recent scholars who claim to have proven that Haida is indeed related
to the Athabascan Language family. Ruhlen (1998) defines Na-Dene below:

The Na-Dene family has four branches, three of which are single languages spoken
along the coastline o f western Canada and southern Alaska (Haida, Tlingit, Eyak).
The fourth branch is the Athabaskan family, spread over interior Alaska and western
Canada, with outliers along the Pacific coast of Oregon and California and in the
American South-west (Navajo, Apache) (Ruhlen, 1998 p. 13994).
However, the balance of opinion today seems to be that Haida is not part of the Na-Dene
language family and that the words that are similar in Tlingit, Haida and Athabaskan languages
reflect borrowings over time (Moore, 2014).
Athabascan is the
Anglicized Algonquian
(Cree) term for Lake
Athabasca in northern
Saskatchewan Canada and
amidst all this taxonomical
controversy and questions
imposed by academics as to
who we really are, and how
,..

.... .

i

Figure 3. Northern Athabascan Dialects (Arctic Athabascan Council, 2014).

we are to be classified (the
v

over-all classification o f who we are), we Tahltan refer to ourselves simply as ‘Didene’ (The
people). We refer to our language, when speaking Taltan, as ‘dah-zake’ (our tongue’s tracks, or
traces of our tongue). When making reference to the translation of foreign words we say; Dude
oye didene k ’eh which means ‘How he/she call it like the people’. In English taxonomy, we refer
to our language as Taltan.

10

Taltan has what are considered to be three dialectical variations, Telegraph, Dease and the
Iskut (Carter 1992; Nater 1989). However, the Dease dialect is based on whether the speakers are
from Iskut or Telegraph. There is a second undocumented distinct Taltan variant in the
community of Luwe Chon, afore mentioned, that is referred to as the ’Me’ets’endane Dialect’.
The locals more commonly refer to the Me’ets’endane dialect, as the ‘Caribou-hide Dialect4 and
it may be directly related to the Sekani (according to Robert Quock 1996, Angela Dennis 2012,
Loveman Nole 2012, and James Dennis 2012). Me’ets’endane is the geographical place-name
for the area in the upper Stikine watershed and it means ‘to be satiated with food, or a belly
totally full’ - implying there is a lot of game
available in the area. In reference to the
Kaskan language group, Albright (1984)

TAGICOT

states that the Caribou Hide Dialect resembles
Sekani and Beaver, but she does not mention
and/or acknowledge the Caribou Hide dialect
in the community of Luwe Chon as being the
TUi

N EK OT EN

same as Beaver or Sekani.

ft
HA:

Tl’abandt’fn

OTEN

Tl’abanotTn are the Tahltan tribe who
occupied the headwater of the Spatsizi, Iskut,
r,,

. VT

.

Skeena and Nass rivers - Tl abanot in means

Figure 4. Tahltan Tribal Territories within the Over-all Tahltan
Territorial Boundry as depicted in Teifs unpublished notes (Cited in
Albright, 1984 : ioj.

‘people o f Tl’abana. TPabana is the geographical place-name for the upper Skeena, Nass and
Spatsizi watershed and it means ‘headwaters that is alpine like in geography’. In the earliest

11

reference to this tribe by Samuel Black (1824) he refers to them as the Tloadenni. The proper
pronunciation for the people o f this area is Tlogot In and/or 77 ’ogdene and it can be translated as
’Long Grass People’ (Jenness, 1937; Louie 2005). The social dynamics and kinship bonds of the
tribes that occupied the upper reaches of the watersheds are tightly interwoven and one cannot
speak of the occupiers o f this land without speaking of the two groups as one and thus the
Tlogbt’Tn and Tl’abanot’Tn are classified as one group in Teit and Albright’s work, but they are
distinct Tahltan clans who speak a variant of the Taltan Language. When Black made reference
to the Tlogot’Tn he more than likely was referring to the two groups who are interwoven through
kinship and marriage.
From an outsiders perspective, the understanding of the social structure of the Tahltan is
meager as Emmons (1911) puts it and today it seems even more so in the literature. However,
from a Tahltan perspective our traditional social structure is clearly understood and is currently
used as the foundation for our mortuary customs and adapted political structure. Drawing from
Robert Adlam (1985) and James Teit’s (1956) research Albright attempts to clarify a lot of what
she refers to as ’confusion’, but in regards to the Tl’aban5t’Tn it seems to create more confusion.
The confusion arises from the fact that Teit classify the tribe as Tl’abanot’Tn and Thorman
classifies the tribe as Tlogot ’In (Albright 1984:11). Furthermore, in the current Tahltan Central
Council’s political structure the Tl’abanot’Tn are classified as Tsesk’iye (Raven), but today many
of the Tl’abanot’Tn are Ch ’iyone datsehi (Wolf Clan). The marriage custom o f the Tahltan
dictates that: should a marriage occur with a person from outside the nation (such as the
Gitxsan/Kaska etc) the newcomer must be adopted into the opposite clan of the host/spouse. In
the case of my father’s matrilineal Gitxsan ancestor, she married a Tl’abanot’Tn man (Raven).
This placed her socially within the Tl’abanot’Tn tribe as a Ch’iyone (Wolf) and all her decedents

12

including my father (my chief informant) are Ch’iyone. The Tl’abanot’In and the other Tahltan
tribes (Talok’ot ln/Talodene) were always marrying beyond their tribal borders and as my elders
put it ‘they did it to bring in new blood.’

13

Chapter 2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The minimal comprehensive practical resource material that exists in the Taltan Language
is utilized at home and in the classrooms, but it is outdated in terms of today’s social media,
technologies and teaching methodologies, and as mentioned above it is unsuccessful in its intent
to pass on the language. Besides the interactive Taltan Language Lessons website (Dennis &
Dennis 2012) the only published practical comprehensive texts available today for the study of
the language are: ‘Basic Tahltan Conversation Lessons’ (Carter, 1992); ‘Tahltan Children’s
Illustrated Dictionary’ (Carter 1994); Kuji K’at Dahdahwhesdech (Mcllwraith 2003); A
Grammar and Dictionary o f the Language Spoken by the Tahltan on the Stikine River British
Columbia. (Palgrave 1902); Tahltan Native Studies (Clark, Nd). Clark and Palgrave’s texts are
inconsistent with the current Tahltan Orthography and the work by Palgrave appears to be quite a
bit different from the Taltan language spoken today (it deserves further in-depth investigation).
Furthermore, the content of Carter’s publication and Mcllwraith‘s “Kuji K ’at Dahdahwhesdech”
is inconsistent in translation and Carter’s work is also full of cultural inaccuracies.
According to Tahltan Elders and concerned community members, Tahltan culture is
highly misunderstood by the non-Tahltan researcher(s) and the younger generation, and the use
of oral narratives and language is continually declining and being replaced by English and the
visual formal learning process and today's modem digital social media.

Comprehensive Resource Material
Working within the Tahltan Language Program and as a student of the language, I realize
the extent to which lacking comprehensive/pedagogical resource material has contributed to the
demise o f the language and how the language faces unique challenges at every level of cultural

14

change and adaptation. In my literature research on the available practical resource material,
mentioned above, I noticed that much of the language was translated incorrectly (freely) and this
is particularly apparent in the ‘Children’s Illustrated Dictionary’ developed by Carter (1992), the
‘Dahdahwhesdech’ produced by (Mcllwraith, 2003) and the Tahltan Native Studies developed
by Karen Clark (nd). These textual materials are used as the main pedagogical language resource
and although it is valuable, in an environment where no other comprehensive literature exists, we
need material that is consistent in translation and cultural accuracy. Carter (1992/1994),
Mcllwraith (2003) and Clark’s (nd) fieldwork was conducted in the three Tahltan communities
with native speakers o f the Taltan language and Carter also relied heavily on Hardwick’s (1984)
research.
I use the word ‘incorrectly’ here very carefully and use it synonymously with ‘free
translation’, because in many cases the ‘free translation’ provided is incorrect in literal meaning
and cultural accuracy. This is no fault of the researcher; rather it is the perspective and/or use of
incorrect/free translation of the informant and/or the translator that creates the problem.

Barriers to Understanding the Language and Culture
After becoming familiar with the Taltan language it became clear these inconsistencies
were largely caused by the grammatical differences between English and Taltan, and by the
radically different cultural perspectives o f the researchers and informants, most especially in the
manner in which the researcher and the informant interpreted language —visual vs. auditory /
written vs. oral. These differences, and the preconceptions brought to their studies by previous
researchers profoundly influenced the outcomes of their work, and not for the better. For
instance, in the children’s dictionary Carter translates ‘ya tl’ule’ as ‘Rainbow’, but ’ya tl’ule’

15

actually means literally’Sky rope’ - culturally it has nothing to do with ’bow’. In Taltan,
’Rainbow’ would be ’Cha des’an’, but we don’t call it rainbow we call it sky-rope and it should
be translated accurately for cultural purposes. Carter also translates ‘tleyh’ as ‘lard’ - but tleyh
actually translates as ‘heated grease from animal fat’. Lard is a commercial product introduced
by the Europeans. Although it is similar when it is in the cooking pot and is perhaps the most
common form o f grease used today, there is a huge cultural difference in the symbolic meaning
of ‘lard’ and ‘heated animal fat’ that must be acknowledged in any serious study of the language.
I also found the same inconsistencies in the accounts of Hale and O’Grady (1965) who worked
with Pete Henyu, my matrilineal grandfather. My field data indicate that they made serious errors
due in part to an English bias in free translations, and as a consequence of language barriers
(Standard English dialect vs. Tahltan Dialect and Taltan vs. English in general) and the inability
o f the informant to transfer ‘implicit’ and ‘tacit’ cultural knowledge that exists within their native
language to the researcher. “However we define culture most anthropologists agree that it has to
do with those aspects o f human cognition and activity that are derived from what we learn as
members of society. Keep in mind that one learns a great deal that one is never explicitly taught”
(Monaghan & Just l:09:05-:22). In regards to the uniqueness of culture and language and the
explicit, implicit and tacit knowledge contained within a given language National Geographic
Explorer in Residence Dr. Wade Davis (2003) states:

Language is not just a body o f vocabulary, or a set o f grammatical rules. Language
is a flash o f the human spirit. It is a vehicle in which each particular culture comes
into the material world. Every language is an old growth forest of the mind, a
watershed o f thought and an eco-system of possibilities. (Davis, TED 2003, video:
320-339).
It wasn’t until I began understanding the Taltan language and had developed the insight to
cross-reference words, phrases and concepts with my indigenous cultural knowledge that I was

16

able to truly understand Davis’s statement and see the inconsistencies in the current practical
resource material from this perspective.
Based on introspection, during the process o f learning the language, I would say that the
Taltan language is too complex, distinct in its grammatical structure, and culture specific to
allow for a meaningful free translation into a template that is biased in favour o f an English
perspective too rely on free translation from an English perspective/bias. It is the very
complexity of the language, its syntax and vocabulary, not to mention its culture specific points
of reference, that creates barriers for researchers and all those, native and non-native alike,
attempting to learn to speak Taltan as a second language. In regards to the cultural (implicit)
differences in perspective Carter (1994. p. 190) translates “Dugi dzenes edeslige (11) esel khaye
ahuja.” as “Today I’m eleven years old.” This does not mean ‘I am eleven years old.’ In fact the
phrase says nothing about getting old or being old or even having any age at all. Rather it
literally says ‘Today eleven winters with me occurred/happened’. Although the concept is
relatively the same, there is much more to this than age. There are cultural/implicit connotations
that are not being considered in the free English translation, such as the fact that our statement on
our concurrence with the winter is not even one of ‘survival.’ We don’t say ‘I survived with
eleven winters’ from the perspective of arrogance, or complaint. Instead we say ’I occurred with
eleven winters.’ With winters being the harshest period in our experience on the land we use it as
the reference point in our yearly cycle and ultimately as our chronological marker for our life
span. This traditional cultural perspective exemplifies our co-existence with our environment,
which contradicts the Euro-centric perspective on old age - a huge cultural difference in
comparison. Carter also makes a mistake in the spelling (interpretation) of ‘with me’ in this
simple sentence. He spells it as ‘esel’ when the correct spelling/pronunciation is es’et.

17

Furthermore, the Taltan language is dynamic in the sense that it lives in four dimensions
and we have an object marker for ‘time’ and ‘environment’ that brings the former and the latter
‘holistically together’ with our conscious experience in a way that is non-existent in English. In a
discussion with Ishkadi/Reginal Dermis (2014) I questioned him on whether the environment
from a Taltan (language) perspective had a ‘personality’ and a ‘consciousness’ and he said:
“Well o f course it does, it goes without question. In our language I always felt that it does. It is
evident in the object-markers /Ho/ and Dd we use for our environment” (Dennis Reginald, 2014
dialogue analysis).
We use the object-marker (covered later) that he is referring to in many different ways that
have no equivalent in English. If we are to translate words and phrases that are totally different in
cultural meaning (tacit knowledge) and we cannot cross reference them to our first language
(English), we provide incorrect translation which contributes to the barriers that are preventing
our language from being learned as a second language.
O f course the work that others have carried out on our language and culture is valid and
relevant to their research intentions and some of it has been useful for our oral learning practices.
But ultimately, and thinking in terms of the validity o f their ‘anthropological ethnographic
imperial presentation’ it doesn’t serve our purpose well. In other words, scientific linguistic
knowledge, generated by poor translations and cultural inaccuracies, does little to assist us in our
struggle to save our endangered language. While it is legitimate to argue that a literal translation
of the Taltan terms is useful for language learning, there is also some utility in using a
translational equivalent that is in common use in English as an index for the Taltan term. For
example, Carter use a term like “rainbow” in the English to Taltan side of the dictionary because
English speakers know the term, whereas they would be less likely to look under ‘sky rope’ (ya

18

tl’ule) to find the equivalent Tattan expression. We know that translational equivalents aren’t
really equivalent or even literal translations, they are just references that give the standard
English term. This isn’t a change that Carter necessarily needs to make, but it is something to
keep in mind that different sorts of translational equivalents are used for different purposes. This
referencing o f the English equivalents doesn’t mean they are wrong or incorrect (or right or
correct), just used for different purposes, but what I am saying is this difference in cultural
perspective must be addressed in translation for Tahltans studying Tattan as a second language
for cultural accuracies.
In regard to cultural relativism Monaghan & Just (2013) write:
Among the moral, philosophical and political consequences of the immergence of the
concept of culture has been the development of a doctrine of ‘cultural relativism’.
We start from the premise that our beliefs, morals, behavior even our very perception
of the world around us are the product o f culture learned as members of the
communities in which we are reared. If as we believe, the content of culture is the
product of the arbitrary historical experience o f a people then what we (nonIndigenous western researchers) are as social beings is also an arbitrary historical
product. Because culture so deeply and broadly determines our worldview it stands to
reason that we can have no objective basis for asserting that one such worldview is
superior to another, or that one worldview can be used as the yardstick to measure
another. In this sense cultures can only be judged relative to one another and the
meaning of a given belief for behavior must first and foremost be understood relative
to its own cultural context. That in a nut shell is the basis to what has become to be
called ‘cultural relativism.’ It is important to understand that many anthropologists,
especially in the United States, regard ‘relativism’ not as a dogma, or an ideological
desideratum, but at heart as an empirical finding. This has been most prominently
expressed in the work o f the anthropological linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin
Lee Whorf who use linguistic data to show categories such as time, space and
number are given in different ways by different languages. Leading Sapir to state;
that in learning language we learn a world. Thus, when reporting on a cloud burst
speakers of English are likely to say ‘it is raining’, but what is the ‘it’ that is raining?
We say ‘it is raining’ because we are predisposed by our language to think of events
in the world in terms o f direct effects of specific causes. In contrast an Indonesian
would report ‘adahodgen’ (there is rain). Rather than cause and effect, the Indonesian
expression predisposes its speakers towards seeing the world as flowing together of
things and events. (Monaghan & Just 2013. Audiobook 1:41:50 -1:44:17)

19

Similarly, in Tattan we say ‘Cha nadetPlt’ and Carter (1994) translates this phrase as ‘it’s
raining’. When pressed on why (cause and effect) it was raining so hard during a thunderstorm
my informant (father) reported “E diji k’indetah ya-tu ishjilt yekat’e tan cha nadetl’Tt (The
thunder bird fly around and tore up the sky-water that’s why the rain is really falling/dumping
etc) - a whole different worldview on ‘raining’ and the ‘cause and effect’ of raining. Monaghan
and Just (2013) go on to say that “taking to an extreme the view of relativism that consigns the
members of different cultures to utterly different worlds would make all translation impossible
including the translation performed in ethnography” (Monaghan & Just 2013,1:41:18 -1:44:31).
But that is not what I am saying, rather I am saying that care must be taken in the pedagogical
presentation o f research done on our endangered language. More specifically translations should
be accurate to the way we use our language in our culture. More specifically we should be using
literal translation rather than free translation that adds verbs like “are” ‘am’ and “does” in a way
they are not used in Taltan. Furthermore, Tattan and English grammar are completely different
and free translation does not transmit our language accurately.
In Mcllwraith’s (2003) text publication there are many misleading translations. The first
is in the title —it is transcribed as “Kuji K ’at Dahdahwhesdech” whereas it should be transcribed
as ‘Kuji K’at Dah Dah-dodesdech’, which is translated as ‘Now, already about, you (plural) I
told’ (meaning, ‘Now, I already told you (plural) about it’). In the title the word ‘Dah’ (about)
and the pronoun "Dah- (you plural) are transcribed as being connected, but they are actually
separate words in Taltan.
Also within the text of Track 13: ‘Naghadene’ (Interlinear Translation) (Kuji K'at
Dahdahdowesdech 2003) there are many incorrect translations. For example the second sentence
is translated as:

20

‘E
nagha
deneza’ ts’ih lige edone iht’Tnh’.
‘That wolverine person from one boy got from/born to ’
but there are major mistakes in the translation. First of all, ‘deneza’ does not mean person it
means ‘man’. Secondly, Robert Quock didn’t say 'ts ’ih’ (from), rather he said ‘tseh’ (before) and
‘tseh' is a contraction (covered on p: 88) of the word ‘khas tseh’ (before). This is evident in the
audio 13: Nagha Dene (Interlinear Translation) (2003) where Robert’s wife Jenny translates the
language accurately. Thirdly, ‘edone' doesn’t mean ‘boy’ it means ‘child’ and fourthly, ‘ih t’Tnh'
does not mean ‘go/from /bom to’ it means ‘she have/has’. (Although Taltan does not have
gender specifics I use ’she’ here, because it is a given that we are talking about a woman. Even
though we don’t have gender specifics in Taltan when I refer to a woman (in the 3rd person) I
translate it in my head as gender specific, because I am still coming from an English bias and I
can’t get past this habit). Below is the correct translation:
‘E
nagha
deneza’ t§eh lige edone iht’Tnh’.
‘That wolverine man before one child she have ’ (She had one child before the wolverine man).
This fact is further supported later in the story when the child in question refers to Nagha
Dene as ‘es-lah’ (in-law). In Taltan one refers to a step parent in this term, because in essence the
step parent is married to a relative and technically/biologically is not a parent. This reflects the
Taltan language/traditional worldveiw.
There are many mistakes made in this work (by the translators) and, although it is a
valuable piece for the advanced student, it took some major work for me to make sense of this
piece as a second language speaker.

21

Cultural Knowledge
My indigenous (tacit) cultural knowledge provided me with insight into a world beyond
what the average non-Tahltan researcher was able to see and I believe it is this knowledge that
makes my analysis and interpretation so much more dynamic in understanding my indigenous
language.
In some respects, linguists and other experts can and have scientifically deconstructed and
analyzed our language, from an academic linguistic (prescriptive) perspective with great success
and it is much appreciated, but from a practical viewpoint their practical knowledge is somewhat
handicapped by ‘cross-cultural barriers’. I on the other hand have been raised in the community
of Luwe Ch5n and Tlego’Tn British Columbia with my grandparents (Elders), including my great
grandfather Pete Henyu (Hale and O’Grady 1965), who learned English orally as a second
language and this gives me an advantage in understanding the cultural context in which Taltan
and English co-exist.
This privilege gives me a deep understanding of how our ancestors applied Tahltan cultural
concepts and Taltan linguistic and grammatical rules to English in the process of learning it as a
second language and thus creating a distinct Iskut and Telegraph English dialect, which I speak
and understand alongside the standard Canadian English dialect.
It is this overall understanding that contributed to my colleagues (Ishkadi and Tl’o’oks)
and me breaking through the conflicting barriers so we are the first to independently learn our
language as a second language. (I use colleagues in the sense that there is a group of us who
studied and learned the language independent o f one another following a similar methodology
and we are the first to learn the language as a second language - this groups us together). I must
add that even with this in-depth cultural knowledge, the cultural generation gap between our

22

informant(s) and us was/is a huge problem since the Elders weren’t/aren’t able to transmit the
literal meaning of the utterances to us the majority of the time. Once I caught onto the language
it was very apparent that even the simplest translations were incorrect many times and in my
recorded data there are many times when I would correct the mistakes in simple translation.

Written vs. Oral Differences
When questioned on the literal meaning of words and phrases our informants were unable
to understand our questions. I speculate the misunderstanding is due to differences in the way we
interpret language. The Taltan native speakers learned the language orally (without writing) and
they have been trying to teach students (myself included) who are adapted to the western formal
visual learning process from an oral perspective (which is not dependent upon writing) and the
two are incompatible. As a result of their mode of learning (oral) my teacher and his compatriots
do not visualize language in the same way in which I did, and I was asking them questions about
the structure of the language from my visual writing perspective. They simply could not grasp
the questions or transmit their implicit and/or tacit knowledge in a way that I could understand
because of the two different ways of knowing.
It appeared that our informants (Elderly native speakers in general) were not able to
visualize language the way we (those adapted to the formal learning process) visualized language
(in writing), because o f the cultural differences in the way we learned language (in the western
formal setting) as opposed to how they learned it (through living it and observation and the oral
tradition). Our informants/teachers were merely astonished at the simple questions I asked in
regards to the literal meaning o f the syllables (morphemes) that made up the phrases they were
teaching (which were based on my ability to see language in writing). For example, when I

23

asked; “What does the /es/ in the word desalt mean?” they could not understand the question.
(Desalt means “I’m gonna walk” and /es/ is the 1st person future tense - “I am gonna”). It was as
though they couldn’t see the language.
I further tested this by informally addressing the questions that I wanted answered in
regard to language structure, and my informant(s) could never visualize the language for its
individual parts. Sometimes they went so far as to laugh and shake their heads in utter
amazement at what they considered very stupid questions and they told me so. It took over
fifteen months before I finally made a breakthrough in getting them to understand what I was
asking.
By the time they began understanding the visual questions I was seeking answers to (after
fifteen months) I already had a fair understanding of the structure and in-depth meaning o f the
language and I was able to demonstrate to them what individual parts (phonemes and
morphemes) o f the phrases meant. (A phoneme is a basic unit o f a language's phonology, which
is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes - in
Tattan both carry meaning within the phrase). Their ultimate understanding o f our questions, in
respect to the literal meaning o f the phrases, came about by accident. In this regard here is an
anecdote worth mentioning: One afternoon while my colleagues and I were having tea with our
informants Loveman Nole (their Grandfather) and James Dennis (my father) I held up the tea pot
to my father (James) and asked “Yan-tea?” which means, in the Iskut English dialect: “Do you
want tea?” He said yes and I followed up by asking him if he heard what I said and he replied,
“You ask if I want tea.” I then said, “ No, I said - Yan tea” and I proceeded to write it on a white
board to demonstrate the Iskut English dialect. When I wrote the phrase Loveman looked at it
and said, “It mean ’take it inside”, and he translated the phrase according to its morphemic

24

components. I then explained to them that they just answered the question I have been asking for
fifteen months. To be clear /yanti/ (take it inside the dwelling) has nothing to do with ‘wanting
tea’. Rather, ‘yan-tea?’ is the Iskut English dialect for ‘Do you want tea?’ they sound the same,
but carry different meanings in the two languages.

The Iskut English Dialect
In the community o f Iskut there is a distinct English dialect that is spoken as a first dialect
by most o f the people in the community. Some could switch between the standard Canadian
dialect and the Iskut dialect, but the elders know this dialect as their first and only form of
speaking English. Prior to the imposed western formal education system my ancestors learned
English orally as a second language and in the process they applied the grammatical structure
(object, subject, verb) and linguistic characteristic (rules) of their indigenous language to
English. They passed on this distinct form of speaking English to their descendants (Iskut Elders)
and they in-tum passed this dialect down to the subsequent generations.
For instance in Iskut it is not uncommon to hear the older generations) rearranging the
grammatical structure o f English and applying linguistic characteristics o f their first language to
sentences in this way:
1. Standard English: Who are you talking to?
2. Iskut English: Who to you talk? (Who are you talking to?)
3. Taltan: Me ts’odTnde (Who to you talk?).
As you can see the Iskut dialect (example 2) is the literal grammatical translation of the
Taltan language (example 3). Furthermore, in Taltan there is a tendency to drop syllables
(contraction) from words when forming sentences and the same tendency applies when we speak

25

the Iskut English dialect as example 2 demonstrates, albeit in this particular case we drop whole
words rather than just syllables as we do in Taltan (that’s because in Taltan morphemes are
equivalent to English words). In Taltan we can reconstruct the sentence using the full words like
this: Meda ts’i’ ho-dlnde (Who to you talk?). However, when we place it into context:
1. we drop the /da/ from the word /meda/ (who).
2. Then we drop the two articulations (vowel and glottal) from the word /ts’iV (to) resulting
in /ts7.
3. Then we drop the IhJ from the verb-phrase /ho-dTnde/ (You are talking)
4. and overall we come up with: Me ts’odlnde (Who to you talk?).
As a fluent speaker o f the Taltan language you must learn how to drop articulation and/or
syllables (contraction) from phrases to bring rhythm to your speech.
Our ancestors applied other linguistic rules to English words when adopting these words
into the Taltan language and the Iskut English dialect. For instance in Taltan, three (3) consonant
clusters are not tolerated (Nater, 1989) when the cluster follows a long vowel. (They are
tolerated following a short vowel - dists’et = I fall/fell). This rule applies when we use the Taltan
adapted word /partner/. When we use this word either in English and/or Taltan the intolerance
rule is triggered and we come up with the Taltan adapted word /pane/. In this case the first thing
we do is elongate the letter /a/. This triggers the intolerance and we drop the central articulation
/t/ from the word medial cluster. Then we drop the /r/ from the middle and the end of the word,
because the /r/ is non-existent in our language and we end up with the word /pane/ which means
friend. We also alter English phrases by turning them into word-phrase when speaking the Iskut
dialect. For instance, we change the phrase ’On account o f to ’Onnacana’ and retain the same
English meaning. We also change ‘I am going to go to’ to ’Um-gon-go’ etc.

26

In Iskut there are many example of English words and phrases that have been adapted to
the dialect following rules from the Taltan language and the above are merely a few examples to
get the point across.

Objective
In Taltan there are no single verbs or adjectives per se, rather in Taltan verbs and adjectives
are contained in what is referred to as word-phrases. In linguistics they are referred to as verbphrases. Verb-phrase is a morphologically complex word, because they can be built on many
words (adjective, nouns etc) and are not necessarily restricted to verbs. The verb-phrase in Taltan
can be made up of object, prefix, prefix aspect, tense, subject and stem and/or classifier. Below is
an example o f a transitive verb-phrase, which is built on a noun, broken down (morphemically)
to demonstrate its literal meaning.
This particular verb-phrase literally means: ‘I am gonna tie them together with a rope’, but
it was translated as “I’m gonna tie them together” by my informant. Although this appears to be
fine, there are subtleties that could be missed if one didn’t take into account that the phrase was
built in a time when ‘hide ropes’ were the only form of cordage available. In today’s world we
could ‘tie’ with electrical cords, extension cords, stripped plastic, stripped cloth etc., and many
different types of rope like things. If we didn’t know that rope was built into this word-phrase we
could mistakenly use it in the wrong situation. I also use the English verb-phrase/slang ‘gonna’,
because in Tattan we cannot use ‘going to do’. In Taltan, ‘going to’ would imply that one was
traveling from point A to B - therefore I can’t say ‘I am going to tie.’ In some cases Tattan verbphrases are very specific.

27

K e n -le -h u -d e s -tl’u tl

S/\

Tie

together
them I’m gonna
rope
Ken - to tie
le - from the word te-dQ meaning to come together or join
hu - 3rd person, plural and the object (The ones being tied)
DSs - 1st person, future tense, singular and subject (One who’s gonna do the tying)
Tl’utI —Rope (noun) the material that is used to tie with.
I describe later how I used digital media to record my father speaking the language and
how that led to my appreciation of the structure and deep ecological foundation of our language.
First I describe what had been recorded about our language to date.

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Chapter 3.

METHODOLOGY

I began re-studying the Taltan language orally in the Taltan community of Luwe Chon
(Iskut British Columbia) on September 01, 2011 within the paradigm of an Indigenous
methodology. I use indigenous methodology in this particular case to mean: indigenous
knowledge with specific contextual knowledge assumptions emerging from a particular tribal
knowledge base. As a fellow Tahltan, I use it in parallel with Thompson’s (2008) definition as
she defines her research as: “incorporating an Indigenous methodology, as shared among many
Indigenous peoples” (as cited in Margaret Kovach, 2010), but based upon the contextual
specifics of her Tahltan tradition.
However, I take it bit further in the sense that my study of the language (fieldwork), with
my father was very specific - 1 followed the cultural specifics of our ‘oral tradition’ and did all
my fieldwork and analysis without writing.

Oral Tradition
I began my study o f the Taltan language with the full understanding that we (Tahltan) have
adapted to the visual learning methodology of the formal education system, which is dependent
on writing, but I believed I could take the oral teaching method used by my father (informant)
and combine it with writing (thesis/pedagogical material) in a way that would pay homage to our
oral tradition, in this modem era, using modem technology.
I use the term ‘oral’ in this particular context to mean: not being transmitted in written
form. In regards to the traditional teaching methodology of the Tahltan Teit (1912-1915) writes:
Children learned through observation and were also taught by their elders.
Mothers generally taught their girls and the maternal uncles were chief instructors
o f the boys. Some fathers, however, did considerable teaching of their sons.

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However, very little serious [formal] teaching was done until children reach the
age of puberty. The fathers, mothers, uncles sometimes lectured the children on
behavior etc., and gave them information generally in answers to questions. (Teit,
1912-1915. P .lll-1 1 2 )
Tattan, like all Na-Dene languages, is an oral language transmitted from one generation to
the next by verbal communication and my main informant James Dennis (my father) who was
bom in 1934, spent his first twenty years as a nomadic hunter in a Sub-Arctic environment. He
learned Tattan and English traditionally and simultaneously - he learned to speak both languages
without writing and/or any form o f grammatical knowledge from an academic written
perspective and his method of teaching the language followed his oral tradition. The term
‘tradition’ is used in this particular context to mean:
Culture as a whole; any established way of doing things whether or not of any
antiquity; the process of handing down practice, ideas or values; the products so
handed down, sometimes with the connotation of being ‘old’ or having arisen on
some sense ‘natural’ and non-polemical. (Finnegan, 1992. p. 37)
Thus, I use the term ‘Oral Tradition’ in a historical non-theoretical sense to mean: any kind
of unwritten tradition passed down for thousands of years from one generation to the next
through demonstration and/or through word-of-mouth. I use this definition due to the fact that
the Tattan language had no form o f writing prior to the development of the Taltan Orthography
by Leer (1985) and Carter (1991). (See Appendix 1 for Tattan Orthography).
Prior to the introduction o f writing, brought to us by our colonizers, children were not
formally educated (reading and writing) as we understand the process today, rather all teaching
was carried out either through verbal communication (explicit), intuition (tacit) and/or participant
observation (implicit) (Emmons, 1911). I choose oral methodology, because:
1. It was my informants natural way to teach and my traditional way to learn
2. I wanted to practice and preserve our tradition and

30

3. I wanted to find an interface between the formal (contemporary) and oral (traditional)
ways of knowing and combine it with modem digital technology.
Being true to our oral tradition, I did not take any written notes throughout the process o f
my research and study o f the language, rather all my cultural, linguistic and comprehensive
knowledge of the Taltan language was acquired through our oral tradition and for this academic
writing it is drawn from introspection and memory. (It’s important to note here, during my
undergraduate and graduate course work I never took notes at class lectures and seminars since I
found taking notes was a distraction).

Traditional Tahltan Worldview
All cultures, or people within various cultures, perceive and conceptualize their
environment from a specific perspective. This perspective is usually referred to as their
worldview. The worldview can be conceptualized as very closely corresponding to the
definitions of culture and cognitive map. A worldview is made up of the principles we amass to
make sense of everything around us - our world. The young people o f any particular
generation/culture learned these principles through specific means, which include, traditions,
customs, values, legends, stories, myths, family, community, and examples set by community
adults and leaders (Kawagley, 1995). Once a worldview has been established the individual is
able to identify him or herself as a part of a unique group of a collective consciousness. Thus, the
worldview permits the possessors to make sense of their surroundings, fashion artifacts to fit this
surrounding, generate behavior, and understand their experiences within their universe.
The worldview is a collection of coping skills, or devices that may or may not work
depending on the situation, or it may have been effective in the past but not in the present, or the

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present worldview may be imposed and thus, conflict with traditional worldviews creating
conflict and chaos.
Although worldviews consist of a complex interaction between various aspects of culture,
my focus here is on the role our traditional worldview played in my oral study of the language.
More specifically, I am focusing on how the traditional oral characteristics of the Tahltan
worldview still exists and how it shapes our social interaction and my study of my indigenous
language.

Respect and Peaceful Co-existence: Its Impact on How to Say What You Say
There is great diversity among indigenous peoples of North America; there are broad
ranges o f customs in the social and political realms, a complex variety of spiritual beliefs as well
as hundreds o f languages.
Nevertheless, we share a common bond that make it possible to speak of a 'Native
American’ political tradition: commitment to a profoundly respectful way of
governing, based on a worldview that balances respect for autonomy with
recognition o f a universal interdependency, that promotes peaceful coexistence
among all the elements o f creation. There may be 500 different ways of
expressing these values, but in our singular commitment to them we find what is
perhaps the only pan-Indian commonality. (Alfred, 1999: xvi)
The Tahltan are no exception. In describing the Tahltan, Emmons (1911) wrote:
Honesty is so characteristic o f the nature of the Tahltan that they do not look upon
it as a virtue, they are mild and peaceful, few White men who hunt with them, leave
them without the deepest appreciation of their many excellent traits of character.
(Emmons, 1911:26).
Regardless o f the vast cultural differences and geographic space between the Tahltan of the
west and the Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) of the east, we both share the concepts and process of
what the Kanien’kehaka call 'the Kaienerekowa - the great law o f peace’ (Alfred, 1999: xvi), and
what the Taltan call ah’i: when referring to behavior and activities that push or break the

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boundaries o f the profound respectful way of governing ones every day existence in relations to
others and their surroundings.
One o f the most profound phenomena that exists in the Taltan language has to do with
regard to ones emotions and/or state. In Taltan it is a given that a person can never know
another’s emotions, or general state of being. One of the most profound things we observed in
our study was/is that our informants have a psychological barrier that prevents them from
infringing upon another even in the slightest manner - it surfaced when we were working on
adjective forms. For instance when we asked our informants to say ‘I am tired’ they would say it
as a statement, but when we asked them to say ‘you are tired’ they would say it, but they would
pose it as a question. No matter how we rephrased our request to have them simply state ‘you are
tired’ they would say it as a question. This occurred when we asked them to say you are sleepy,
you are angry, you are happy etc., it would always be posed as a question. I have become
accustomed to this phenomenon and I work with and around it. You can make direct
statem ents such as ‘ejidlndatl (you are gonna hunt) etc. if h e/sh e is going hunting and
that's fine. You could make the statem ent directly even if h e/sh e is not going hunting. It’s
ok to make this assumption, but you cannot make an assum ption about anothers emotions
or state of being, because technically no one can know anothers emotion an d /o r state. For
instance I can look at someone and see th at technically his brow is hanging low in w hat I
can assum e is worry, but I cannot really say with certainty that this is the case. It could be
loneliness, fear or just plain concentration etc. This asking about som eone’s state by our
informants seem s different and culturely deeper. It is not a subjunctive. A subjective in
English would be “I suggest you be careful.” This not the same thing.We attribute these
phenomena to the fact that coexistence was such a major part of the lifestyle that infringing on

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another was strictly forbidden. When pressed on why they would not say it except as a question,
it was as though they did not understand the inquiry. These values play a fundamental role in
relationships I developed with my informant(s) and my community.

My Tahltan Perspective Fram ew ork
Traditionally, the Tahltan were a nomadic people, and their lives, like everything around
them, holistically revolved around the ebb and flow o f the Sub-arctic seasons. Their educational
modality was carefully developed around history, oral traditions, mythology, the observation of
natural processes, plants, animals, styles of subsistence and the use of natural materials to make
tools. Like most indigenous people they sought a respectful, harmonious, cyclical integration
with their environment and all life, including the natural, human and spiritual realms. All of this
was made conceivable through stories and illustrative examples, which influenced the
development of an elaborate subsistence-based worldview with specific cultural guidelines
regarding the ways in which the person is to relate to the world. Emmons (1911) states that
history, legends, myths and stories were generally known to all, but they were specifically the
domain o f certain elders who taught them to children about the fires at night. A few days later
when the children were asked to recite the stories; the most adept students were chosen and given
a thorough education as keepers o f the oral history and narratives. Although this is true of the
history and some o f the oral narratives, everyone was educated by observing and through
specific oral narratives that were recited whenever the need arose. Thus, all Tahltan were
familiar with the oral mythology that shaped their morals and ethics and all were connected
through a collective holistic consciousness that influenced their way of knowing, their way of
doing and being, their collective action and their relationship with the environment.

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In regards to the social interaction between indigenous people living within the boundaries
of extreme climate variations Brian Fagon (2010) states:
Hunting, gathering plants, fishing and every other activity, even gathering firewood
was part of a multi-tasking, which could not only save a life, but also sometimes
bring extra food to the table. The food quest for historic northern societies was no
mechanistic [reductionist] process, nor would it have been for a Cro-Magnon band.
Working in the field required both ingenuity and improvisation. Repairs to weapons
were a constant reality. Re-lashing an antler spear point, sharpening a flint knife,
cutting a new wooden shaft from a nearby tree at a moment’s notice, these were
routine tasks. Beyond regular fixes, everyone relied on an ability to improvise
inculcated into them from birth. The classic and off-quoted example is that o f Arctic
hunters who have been known to use frozen meat to replace sled runners, or even
serve as a complete emergency sledge. All the resources of the natural environment
were to hand. Solution to even quite complex problems came from a flexible, can-do
mindset when there were no limits or conventions. No one worked alone, for
cooperation when hunting, plant gathering or traveling was fundamental to Cromagnon life just as it had been in every Arctic society. Everyone labored together
and helped one another even with the most trivial tasks. Not for the asking of thanks,
but because the entire fabric of life was based on reciprocity - mutual obligation.
Everyone shared the spoils of a hunt and cooperated in an emergency. This ability to
cooperate was essential in a high-risk environment where reacting well to sudden
temperature shifts could mean the difference between life and death. All of these
qualities would have served the Cro-Magnon’s well in a world where climate change
was often rapid, winters were severe and periods of warmth and abundance were
usually short. (Fagon, 2010. Audiobook, Chapter 8. 42:40 - 44:35).

As children growing up in a Tahltan community rooted in tradition, we were taught to
adhere to the can-do-mindset, multi-tasking, ingenuity, improvisation and the morals and deeper
meanings o f these qualities. Through the oral narratives which were associated with everything
that we did we were taught to be just as careful in thought as well as action, so as not to injure
another person, animal, the natural world, or disturb the spiritual realm. In hunting, trapping and
fishing we were taught to abide by specific ethical guidelines. We were taught not to think
negatively about anyone, animal and/or anything, because thinking was an essential component
of the manifested reality and should we think negatively it could result in negative consequences.

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We were taught the universe was an extension of our mind and vise-versa and it was a
holistic power that must be respected. The relationship between the so-called external world and
the internal psyche is a continuous seamless process and it is reflected in our language (this is
covered below p: 34). We were taught never to make negative gestures towards another, be it
plant, animal or person, especially animals, for we were so closely related that transformation
between animals and humans were common occurrences.
As children, our behavior was always monitored, whether positive or negative there was
always an adult, an older sibling, or peer there to remind us that this was either out o f line, or
good behavior and it would be followed with a story reaffirming these points. As we were being
educated, everything had a story to back it up and it served its purpose in shaping our perspective
in relations to our education, society and environment. The account that I give below
immediately shows how my grandfather took me out for the day, away from my grandmother
and all other distractions, to ground me in my universe.
As an eight year old, I can recall walking along the beach in the early morning fog of
Eddontenajon Lake with my grandfather. Eddontenajon is nestled securely in the Iskut Valley at
the headwaters o f the Iskut River near our community. My purpose for being there was to spend
time with my grandfather and his purpose was to educate me.
After walking for a couple of hours we ended up at a huge boulder with a small spruce
tree growing in a slight depression on top of the boulder. He found a comfortable place to sit and
he gestured for me to sit beside him. After catching his breath he began in English. “You see this
rock? We call it little boy rock (esk’iye tsedle tsehi). We call it that because a long time ago a
little boy lived in our village. This little boy lost both his parents and although the people treated
him special he couldn’t recover from his grief. So he came here and entered the water. He dove

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into the water here,” he said pointing to an area in the water near the rock. “When he surfaced he
had transformed into a black bird that looks like the raven. You see this rock with the tree
growing on it? The tree represents the little boy. That is why we call it ‘Little Boy Rock.’ And
this lake, we call it ’Eddontenajon’. It means ‘A child’s trail here, or a child went here and left a
trace’. It refers to this location where the boy entered the water. The bird that he transformed
into, we call ’Tu Tsey’ which means ’water cry’. You see we call him that, because the bird cries
for two reasons. The first being that he never recovered from the loss of his parents and the
second is he can’t get lift-off in flight without a gust of wind assisting him so he cries for wind.
One day Tu Tsey was swimming about hunting for fish when Raven came by and said to him.
“You and I look practically identical, what say I paint you real beautiful and you do the same for
me?” Tu Tsey couldn’t be bothered and refused, but Raven was persistent. Finally, Tu Tsey gave
in and said “Ok, but you must paint me first.” Raven proceeded to paint Tu Tsey and when he
was done he instructed TO Tsey to look at his reflection in the water. Tu Tsey went to the water’s
edge and peered in. He was beautiful, his eyes were a piercing red and his body was covered
with beautiful white spots like the snow spots on that mountain,” said my grandfather pointing at
the huge mountain across the lake from where we sat. “Then raven said, ‘Ok it’s your turn to
paint me.’ Tu Tsey began painting Raven and he did an excellent job, even better than what
Raven had done for him. When he was done he instructed Raven to go to the water’s edge and
look at himself. Raven did as instructed, but instead of being pleased he was disappointed and
demanded that Tu Tsey repaint him. He did this three times and finally Tu Tsey became
frustrated and took the black paint and spilled it over Raven’s body from head-to-toe and he ran
to the water and swam off. When Raven looked at himself he was real angry and began cursing
Tu Tsey. He looked up and saw Tu Tsey laughing and said ‘For this you will never be able to

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walk on dry land. Your legs will always be set so far back that you will never be able to use it as
I do.’ To this day TO Tsey cannot walk on land and he cannot run on the water like the other
waterfowl. Rather he needs wind for up-lift when taking off in flight. That’s why when you hear
Tu Tsey crying across the lake, he is crying for wind and/or he is crying for his parents. And you
see that mountain with the white snow spots running along its flank with the two pillars jutting
upwards into the sky? Well the pillars are Tu Tsey’s beak. We call that mountain Tu Tsey gudah,
which means Tu Tsey’s beak. You see all of this,” he said as he swung his hand across the
expanse o f our field of vision, “Dah-nenhe lani koneline (our land is very desirable/beautiful).
The water, the mountains, the rocks, the animals, the trees and you, are all one, we are all one.”
This sense of place is extraordinarily powerful whereas features of our landscape are
named to encode stories with powerful moral lessons. It’s stories like these that shaped my
traditional holistic perspective and today, for example, when I hear the term ’Tu Tsey’, visual
images that were developed in me as a boy o f the fog on the lake, the rock, the name of the lake,
the legend of the boy, the story of the birds painting one another, the mountain (Tu Tsey Gudah)
that dominates our community and the eerie sound of Tu Tsey (water-cry) flashes through my
mind and I relate to the creature and the land on an intimate holistic animate level that can never
be captured when I use the simple English term for the bird, which is ‘Loon’. Rather when I hear
or say ‘Loon’ I see the bird and the word ’loon’ type-written in black font from a reductionist
perspective that classifies birds to stand alone - a perspective that separates me from the whole.
From a Tahltan perspective, everything is endowed with life whether it is of flesh and
blood or not. That is why in Taltan we have a pronoun for the environment/universe which is
represented by the articulation Dd (pronouns are marked in blue font covered later). In Taltan
when we say desirable/beautiful we say ‘oneline’ (it’s desirable/beautiful), but when we refer to

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ourselves and/or others as desirable/beautiful we add the personal pronouns /s/ and Ini and we
say ‘soneline’ (I’m desirable), or ‘noneline’ (you’re desirable). When we make reference to the
land in this context we say “dah-nenhe koneline” (our land is beautiful). We give the land a
personal pronoun that is equal to ours (people) because, in our traditional worldview, we look
upon our universe as a living, breathing entity that has a vibrant personality, which is reflected in
the various weather conditions, seasons and cosmos. Furthermore, the environment is an
extension of our being, in which our conscious mind is merely a servant. This concept is best
expressed in the expression “Es-dih yige koneline” (Under my conscious mind my cognitive
landscape is beautiful). The significance of this expression is; we use the personal pronoun
subject-marker Dd to describe the beauty o f our sub-conscious cognitive landscape as if it were
separate from us, and a holistic part o f the physical landscape upon which we walk. The
difference in reference to our minds in this regard is that when we normally refer to our other
body parts we use the possessives. The personal pronoun Dd is usually restricted to the use with
the environment. However, from a holistic perspective we also use it to describe the contents
(cognitive landscape) of our being.
There is a close relationship between our natural environment and the contours of our mind
that’s steeped in holism. No one who understands our relationship with the universe can doubt
the complexity and sophistication o f the perspective framework from which we approach our
universe. This dramatic perspective adds a totally different element to our traditional existence
that differs quite drastically from the western perspective in which I am writing. Our imagination
and our beliefs that we live out in our lives surrounded by the living forces of the supernatural
world in the midst o f a landscape imbued by spiritual holism profoundly shaped my universal

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outlook and it is from this continued perspective (traditional oral methodology) framework that I
carried out my study of the language and did my “fieldwork” with my father/teacher.

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Chapter 4.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

The research for this project covered two phases: The first phase required that I learn to
speak Taltan as a second language and the second phase involved the research that I completed
to write my thesis. To learn the language I studied using the conversational method with my
informant/father in the Tahltan community of Luwe Ch5n (Iskut).
The investigation to compile the information I needed to complete the second phase of my
research stemmed from both primary and secondary research in a qualitative format. The primary
source includes the digital data recorded during my fieldwork; and the comprehensive
pedagogical knowledge I developed during the process o f learning the language (in the first
phase of the project).
The secondary source includes archival data (church records, log books, reports, diaries),
unpublished linguistic data and audio taped linguistic material that were collected and prepared
by other ethnographers going back in time as far as Teit’s wax cylinder recordings of 1912. The
secondary sources also included sample linguistic teaching material from other Na-Dene
languages such as ‘The Navajo Verb’ (Falz 1998) and other online sources that I came across
over the years that helped me gain a further understanding of the basic pedagogical principles of
the Na-Dene Language structure.

Data Collection Techniques
When I returned to the study o f my Indigenous language it was exciting for me to learn that
the digital Apple technology had advanced to the point where I could utilize current digital
technology (IPod Touch, iPhone, iPad) and various digital applications (iTunes, iBook Author)

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in both field research, analysis and the presentation of my final results as a medium to learn the
language and to teach the language to second language studiers. Furthermore, the technology
simplified my fieldwork and language learning process.
With the Apple iPod Touch, iPhone and the kendiTech Voice Memo and iTunes
application, I felt that for the first time I had the technology in one gadget, at my finger tips, to
capture our language, study it and present it in a format that could teach our language inside and
outside of the classroom while utilizing the simplicity of the social digital media (Facebook) that
was a part of our everyday social experience. What was even more profound, we carried the
technology in our pockets for other reasons beyond research and/or studying. Therefore, I
decided to use the iPod touch and/or iPhone in the recording of my field data. I used it in the
study of my language and ultimately I will use it to teach the language.
The Apple iPod touch and iPhone are the portable devices that I carry, personally, for
communication (phone) and/or to access the Internet (Facebook, podcasts, eBooks, YouTube
etc.). I also use it as my camera and my music library so it was only natural that I used either one
of these devices to record my everyday interaction with my informant.
As a non-speaker of the Tattan Language my first job was to leam the language. I decided
the best and least invasive way to gather linguistic data, to study, was to live in the same
household with my informant/teacher and use the most portable device I had at my disposal.
Therefore, I moved into my father’s (informant’s) home and spent many hours asking him to
‘repeat’ in Tahan the English words, phrases and sentences we were using on a daily basis. I
digitally recorded the data with the Apple iPod Touch and/or the iPhone, using the 4Voice
Memo’ app developed by KendiTech, over a period of twenty-two months. (Today I continue to
live with my informant/father and my research and digital recording and archiving of the

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language is ongoing). With this method I recorded and learned the core co nversational pieces
associated with everything that we did on a daily basis on the reserve in northern British
Columbia. Before I began this process I understood some o f the language but I was not a
speaker. Therefore, my (our) informant(s), my colleagues and I validated the linguistic data that
follows through dialogue analysis.

Technology and the Speech Environment
In the community o f Iskut, where I did my research, the language is seldom used. Even at
elders’ gatherings the language is spoken rarely. When it is used it is interspersed with English
with English being the dominant language.
To learn a language one must develop both the ‘speech production’ and the ‘speech
recognition’ of the broca’s area in the brain. In the twenty-eight months that I studied the
language I never heard a full conversation in the Taltan language. Even my informant/teacher(s)
never spoke Taltan in our daily conversations. As mentioned above my dad spoke English and I
asked him to repeat the words, phrases and sentences in Taltan so I could record Taltan and the
loose English translation simultaneously. Even today, when I speak Taltan, my informant only
responds in English - our conversations are always carried out with me speaking Taltan and my
informant responding in English. However, this is not to say that full conversation doesn’t
happen in the home and I covered all areas o f interaction between native speakers. There are a
couple o f women (teachers) who use the language in public most of the time with each other and
there are elderly couples that use the language a huge percentage of the time in their homes. The
fact is, as a researcher and a second language learner, I never had the opportunity to interact with
all the speakers on a regular basis, because I rarely saw them in the same place at the same time.

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When I saw them at gatherings they spoke English the majority of the time even when I spoke to
them in Taltan. Without a speech environment, my ‘speech production’ and ‘speech recognition’
became grossly unbalanced. (This is also true of the other students who are studying the
language).
Learning language is a natural process for a child, but learning to speak a second language
after puberty and as an adult is a learning adaptation that requires the physiological rewiring of
specific areas o f the brain. Language is very complicated and it involves everything from hand
and body gestures to facial expressions, but the aspects mostly involved are the ‘Speech
production’ and ‘word recognition’ (broca’s) areas of the brain. It is these particular areas that
we need to develop (rewire) in the process of learning to speak Taltan fluently as a second
language. These areas develop independently of each other and an individual can lag behind in
one area depending on the situation he or she finds themselves in. That is why, in reference to a
second language, you can sometimes hear a person say: "I can understand it, but I can't speak the
language." What they are actually making reference to, on a cognitive level, is that they have one
area (speech production) under-developed and the other area (word recognition) over-developed
in comparison. (My mother understands Taltan, but does not speak fluently. She is currently an
advanced student o f the language and we assist each other in our study).
To communicate fluently in a particular language one needs to develop both ‘speech
production’ and ‘speech recognition’ and in an environment where we were learning to produce
speech, by studying the digital recordings, but was not hearing the language being spoken in its
natural setting our ‘speech recognition’ suffered and even the simplest words that we learned to
produce was difficult to understand when spoken. I remedied the problem by creating an
artificial speech environment that was compatible with the modem digital Apple gadgets

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mentioned above.
To do this, I took all my digitally recorded data (thousands of words combined as phrases
and sentences) and:
1. Transferred it to the Roland CD-2/ SD/CD digital recorder in the sequence according to
the chronological order in which I recorded it,
2. Burned a copy to Compact Disc (CD) and archived it for future reference,
3. Edited the raw data down to only the sound bites of the Taltan and English translation
and segmented the sound bite (entries) into memos o f thirty-five entries each (I called the
thirty-five word segment ‘memos’ because I recorded the language using the Voice
Memo app),
4. Formatted it in mp4,
5. Burned the edited version(s) to Compact Disc (archived the hard copies),
6.

Uploaded it to iTunes on my Mac desktop computer and archived the entire data on
computers and iCloud.

7. From my desktop computer/iTunes, I downloaded the data to the iTunes app on my
mobile Apple devices (iPod, iPad and my iPhone).
Once I had the language on my mobile device, I either listened to it with headphones,
speakers or I synced the device to my car entertainment system and allowed the device to play
the whole library in chronological order. I also had the option to allow the device to choose
(shuffle) words, phrases and sentences at random. This method proved very effective as an
artificial speech environment where a primary speech environment is non-existent. With the
Apple technology I had access to the language/artificial speech environment (1,000’s of words)

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wherever I went. I did this repetitively until I was able to recognize the meaning o f the words I
had learned to produce.
Once I had prepared and formatted the data for iTunes my informant signed a release (see
Appendix 2) allowing the Tahltan Revitalization Program to archive the recorded data and make
it available to the Tahltan Nation membership as a secondary source to orally study the language
and/or for academic research purposes.
I feel that we are extremely fortunate in this era of language loss to have the opportunity to
utilize every day technology to pass on the knowledge and talents of the remaining Taltan
language speakers in our community. While delivering a teaching method that could surpass
what the students would be learning in a classroom, we finally have a chance to make a dramatic
difference in the revitalization o f our language using modem day technology. Given the
circumstances, it is my belief that the most effective way to pass on our language today is to
utilize the Apple iPod, Ipad, IPhone and the various Apple applications (iTunes, iBook) that are
readily available.

Data Analysis
Without the interference o f writing and/or grammatical knowledge in my informant’s first
language (mentioned above) he taught me strictly from the oral tradition and I was able to study
the language holistically. From this perspective, I learned that the language is encoded with
patterns that make the verb-forms and paradigms very predictable.
Once I realized the language was encoded with patterns I questioned: Would these
sequential repetitive grammatical patterns within the language simplify the learning process i f I
thoroughly understood how to use them in my approach to learning? To answer this I shifted my

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approach from studying the language from a ‘rote based learning methodology’ to an approach
that put the emphasis on the patterns in written form and I encoded the data and began dialogue
analysis and triangulation with my informant and others who are studying Taltan as a second
language. I then began cross-referencing words and phrases with the previous data/audio
recorded by Ishkadi (Reginald Dennis) and Tl’o’oks (Ryan Dennis) (Tahltan Language Archive
2012-2014), Carter, (1992, 1994), Mcllwraith (2003) and Hale and O'Grady (1965) from the
perspective o f the patterns.
On the basis of my data and my analysis of the previous linguistic audio recordings carried
out by the other researchers I concluded that; yes indeed, the language is encoded with ingenious
sequential predictable grammatical patterns. Once I understood the sequence of the patterns
(object, subject, verb etc.), I went back to my oral study and utilized the predictability in my
approach and it sped up the learning process considerably. Switching to the written format to
map out the patterns in my head then switching back to oral methodology is what I perceive as
combining the traditional and contemporary ways of knowing (covered below).

Interpretation
When I began learning the patterns I noticed that there were vast differences between the
structure of English and Taltan languages. The main thing that stuck out very clearly is that the
Taltan language is built around verb and adjective in a totally different way in comparison to
English (First language/translation language).
In Taltan there are no verbs and adjectives per se, rather in Taltan we have what is referred
to, from a grammatical perspectives, as verb and adjective-phrases and the subject and objectmarker are embedded within the phrases in a much different way in comparison to English. That

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said I kept in mind that this is not a comparative study, but considering that English is the
translation language it is only natural that I compared the two languages in order to orient myself
in my learning. Furthermore, I noticed that in Taltan the ’paradigms' are also encoded with
ingenious sequential grammatical patterns that make the learning process very predictable as
well and the ‘singular and plural subject-markers' that are used in the adjective and verb-phrase
are consistent with those used in the paradigms. Everything seemed to be patterned around the
subject and object-markers.
Once I accumulated a huge vocabulary and recorded field-data in the Taltan language I
understood that I needed to find a step-by-step process that would take me from the simplest
linguistic concept to the most complex grammatical patterns. So I mapped out the structure of the
language, in writing, from the simplest pedagogical principles (possessives) to the most complex
form (Transitive verbs) with the main focus on the grammatical positioning of the embedded
subject and object markers. In Taltan the structure follows a grammatical sequence of: object,
subject, verb or adjective, or stem/root/classifier.
Below is an example o f a ‘postposition phrase’ and an ‘intransitive verb-phrase form’ with
the ‘subject and object-markers’ color coded in blue and mapped out in written format to
demonstrate how I did this. It also demonstrates the subject-marker /Ho/ which means ‘three
dimensional space plus time - equals four dimensional space. (/Ho/ does not have an English
equivalent).
Verb-phrase:
Me-k’e dists'et - 1fell on him (The Me- represents the 3rd person and the s represents 'me' the 1st person
and ts'et is the stem = fall.)

Es-k’e dints'et - You fell on me (The es- represents the 1st person and the n represent 'you' the 2ndperson
and ts’et is the stem = fall).

En-k’e dits’et - He fell on you (The En- represents 'you' the 2ndperson and the lack o f th e 'm' that is

48

typically before the stem that represent the 3rd person is absent and it's the absence of a
marker that represents the him /her)

Ho-k’e dists'et - I fell on the Ho (The Ho- is a subject-marker for the three (3) dimensional space plus time
in which I fell. It has no English equivalent The closest definition we can give in English is the
word ‘there” . But we can only say; it’s sort o f like the English word 'There'. The s represents ‘I
or me' the 1st person - the person doing the talking/falling.)

Or you can also alternate the subject-marker /Ho/ with a noun. (Chair - noun).
Example:
Chair-k’e dists’et - 1fell on chair (In this case the chair takes the place of the 3rd person and
the s represents ‘1’ the 1st person. This being said, things can also be referred to with the
possessive 'me', but only in the case in which you can point at the object, etc).

My insights into how the subject and object-markers are patterned and embedded directly
into the word-phrases, led me to conclude that it’s the study of the grammatical structure, from
the perspective o f the patterns (which are built around the subject and object markers), that could
allow me to maintain an aspect o f our oral tradition in the practical study of our language while
taking advantage o f our adaptation to visual (writing) learning process. What I mean by this is: I
mapped out the patterns on paper and once I became cognitively familiar with the predictable
patterns I went back to studying the language orally and I took full advantage of the insight to
speed up my learning. For instance; when I began my research I would study each verb-phrase
within a form, word-for-word, but once I had the patterns cognitively mapped I would learn
whole forms by simply applying my knowledge o f the predictable grammatical nature to a single
phrase o f that particular form and the predictability would give me the proper pronunciation and
grammatical structure of that whole form without having to study every piece from a rote
learning methodology.
Furthermore, it is the ‘difference’ in how our language is constructed around the subject
and object-markers that is creating the barrier when attempting to learn and/or teach the

49

language from an English first language/cultural perspective/bias, or free translation. The over­
all construct o f the language is simply too different to teach using free translation.

50

Chapter 5. BASIC TALTAN LANGUAGE STRUCTURE
Strictly speaking from a grammatical Eurocentric perspective, Carter (1994)
acknowledged the differences between Taltan and English as minimum. In this respect he says:
The most notable difference is that the Tahltan verb contains more information than
the English verb. In fact, the Tahltan verb approximately parallels a simple English
verb phrase, including information that English pronouns would normally provide.
Thus the word nes ’in means I see, not just see, and mekones In means I ’m looking fo r
it rather than just looking. The second major difference between Tahltan and English
is that where English has prepositions such as in, for, on etc., Tahltan has
postpositions. This simply means that postpositions come after the word they relate
to, not before as in English (Carter 1994. p: iv emphasis added)
Although he is right, from a Tahltan cultural perspective I would take it further and say the
grammatical structure of the Taltan and English languages are very different, therefore, English
must be looked upon as merely a translation tool. Expecting to translate Taltan word-for-word,
orally, from an English perspective/bias creates mistranslations. Expecting to understand Taltan
word-for-word from an English perspective can be misleading in that the first language, English,
can mistakenly be considered the reference point from which the second language, Taltan, is to
be understood. In other words, we falsely assume that the second language, Taltan, has the exact
same meaning and concepts, as English, but both languages are completely different in structure
and worldview. One of the simplest examples would be that in Taltan we do not have gender
specifics - that is to say, we don’t have the term for ‘he’ or ‘she,’ rather we simply refer to such
as the ‘third person’ and one must get used to this fact when coming from English as the first
language in which there are gender specifics. In other words, from a Taltan perspective, we do
not see others in terms of their gender. Rather, we see them simply as another person - a major
difference in worldview, in comparison to English, and the grammar reflects this difference.
In the past the elders learned English as a second language and it was not uncommon to
hear an elder refer to a female with the term ‘he’ rather than ‘she’. In this case the elder was

51

doing the reverse - they were thinking in Taltan and applying the non-gender grammatical
concept to English.
Aside from the cultural differences, Taltan and English grammar are completely different
in that Taltan nouns, verbs and adjectives are constructed in what Carter (1994) refer to as wordphrases, whereas by comparison the same phrases in English are a combination of words.
Furthermore, in English, sentences are made up of words whereas in Taltan sentences are
constructed with words and word-phrases. Also in Taltan we don't have ‘he’ or ‘she’, ‘I’m ’, ‘I
am’, ‘we’re’, ‘they’re’, ‘does’ etc., and we don't use ‘are’ or ‘is’ the same way as English.
Therefore, I do not use these words in my translation. When we think in English, or try to
translate word for word, we put words into our translation that do not exist in Taltan and it
creates confusion and it hinders our progress.

Word-phrases
Word-phrases are morphemes combined to make words that Eire actually phrases from an
English (1st language) perspective. In some cases it takes more than a few English words to
translate one of the more complicated Taltan word-phrases.
In Taltan, the morphemes (syllables) that make up a word-phrase, in some cases, are
taken from whole words and used as prefixes, and although they are contracted (contraction will
be covered later) when used as prefixes, they are equivalent to the words from which they are
derived. This phenomenon also applies when contracting words in sentences - the contracted
words retain their meaning even if one syllable is used rather than the whole word. My infornumt
says the words are cut down (contraction), when used in a sentence, so as to keep the language
‘rhythmic’, or to create a flowing sound. (Sometimes he would create phrases and although they

52

make sense he would discard them as wrong simply because they do not have rhythm. I’ve also
seen other experts do the same).
In English we change the meaning of phrases by changing words and in Taltan we
change the meaning o f word-phrases by changing morphemes (syllables). For example in
English when we say: “He is going” it is considered a phrase. To change the meaning of this
phrase we simply change the word ‘He’ to ‘She’, or ‘I’ (subject) and it becomes “She is going”,
or “I ’m going”. In comparison, in Tahan this phrase is actually a word-phrase and the ‘I’, ‘you’
and/or ‘him/her’ (Subject/object-marker) is contained within the phrase. Example: des al (I’m
going). To change the meaning of this phrase to ‘you are going’ you must change a part
(morpheme) of the word-phrase. More specifically, you must change the pronoun subject-marker
/s/ to an /n/’ (singular, 1st grammatical person to a 2nd person pronoun/subject-marker) to say:
dln dal (you’re going).
Understanding the usage of the object and subject-marker personal pronouns, which in
my oral opinion has been developed on a simple basic theme and patterned throughout the whole
structure of the language, is the fundamental element that must be learned as a second language
speaker.
The subject and object-markers, pronouns are patterned within the word-phrase forms
and from an oral learning methodology it is best to envision them to be progressive from simple
to complex. However, there is nothing complex about the way in which it works; rather it is
relatively simple when we keep our focus on the progressive nature o f the grammatical structure
which uses the pronoun patterns as the foundation on which the language is built. It is the
progressive nature o f the grammatical structure, as I envision it from an oral perspective, which
will be the focus o f the rest of this thesis.

53

Format of the Tables
The written format (tables) that I use, from here on out, to demonstrate the progression
from simple to complex is my best depiction o f how I envision the language holistically from an
oral learning perspective. The key points that must be understood from this perspective are:
•

The whole Taltan language is built around the subject and object-markers. As an oral
learner and a second language speaker I learned that it is better to leam how this works
before moving on to the practical study of the language.

•

I do not see the language in terms of written grammatical rules. Rather I see the language
holistically as patterns that are based on the subject and object pronoun-markers. I only
use grammatical terminology, principles and framework to communicate my oral
knowledge. Grammatical analysis is secondary to my ability to speak Taltan as a second
language.

• Although I see the language in my mind’s eye as organized patterns, I don’t see it orally
in graphs the way I demonstrate it for this text. Rather, I envision the patterns without the
graphs as Appendix 3, 4 and 5 demonstrate.
• I encoded the patterns in my mind and the written form is an attempt to convey how I see
it to an academic audience.
•

Orally I see the paradigms holistically as associated word-phrases patterned together
from simple to complex, rather than the classification of verb, noun and adjective-phrase
paradigms.

•

I studied the language orally with no grammatical principles guiding me. Rather, it was a
natural oral learning process that slowly switched from a rote learning methodology to a
method that emphasized the patterns as a technique to simplify the learning curve.

54

•

I use literal translation, because, as mentioned before, free translation does not work well.
For instance in the tables you would see translations like this: Dene ja sini - ‘Dene is
I/m e’, rather than ‘I am Dene’ In Taltan we don’t have words like ‘I am’, ‘you are’ etc.
Using words that do not exist in our language creates confusion. I use free translation to
give a portrait of the language in its true essence.
The format for the following presentation is my best attempt to capture how I envision

the language in my mind’s eye from an oral traditional perspective.

Terminology
In order to understand Taltan it is not necessary to understand grammatical and/or
linguistic terminology and concepts, but to simplify the second language learning process during
dialogue analysis it was crucial that we knew at least some of the terminology in order to
communicate the structure o f the language.
Here we will cover a couple of the terms we must become familiar with for
communicative purposes, but most of the terms that we will be using will be defined within the
body o f the main text so as to use the context as hands-on examples.

Articulation: An ‘articulation’ is an individual sound produced in a spoken word. Example: the
letter /p/ at the end o f the word ‘stop’ is an articulation represented by the letter /p/.

Form: A meaningful unit o f language —here we will use it to refer to word-phrase groupings
such as: Soneline (I’m beautiful/desirable), noneline (you’re beautiful/desirable), and moneline

55

(he’s/she’s beautiful/desirable), These are the ‘singular forms’ for the adjective-phrase
‘beautiful’. Forms also have plurals and dual in Taltan.

Paradigm : A linguistic paradigm is the complete set of related word forms associated with the
same contextual meaning.

Pronouns and Gram m atical Person
In Taltan there are three types of pronouns: subject (I, he, she), object (me, you, him),
and possessives (his, mine, yours) and each has their respective plural and dual forms.
Possessives denote possession and are mainly used with nouns and the subject/object pronouns
are used to replace personal nouns within sentences. There are 1st, 2nd and 3rd grammatical
personal pronouns. For instance in English:
•

‘Me’ is the 1st person pronoun.

•

‘You’ is the 2nd person pronoun.
‘He/she’ is the 3rd person pronoun.

In the sentence I saw Jane, and I spoke to her, the pronoun IV takes the place o f the
person speaking (1st person) and /her/ takes the place of Jane, (3rd person) respectively. A
pronoun is a word that replaces the noun for subject, object, or possessive.
(1)

Personal Pronouns
Personal
Pronoun

Translation

Noun

Trans­
lation

Taltan object and subject Pronoun
usage.

sini
dakwuni

Me/I
us

dene
dene

Person
Person

Dene ja sini (Person is me/1)
Dene ja dakwuni (Prsons is us).

nini
dakwuni

you
You (2+)

dene
dene

Person
Person

Dene ja nini (Person is you)
Dene ja dakwuni (Person is you)

1**Person
Plural
Plural

2m<>Person
Singular
Plural

56

3rd Person
Singular
Plural
Collective

Enviro

That person dene Person
dedini
dene Person
he-dedini Them (2+)
The people, or Indigenous
didene

Ho-

Four (4) dimensional space.

Dene ja dedini (Person is that person)
Dene ja he-dedini (Persons is those people)
Duda oye didene k’e (How you can it like the
people)

Ho-ts’i’ desal (There to, I’m gonna walk)

From an oral perspective I see the 1st person and 2nd person singular form as the same
word. The only difference is the first articulation, which in essence is the personal pronoun for
you /n/ and me /s/ (see p: 61). Also the 3rd person singular ''dedini' and plural ‘he-dedini’ are the
same word. The difference is that the plural has a pronoun prefix /he/. Also if you look closely at
the collective form ‘didene’ (the people) and the 3rd person singular 'dedini' (that person) it is
merely an interesting switch o f the vowels /e/ and /i/ - didene and dedini. From an oral
perspective I saw this as patterns that I took advantage of to speed up my learning.
Hardwick (1984) refers to the object-marker /Ho-/ linguistically as the ‘areal marker’, but
from a cultural perspective it is more than simply a geographical marker - the English word
'there’ is an areal marker. Although I use ‘there’ in the translation (above), my informant(s)
could not use ‘there’ as an English translation for /ho-/.
In Taltan, /ho-/ is a pronoun-mark for ‘four-dimensional space’ - three dimensional space
plus time equals four dimensions. If I was to say: Uwe ts ’ih kedi kime ho-ts ’i ’ desal. (I’m gonna
go to, always-from-purchase-house/store, or I’m going to the store), /Ho-/ would conjure up
images beyond the fact that I am going within the area o f the store. Rather, /ho-/ conjures up a
feeling that includes the universe that we exist in - it includes everything that is happening here,
including the statement that I am making about going to the store, it includes the time and space
between here and the store, plus the time it will take to return and it includes what’s happening at
the store right now, what will happen when I get there and what will continue to happen when I
leave and come back. /Ho-/ is a feeling of the ‘whole’ that life exists as —this is the closest I

57

could come to describing how my informant explains it. One of the simplest examples is the
word denestl ’ets which means black. The words ho-denestl ’ets is freely translated as dark, but it
actually means the /ho-/ is black - the four dimensional space is black at this time.
The first time I fully understood /ho-/1 was at a huge community picnic and was sitting
with a few elderly men discussing the language. As we sat there engrossed in their teaching, an
elderly lady passed us on her way to the bathroom. As she was walking she unexpectedly
stepped into a depression in the terrain and lost her balance. As she was falling she rapidly
sidestepped and barely regained her balance. As she struggled to right herself she hollered ‘k’as
den ho-k’e d ists ’ediiiiii

’, which is freely translated as “I almost fall doooooown

!” It

was then that I understood that her close call occurred within the /ho-/ and her near fall occurred
alongside everything else that was happening at the picnic, which was taking place within the
/ho-/ and the phrase had nothing to with down. However, at the same time I understood the
ground she was about to fall onto was within the /ho-/ - the planet is within the /ho-/ she wasn’t
about to fall down - there isn’t a down per se.
It is important to note here that it appears that traditionally the Tahltan saw time in a
different way, or perhaps it is safer to say that they didn’t see time in terms o f hours and minutes
and this is exemplified in their term for watch - the watch is refered to as ‘gaw’ (drum). In
Taltan when you ask what time (du gaw?), you are actually asking, “what drum?” The pocket
watch (most likely the first sort o f watch our ancestors experienced) has characteristics that are
quite similar to our hand drums; first o f all they have the same general shape; second they both
have a face; third the watch has two hands and it takes two hands to make the drum functional
and both the drum and the watch has a repetitive sound or rhythm when functional. It appears
that the ancestors merely compared the two based on their character. After learning the phrase

58

for ‘what time’ we speculate that; around the time of the invention of the phrase hours and
minutes time had no true intrinsic value and the watch was merely compared to the drum.
Whenever I ask my father ‘what time it is’ I am totally aware that I am asking him ‘what drum’
and it doesn’t seem right per se coming from an English First language perspective. In one of our
conversations regarding time Tl’o’oks (Ryan Dennis) (20014) pointed out how one of his
informants (grandmother) did not see time in the exact way that he does. Although she saw time
chronologically, she only understood the hours and not the minutes. When he told her the time he
would round it off to the nearest hour and discard the minutes. He followed up by explaining that
his grandfather (informant) compared her method to telling time traditionally —by the sun.

Possessives and Grammatical Person
The possessives are the ‘my/mine’, ‘yours’ and ‘his/her’s’ concept. The possessive is a
grammatical construct used to denote a relationship of possession, or ownership. For example:
‘my’ is a possessive in the phrase ’my car’.
The ‘grammatical person’ is the grammatical distinction between participant(s) in a
conversation and/or event; typically the distinction is between the speaker, the addressed and the
other(s). They are represented as 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives.
(2)

Possessives and Grammatical Person
Translation

Taltan Noun with Possessive

esdaede-

my
our ( 2 + )
myself

es-pane (my friend)
da-pane (our friend)
ede-gah sadesdih (Myself for I’m proud)

enda-

you
you ( 2 + )

en-pane (your friend)
da-pane (our friend)

me-

his/her

me-pane (His/her friend)

Possessive
l rt Person
Singular
Plural
Singular

2"d Person
Singular
Plural

3rd Person
Singular

59

Plural

hu-

their (2+)

hu-pane (Their friend)

de-

his/her

John de-pane (John’s friend)

4“ Person
Singular

The fourth person is used in the case where we are talking about a third persons
possession in which the fourth person, our object is identified to stand-alone. Example: John de­
pane (John’s friend), or John de-la’e (John’s hand). John is the 3rd person and his friend is the
fourth person, his hand is the fourth object etc. The possessives cannot stand-alone; therefore
they are represented with a hyphen (es-) to denote this fact. The possessives are used as object
pronouns when it is used with some classes of transitive verb-phrases (covered later). They are
also used as pronouns to denote the object when used to create postpositional word-phrases,
which are used in sentences with intransitive verb-phrases. Postposition-phrases are the smallest
and most basic word-phrase (see below). Also, notice how the possessives are actually the first
articulation(s) of the personal pronouns above in Table 1, page 55.

The Possessive and Postposition
In English we have prepositions and in Taltan we have postpositions. This means in
Taltan the postposition comes after the word they are related to rather in front of them as it is
done in English (Carter, 1994). In Taltan the possessive also behaves like a pronoun when it is
combined into a word-phrase with a postposition as the root. The example sentence uses an
intransitive verb-phrase (covered later) to demonstrate how the postposition is combined with the
possessive (object) to create a postposition-phrase.
(3)

The Possessive and Postposition

1**Person
(Singular)
(Plural)

Possessive

Postposition

Translation

Possessive postpositional phrase

esda-

gah
gah

for
for

Es-gah sadindih (Me for, you’re proud)
da-gah sadindih (Us for, you’re proud)

60

Singular
2maPerson
(Singular)
(Plural)
3rt Person
(Singular)
(Plural)

ede-

gah

for

Ede-gah sadesdih (Myself for, I’m proud)

enda-

ts’i’
ts’i’

to
to

En-ts’i desal (You to, I’m gonna walk).
Da- ts’i desal (You to, I’m gonna walk).

mehu-

duga
duga

for
for

Me-daga kan ■dlndal (For him, you go get)
Hu-daga kan -dlndal (For them, you go get)

The above example is a perfect demonstration on how Taltan sentences are constructed
with word-phrases as opposed to how English sentences are constructed with words. In this case
we combine two types of word-phrases (postpositional and intransitive verb-phrase) to make a
sentence. This is a perfect example o f why free English translation does not work as an effective
translation tool for Taltan.

61

Chapter 6.

BASIC PATTERNS

The personal pronoun-markers for adjectives, nouns and verbs-phrases are represented in
a different way in comparison to English. As a marker the personal pronouns are represented by
a morpheme rather than by words. The way I envision it orally and progressively is that all
pronouns (possessives, noun, verb and adjective-phrases) are built on the following most basic
articulations.

Basic Personal Pronoun-marker
In the progression from simple to complex, I envision these simple pronouns to be the
starting point of the patterned theme that runs throughout the language - these pronouns are the
foundation on which the Taltan language is built. All the personal markers that follow the
patterned progressive theme, that I orally envision to run throughout the language, are based on
three articulations; they are represented by the letters /s/, /n/, /m/ (singular) and the so-called
‘inanimate’ pronoun marker which is represented by the letter Dd. These singular personal
pronoun-markers are used in two ways: they can be attached at the beginning of a word-phrase
(object, or subject), or they can be inserted word medially (subject). The inanimate marker Dd
cannot be inserted word medially and it is only used as a personal pronoun prefix for the
environment.
I refer to the ‘inanimate’ in English as ‘so-called’ because from a Tahltan traditional
perspective there is no such thing as ‘inanimate’ (covered later). From a Tahltan perspective,
everything is endowed with life whether it is o f flesh and blood or not. That is why in Taltan we
have a pronoun for the environment/universe which is represented by the articulation /k/ and
/ho/. (The pronoun Dd has been covered on page 37-38).

62

Intransitive and Transitive Phrases
In Tahan there are intransitive and transitive phrases. Intransitive phrases are phrases that
only contain the subject within the phrase - intransitive phrases cannot be used in transitive form.
For example noneline ’ (you beautiful/desirable) is an intransitive phrase - the /n/ at the
beginning of the word represents the subject, whereas a transitive phrase has both object and
subject pronoun markers built into it. For instance en-dodesditl (you I gonna tell) is a transitive
phrase. The phrase does not make sense without the object and the subject being a part of the
over all phrase and the object and subject markers can transition back and forth to change the
concept. In other words, the object can switch places with subject - en-dodesditl (you I gonna
tell) and es-dodinditl (me you gonna tell). Transitive phrases have the ability to transition the
subject and object pronoun marker back and forth within the phrase. Whereas the intransitive
phrase cannot transition the object and subject pronoun markers within one phrase because it
doesn’t have the object marker built into it as a transitive phrase has.

Basic Intransitive Phrase
I refer to this particular pattern as the ‘basic paradigm’, because I envision the singular
pronouns of this paradigm (pattern) to be the ‘basis’ and most simplistic representation of the
personal pronoun subject-marker. As a beginner I orally learned the singular forms to this
paradigm before learning the plural form; therefore I envision it without the plurals to be the
starting point of the progression from simplistic to complex. (To see the plural forms go to
Appendix 5).

63

(1)

Basic Intransitive Phrase
Phrase

Translation

Phrase

Translation

Desire - line
(noun stem)

Environ

Dangerous - jit
(noun stem)

Land's beautiful

nene konellne

I ’m desirable

sonellne

nene konejit Land is danger

1**person
Singular

1* person
sonejit

I'm dangerous

2'1 person
Singular

Singular

2*d person
You desirable

nonellne

nonejit

You dangerous

She desirable

monellne

monejit

She dangerous

3rd person
Singular

Enviro

Singular

3rd person
Singular

The noun-stem /-line/ literally means ‘desire’, but today it is freely/incorrectly translated
in English as ‘beautiful’. In Taltan being desirable implies that whatever it is that is being
described as desirable is desired based on its esthetic value - in other words beauty is a given to
being desirable.

Basic Transitive Phrase
Below is a demonstration of the stem /-line/ used in transitive form with the noun-phrase
/enesllne/, which means ’I desire’. Enesllne is freely translated, as ’I want’ by
Carter (1992). From a cultural perspective I see this as incorrect, because desire involves a
deeper wanting.
(2)

Basic Transitive Phrase
Adjective-phrase

Translation

bede enesllne
nenesllne
menesidllne
henesllne
henesidllne

Food I desire
You, I desire
Her, we desire
Them, I desire
Them, we desire

bede enllne
senllne

Food you desire
I, you desire

Desire - line (noun stem)

1**person
Singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

2ad person
Singular subject
Singular object & singular subject

64

Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

menallne
henllne
henallne

Her, you desire
Them, you desire
Them, you (2) desire

bede enellne
senelTne
nenelTne
menellne
hi-yenallne

Food, he desire
Me, she desire
You, she desire
Him, she desire
Them, they desire

3rd person
Singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

Notice how the 3rd person form does not have a subject pronoun marker. It is the ‘lack
thereof that dignifies the 3rd person. From an English perspective I found it very intriguing that
it is the nothingness that makes up the something.

Basic Intransitive Pattern Two
I refer to this particular paradigm as ‘basic intransitive pattern two’, because I envision
this paradigm (pattern) to be the next level of complexity in the progression from simple to
complex. From an oral perspective I envision the pronoun patterning, /s/, and /n/ from the
previous pattern to be the basis for basic pattern two and the overall pattern (singular and plural)
to be based on the personal pronouns from page 52 and 53. This is sequential.
(3)

Basic Intransitive Pattern Two
Translation

Cold - dli (Stem)
Environment
l" person
Singular
Plural

Adjectivephrase

Adjectivephrase

Translation

It's cold

hosdli

hoszetl

I t’s hot

I cold
We cold

sesdli
sidli

seszetl
sizetl

I hot
we hot

Plural

You cold
You cold

sindli
sadli

sinzetl
sazeti

you hot
you hot

he cold
they cold

sedli
hesdli

sezetl
heszetl

he hot
they hot

3rd person
Singular
Plural

Singular
Plural

2,d person

2‘d person
Singular

Hot - zetl (Stem)
Environment
1* person

Singular
Plural

3rd person
Singular
Plural

65

Translation

Verbphrase

Verbphrase

Translation

Hear - ts’ek (Stem)
l rt person
Singular

Yawn-kfls (Stem)
I1' person

I hear
we hear

Plural

dists’ek
sits’ek

diskas
sikas

I yawn
we yawn

2*d person
Singular
Plural

Plural

you hear
you hear

dints’ek
dats’ek

dinkas
dakas

you yawn
you yawn

he hear
they hear

dets’ek
hedets’ek

dekas
hedekas

he yawns
they yawn

I big
We big

is-eho
isi-cho

us-kitl
usi-kitt

You big
You big

in-cho
ih-cho

un-kitt
ah-kitl

He big
They big

i-cho
uhu‘-ch5

u- kitl
uhi-kitl

2“d person
Singular
Plural

3rd person
Singular
Plural

Plural
Singular
Plural

Adjective- Translation
phrase

Big - cho (root)
1“ person
Plural

Singular

3rd person

Translation Adjectivephrase
Singular

Plural

2>dperson

3rd person
Singular

Singular

heavy - ukitl (ro o t)
1* person
Singular
I heavy
Plural
We heavy
2“d person
Singular
You heavy
Plural
You heavy
3rd person
Singular
He heavy
Plural
They heavy

The above singular and plural pronoun pattern and positioning (before the stem) is the
basic pattern that is used word medial for subject pronoun-markers in all transitive and
intransitive word-phrases. (For a more complete list o f patterns associated with this particular
paradigm see Appendix 3).

* The 3rd person personal pronoun is represented by a /H u/, /h i / or /h e /. Which one is used is determine by rules th at are irrelevant to
the thesis.

66

Chapter 7.

PATTERN ONE

Intransitive Phrase
I envision the intransitive phase to be the next level in the progression from simple to
complex, because the basic pronoun subject-markers from ‘pattern one’ are utilized in a slightly
different way with this paradigm - 1 see it as a little bit more complex than the basic forms.
However, the pronoun subject-markers are used fundamentally the same way and the pattern of
singular, plural, 1st and 2nd person etc. remains consistent with the previous forms. (A linguistic
rule alters the 3rd person plural, but that is irrelevant here).
Below are both a verb and noun-phrase demonstrated together to accent how the personal
pronoun is patterned within the form to maintain its consistency with the previous patterns and
how simply replacing a part o f the stem changes its overall meaning. For example, although this
is a different paradigm, the singular and plural, 1st, 2nd and 3rd personal pronouns are the exact
same subject markers that are used above (Table 1, page 61 and 62). The subject markers remain
consistent throughout the language and as an oral learner I kept my focus on the pronoun
markers.
From an oral learning methodological perspective understanding the simplicity of how
the manipulation of a simple morpheme (subject), within the paradigm/pattern, changes the
overall meaning o f the phrase simplifies the learning curve.
(1)

Intransitive Phrase
Translation

Present Tense
State - t*e (stem)
l “ person
Singular
Plural

Adjectivephrase

Verbphrase

Translation
Present Tense
Do —fin (stem)
1“ person

my state
our state

as-t’e
asit’e

astTn
asitln

I do
we do

your state
your state

ant'e
ahat’e

ant’Tn
ahat’Tn

you do
you do

2" person
Singular
Plural

Singular
Plural

2*d person
Singular
Plural

67

3 person
Singular

3 person

his state
their state

Plural

at’e
ahit’e

at'Tn
ahit’In

he do
they do

Singular
Plural

In the above example you can see how changing a part of the stem changes the meaning
and how the first part o f the form remains consistent with the pattern. Below are more examples
o f the above paradigm manipulated slightly to further demonstrate how simple alterations change
the overall meaning of the form. Pay particular attention to how the overall structure and the
pronouns remain consistent with table 1.
(2)

Present Tense and Future Tense
Translation

Present Tense
Have - tTni (stem)
l rt person
Singular
Plural

Verbphrase

Verbphrase

Translation
Future Tense
Do —tin (stem)
I1’ person

I have
we have

ist’Tni
Isit’Tni

ost’Tn
osit’Tn

1 gonna do
we gonna do

you have
you have

int’Tni
aht’Tni

ont’Tn
oht’Tn

you gonna do
you gonna do

he have
they have

it’Tni
ihit’Tni

ot’Tn
ohit’Tn

he’s gonna do
they gonna do

l mAperson
Singular
Plural

Plural

Plural

2"d person

3rd person
Singular

Singular

Singular
Plural

3 person
Singular
Plural

As you can see, to change the form do’ (on the right - table 1 and 2) from 'present tense’
to 'future tense’ we simply replace the first articulation /a/ with an /o/. (There are other ways to
mark future tense - covered later on pages 85 to 87). Also the example ‘have’ (Left example on
table 2) is also simply a slight alteration of the form - in this case we simply change the first
articulation to an /i/. As a second language learner I took advantage of the patterns to simplify
the learning process. The fluent speakers of our language are so good at manipulating the subject
pronoun-markers and the over all pattern they aren’t even consciously aware of what they are
doing - it is second nature to them. Therefore, they could not teach and/or see it from this
perspective.

68

Pattern one is strictly an intransitive-phrase and it is used when one is making reference
directly to the subject. The intransitive forms contain only the subject-marker word medial. In
Tahan the subject-marker pronouns are always inserted directly before the stem or root within
the word-phrase.

Intransitive Verb-phrase and Postposition-phrase
As mentioned above, intransitive phrases contain only the subject pronoun-m arker
(word medial) within it. To use these forms as a ‘transitive concept' w e m ust combine two
phrases in which the object-m arker is always contained within a separate phrase
(postposition-phrase covered on p: 52-53). Also, to change this phrase from 1st person to
2nd person an d /o r singular to plural you would have to m anipulate the two phrases
independently of each other.
(3)

Intransitive Verb-phrase and Postposition-phrase
VerbPhrase

Translation

Postposition
-phrase

Tahan Postposition & Verbphrase

(singular)

1st person
(Singular)
(Plural)

gadestl
gadesiti

I runninq
We runninq

en-ts'i* (you to).
me-ts’i' (him to).

En-ts’i' gadesti (You to. I’m running)
Me-ts’i’ gadesiti (him to, we're running)

gadintl
gadatT

You runninq
You runninq

es-ts’i’ (Me to).
me-ts’i’ (Him to).

Es-ts’i’ gadinti (Me to, you're running)
Da-ts’i’ gadati (Him to, you’re running)

gadeti
gahideti

he runninq
They runninq

me-ts'i' (him to).
es-ts’i’ (meto).

Me-ts’i’ gahati (Him to, he’s running)
Es-ts’i’ gahideti (Me to, they’re running)

2ndperson
(Singular)
(Plural)

3rdperson
(Singular)
(Plural)

69

Chapter 8.

PATTERN TWO

Transitive word-phrases are different than intransitive phrases in that they contain the
object and subject pronoun-markers built directly into the word-phrase. Furthermore, the object
and subject-markers are interchangeable - meaning they can be transitioned back and forth to
change the concept o f what we are communicating. From an oral perspective 1envision this to
be the next level of complexity and not unlike the previous examples; it has tw o variations
that 1refer to as pattern A and B.

Transitive Pattern Two - A
This pattern varies in the way in which it utilizes the object-pronoun. In the first
variation the pattern (A) utilizes the ‘possessives’ (possessives were covered on page 53) as the
object pronoun-marker at the ‘beginning’ of the phrase and the second (B) variation alters the
possessive pattern.
(1)

Transitive Pattern Two - A
Possessive
Pronoun

Transitive Verbphrase

Translation

en
en
dahmehuhu-

en- dohosdech
en- dohosidech
dah- dohosdech
me- dohosdech
hu- dohosdech
hu- dohosidech

You, I told
You, we told
You (2), I told
Him, I told
Them, I told
Them, we told

esesdahmehuhu-

es- dohondech
es- dohadech
dah-dohondech
me- dohondech
hu- dohondech
hu- dohadech

Me, you told
Me, you (2+) told
Us, you told
Him, you told
Them, you told
Them, you (2+) told

dech - told
1st person
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

2nd person
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

70

2nd person
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

esesdahmehuhu-

es-dohodech
es-dohudedech
dah- dohodech
me- dohodech
hu- dohodech
hu- dohudedech

Me, he told
Me, they told
Us, you told
Him, she told
Them, he told
Them, they told

Transitive Pattern One - B
In the following variation the personal object-marker seems different, but it is actually the
possessive maker inverted —the /es/ is inverted to /se/. According to my informant this is done to
keep the language rhythmic. For instance it is smoother to say se- nenjit (you afraid of me),
rather than es- nenjit. (As a beginner the concept of rhythm didn’t make sense to me, but as I
advanced in the language it became clearer. However. I am still struggling with understanding
how it works).
(2)

Transitive Pattern One - B
Transitive
Verbphrase

Translation

ko-nesjit
ko-nesijit
ne- nesjit
ne- nesijit
dah- nesjit
me- nesjit
hu- nesjit
hu- negijit

Environment, I ’m afraid o f
Environment, we afraid of
You, I ’m afraid o f
You, we afraid o f
You (2), I ’m afraid o f
Him, I'm afraid o f
Them, I ’m afraid of
Them, we afraid o f

ko-nenjit
ko-najit
se- nenjit

Environment, you afraid o f
Environment, you (2+) afraid o f
Me, you afraid o f2

Nes-jit - I ’m afraid
1st person
Environmental object & singular subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

2nd person
Environmental object & singular subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject

^ I use this form just as an example to demonstrate the consistency in the pattern. However, as mentioned above our informants were
never able to say it without posing it as a question. Also, coming from an English perspective we have no problem saying it as a
statem ent For our informants it’s as though they are unaware that they will not say it as a statem ent

71

Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

se- najit
dah- nenjit
me- nenjit
hu- nenjit
hu- najit

Me, you (2+) afraid o f
Us, you afraid of
Him, you afraid of
Them, you afraid of
Them, you (2+) afraid o f

ko-nejit
ko-henejit
se- nejit
se- henejit
dah- nejit
me- nejit
hu- nejit
hu- henejit

Environment, he's afraid o f
Environment, you (2+) afraid o f
Me, you afraid o f
Me, you (2+) afraid o f
Us, you afraid o f
Him, you afraid of
Them, you afraid of
Them, you (2+) afraid o f

3rd person
Environmental object & singular subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

Collectively the intransitive and transitive patterns covered above are the basics to
speaking Taltan. This is the most basic linguistic/grammatical knowledge one must have to begin
communicating in Taltan. From an oral learning approach I found that knowing these patterns
took me past the barrier that prevents the language from being passed on. Following are some of
the more advanced linguistic information that I acquired after breaking through the linguistic
barriers.

Transitive Pattern One - C
The following verb-phrase form uses the possessive as the personal object-marker and the
subject-marker is consistent with the previous patterns. This form had me fooled because I
thought this was a one word-phrase for quite some time before I realized it is two phrases used
together as a transitive sentence. In fact it is a combination of a ‘postposition phrase’ combined
with a ‘transitive phrase’. To use this phrase as a transitive phrase you would have to use the
postpostion ’en-k’e h ’ (you-on) (object) in combination with dists ’et (I fall/fell) = en-k’eh
dists ’et ’ (You on, I fall/fell).

72

(4)

Transitive Pattern - C
Intransitive Verbphrase

Translation

ho-k’e dists’et
ho-k’e desits’et
ho-k’e desitl’It3
en-k’e dists’et
me-k’e dists’et
dah-k’e dists’et
hu-k’e dists’et
me-k’e desits’et
hu-k’e desits’et

I fell within the/ho/. (Meaning‘1 fell’)
Wefe ll within the /ho/. (Meaning ‘We fell’)
We all fell within the /ho/. (Everybody fell)
You, I fell on
Him, I fell on
You (2), I fell on
Them, I fell on
Him, we fell on.
Them, we fell on

ho-k’e dints’et
ho-k’e dats’et
ho-k’e datl’Tt
es-k’e dints’et
me-k’e dints’et
dah-k’e dints’et
hu-k’e dints’et
me-k’e dats’et
hu-k’e dats’et

Youfell Within the /ho/ (Meaning ‘I fell )
You (2) fell within the/ho/ (Meaning ‘We fell’)
You allfell within the /ho/. (Everybody fell)
Me, you fell on
Him, you fell on
Us, you fell on
Them, you fell on
Him, you (2) fell on
Them, you (2) fell on

ho-k’e dits’et
ho-k’e hedits’et
ho-k’e heditl’Tt
es-k’e dits’et
me-k’e dits’et
dah-k’e dits’et
hu-k’e dits’et
me-k’e hedits’et
hu-k’e hedits’et

He fell within the /ho/ (Meaning ‘I fell )
They fell within the /ho/ (Meaning ‘We fell’)
They allfell within the /ho/ (Everybody fell)
Me, hefell on
Him, he fell on
Us, he fell on
Them, he fell on
Him, they (2) fell on
Them, they (2) fell on

1st person
Environmental object & singular subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & plural subject

2ndperson
Environmental object & singular subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & plural subject

3rd person
Environmental object & singular subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Environmental object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & plural subject

The word-phrase en-k’e dists’et is built on the phrase: dets’et (he falls), dests’et (I fall),
dints’et (you fall) and it can be broken down like this:

3 The stem for falling is enumerated as this example denotes, but this will be covered later.

73

(5)

Postposition
2«i

2 nd person -

1st person

Postposition

Aspect

Personal
object

Singular object & singular subject

e n - (you)

k’eh (on)

di

I s*

Stem

Personal
subject

(to fall)

S (me)

•ts’et

Word-phrase
en-k’e dists’et

In the above example the object-markers for the postposition-phrase are the
possessives /e n - and es-/. They are attached to the postposition / t s ’i '/ (table 3) and / k ’e h /
(table 4) resulting in en-ts’i’ (me to) and es-k'eh (me on). This is a good example of the
possessive being used as an object pronoun-m arker.

74

Chapter 9.

ANIMATE & INANIMATE

Animate - means Flesh and Blood.
Inanim ate - means inert, or non-flesh and blood.

The Animate and Inanim ate Pronoun Form in Questions
In Tahan there are two versions o f the interrogative pronoun (demonstrated below) and
they are restrictively used as an animate and inanimate form. We use interrogative pronouns to
ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are
asking the question about). I envision this particular set of pronouns as basically the same word
which can be slightly altered to change its meaning. The only difference between these words is:
one begins with the letter /m/ and the other with the letter /y/. I see the interrogative pronoun
‘who and what’ as counter parts of one word.
(1)

Animate and Inanimate

Animate

Pronoun
meda

Translation
who

Inanimate

yeda

what

Yeda at’e (what it?)

duda

how

Duda at’e (how it?)

Interrogative Pronoun
Meda at’e (who it?)

In English the word ‘what’ is used as a response when a person is addressed. For example
if I were to address you in English, by calling your name, the most typical response for you
would be to reply ‘what?’ ‘What’ is used in this case as a shortened version of ‘what do you
want?’ Traditionally in Taltan we did this differently - the response to someone calling your
name would be ‘heygh!’ (Hale & O’Grady 1965), which is simply a response and not ‘what do
you want?’ However, we have adopted the word /yeda/ into our Tahltan English dialect(s) and

75

we now respond to an addressee with the word /yeda/ instead of ‘heygh!’ In essence we have
Anglicized the Tahan interrogative inanimate pronoun /yeda/ to fit our English speaking
perspective and today you can hear Tahan native speakers using the inanimate as a response.

Building a Simple Pronoun-phrase
Now that we understand ‘me da, ye da and du da’ I will
to adjust the over-all meaning o f the noun-phrase /at’e/ (it or its

demonstrate how they are used
state).

The meaning /at’e/ depends on which o f the three words it is being used with.
Example:
Meda at’e - Who it? (Who is it?)
Yeda at’e - What it? (What is it ’)

When the word /at’e/ is used with meda or yeda it takes on the meaning o f it (it remains
consistent), but when it is used with /duda/ it takes on the meaning ‘state of being’. Example:
Duda at’e - How it? (How is its state?)
Duda Elvis at’e - How, Elvis it? (How is Elvis’s state?).
Duda be-de at’e - How, food it? (How’s the state o f the food?).

Changing Concepts with the Personal Pronoun
Following is a demonstration on how the personal pronoun-markers (s and n) are inserted
directly before the word-stem /t’6/ to change its meaning. (In the following example John is
highlighted in blue, because John takes the place of the 3rd person pronoun. Notice how the

76

phrase lacks a pronoun. The 3rd person is always represented in the phrase by the lack of a
pronoun. It’s the lack there-of a pronoun that marks the 3rd person).

Question:
Duda John at’e - How John state? {How is John's state?). In this particular case the 3rd person is
represented without a letter, because John takes the place o f the personal pronoun-marker that is
usually inserted before the stem /t’e/.
Answer:
John soga at’e - John’s state is good. (John represents the 3rd Person - the person being talked
about).
In the above example the 1st Person is asking about John. The 2nd person would be the
one spoken directly to (the one who answers) and John is the 3rd person who is being talked
about.
Below is the same phrase manipulated to change its meaning by inserting the 1st and 2nd
person subject-markers /n/ and /s/ before the stem /t’e/.

Question:
Duda ant’e - (How’s your state?). Insert the possessive In/ directly before the stem in the word
at’e and the meaning changes.
Answer:
Soga ast’e - (Good, my state, or In other words ’I’m feeling good’). Replace the subject-marker
/n/ with the marker /s/ and the meaning changes to 1st person - 1 am feeling good, or ‘my state is
good’. This is the most basic way to manipulate a word-phrase to change the meanings and
concepts within the Taltan language. The above form, which uses the noun-j)hrase /at’e/ is just
one example. In my oral studies I found that the whole language is patterned around this

77

principle. The fundamental aspect was/is to understand how the language is structured around the
pronouns - this understanding allowed me to manipulate other paradigms to change the concepts
quite simplistically and it sped up my oral learning.

78

Chapter 10. DUALITY
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to the singular and
plural forms. Taltan has grammatical dual verb forms. When a verb-phrase is in dual form it is
interpreted as referring to precisely two or more of the entities (animals/people) and/or a thing(s)
(one, or two legs) associated with the pronoun.
In the former, we use dual term s when referring to hum an mobility, more precisely
we use dual to emphasize the num ber of people moving about. For example in Taltan we
say desat (I gonna walk), dit’as (we gonna walk - plural 2 people) and didetl (we gonna walk
- 3 plus people). The plurals are in dual form and w hether it is in future, present, or past
tense it is the stem th at denotes the num eration (num ber of people being referred to). In
other words, we have two (dual) ways of referring to the plural form based on numbers.
In the latter case, the dual is based on a number associated with the pronoun. For instance
in Taltan when we refer to a human walking on two legs we say de dal (he/she walking) and
when we refer to an animal with four legs walking we say de-get (he/she is walking). The stem
(counter stem) denotes the number (legs) associated with the subject - thus, we have two (dual)
ways o f saying walk according to how many legs the subject has, or walks with, etc.

Dual Intransitive Verb-phrase
Below are the examples of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person future tense dual form for the verbphrase ’to walk’. ’To walk’ in Tahltan can be interpreted equivalent to the English phrase ’to go’.
However, in Taltan the stem o f the phrase is much more specific. In Taltan the stem denotes the
mode o f transport and when we say ’to go’ we exchange the proper word-stem(s) to specify how
we are traveling etc. For instance, if I were to say I was going somewhere, the stem of the phrase

79

would denote whether I was to go on foot or by transport. For instance, /na-desal/ means I am
walking without specifying where it is I am walking to. If I were to exchange the stem to
/n a d e s tl’el/ it would change the meaning to ‘I am going by, sled, wagon, car etc’. The prefix
/na/ denotes that I am not being specific about where I am going and this would be the closest we
could come to the free translation ‘to go’. (Prefixes will be covered later). The plural forms are in
dual - they specify the number of people being referred to.
(1)

Intransitive Dual Verb-phrases
Dual
Stem

Taltan phrase

Grammatical
Numeration

Translation

(Singular)

d esal

(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

d it’as
d id etl

I walk
we walk
we walk

t ’as
d etl

dlndat
d a t’as
dad etl

you walk
you walk
you walk

fa s
d etl

h o -ts’i’ dfndal (to there you walk)
h o -ts ’ i ’ d a t’ as (to there you walk)
h o -ts’i’ d ad etl (to there you walk)

d ed al
a d a t’as
adadetl

he/she walk
they walk
they walk

fa s
d etl

h o -ts ’i’ d ed al (to there he/she walk)
h o -ts ’i’ a d a t’as (to there they walk)
h o -ts’i’ ad a d etl (to there they walk)

1**Person
h o -ts ’i ’ d e sa l (to there I walk)
h o -ts ’ i ’ d it’ as (to there we walk)

ho-ts’i’ didetl (to there we walk)

2ad person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

3rd Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

In Tahan the form for human mobility is the most advanced pattern (covered later) in
regards to the simple ways in which the meaning o f phrases can be manipulated by changing a
phoneme (prefix, grammatical person and dual stem) within the phrase.

Counter Stem
In Tahan there are counter stems and they are used to quantify nouns without using
numerals. In this case it is taken further in that the stem also makes reference to the noun (leg)
that is non-existent in the over-all phrase. In the example below the stems /gotch/ and /get/

80

actually means ‘to walk’, and ‘to stand’ but it also means ‘ on four legs’ without making mention
to legs (noun) at all.
(1)

Counter Stems (3rd Person)

Counter
Stem
-datl
-gotch
-zet
-get

Translation

two (2) legs dedal
four (4) legs degoch

Translation Example
Sentence
E dene dedatl
he walk
he walk
E tli’ degoch

two (2) legs nazet
four (4) legs naget

he stands
he stands

The person stands
The dog stands

Translation Phrase

E dene nazet
E tli’ naget

The person walks
The dog walks

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Chapter 11. CLASSIFICATORY VERBS
These stems are known in Athabaskan linguistics as classificatory verb stems.
Classificatory stems are used to denote mass, counting and description. They can also be called
measure words and they are used to quantify the mass o f nouns. In this sense they may also be
called measure-classificatory stems. In Taltan these verb stem(s) classify a particular object by
its shape or other physical characteristics in addition to describing the state of the object.

Mass Classificatory Stem
In Taltan mass classificatory are used to describe the type o f mass that the object (noun)
is made-up of.
(1)

Mass Classificatory Verb

Mass
classifier
Stem
1**Person
-tetl
-tltl
-katl
-chush
-letl

Transla­
tion

Phrase

Translation

Example Sentence

animate
long
container
textile
pieces

Litadestetl
LitadestTtl
Litadeskatl
Litadeschush
Litadesletl

I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy

Tli’ litadestetl (Dog I’m gonna buy)
Una litadestltl (Gun I’m gonna buy)
T§a’ litadeskatl (Plate I’m gonna buy)
Ech litadeschish (Shirt I’m gonna buy)
K’unts litadesletl (Potatoes I’m gonna buy)

In Taltan all of the stems, except /-chish/, are contracted when the verb-phrase is placed
into context/sentence. Below is the same table with contracted stems.
(2)

Mass Classificatory Stems Contracted

Mass
classifier
Stem
1“ Person
-tetl
-fit!
-katl

Transla­
tion

Phrase

Translation

Example Sentence with
Contraction

animate
long
container

Litadestetl
LitadestTtl
Litadeskatl

I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy

Tli’ litadeste (Dog I’m gonna buy)
Una litadestl (Gun I’m gonna buy)
Tsa’ litadeska (Plate I’m gonna buy)

82

-chush
-letl

textile
pieces

Litadeschush
Litadesletl

I’m gonna buy
I’m gonna buy

Ech litadeschish (Shiit I’m gonna buy)
K’untS litadesle (Potatoes I’m gonna buy)

Descriptive Classificatory Stem
In Taltan there are descriptive stems. They are used to describe nouns without changing
the noun. Rather they are attached to the verb-phrase as a stem.

(3)

Descriptive Classificatory Stem

Descriptive
Stem
•du§
•t’ah
•be
•letl

Translation

Phrase

on belly
fly
swim
he/itfloats

dedus
det’ah
debe
deletl

Translation Example
Sentence
crawl
E dene dedus
birdfly
E dzime det’ah
swims
E tli’ debe
floats
E gat deletl

Translation
The person crawls
The birdflies
The dog swims
The treefloats

Classificatory Kinship
Classificatory kinship systems put people into the over-all society kin classes on the basis
o f abstract relationship rules. These may have to do with genealogy relations (son to father,
daughter to mother, sibling to sibling etc.) or they may not. Socially, in Tahltan our kinship is
based on our matrilineal system so our mother’s kin are considered relatives and our father’s is
not. On the other hand, if a total stranger marries into the nation, they will simply be placed in
the appropriate clan opposite to their spouse and in essence they become relatives to their host
clan. In Taltan we use different (dual) terms to classify relatives who are genealogically distinct
from one another, being older or younger, and in your clan or not.

83

Mother, Father and Children
The relationship between mother, father and children are non-dual and each refers
directly to another with a specific term. However, there is a cultural dual, which is based on the
‘rule o f respect’ in which the children can never refer to their parents directly and/or indirectly
with a possessive. However, a parent can refer to their children in possessive form.
(1)

Mother, Father and Children
Ts'esldye
(crow clan]

Mothers
Children

Edli/edla

Ete'e

(mother)

(father)

Ch'iyone
(wolf clan)

Chu'

Tu'e

Tu’e

Chu’

(son)

(Daughter)

(Daughter)

(son)

Fathers
Children

In Taltan when a parent refers to a daughter directly and/or indirectly the term remains
consistent; we simply add a possessive and the word becomes the phrase es-tu ’e. On the other
hand, when a parent refers to a son indirectly the term changes to es-chime. Es-chime can also
be used directly. In Taltan we cannot say ‘my mother’ or ‘my father.’ First of all it would be
disrespectful and secondly it doesn’t flow properly.

Aunts and Uncles
In Taltan we refer to our mother and father’s brothers and sisters in dual form and they in
turn do the same, but the ‘rule o f respect’ comes in to affect with our mother’s kin and we never
make reference to them in possessive form. However, this does not apply when we address our
father’s kin. In the case o f our father (different clan) we address them directly and indirectly in
possessive form.
(2)
Ts’eskiye
(crow
clan]

Aunts and Uncles
Edese

Ede

Es-be’e

Es-ta

(mothers brother)

(mothers sister)

(fathers sister)

(fathers brother)

Ch'iyone
(wolf
clan)

84

Mothers
Children

daze / esaze

Chu'/ Tu'e

Ishye’e/es-tsi'he

Ishye’e/es-tsi’he

(son)

(son) (Daughter)

(son)

(son)

Mothers
Grand
Children

(son)

(Daughter]

(Daughter)

Cha

Non-relatives

Non-relatives

(son) (Daughter)

(Different Clan)

(Different Clan)

Ts’uwe
(Daughter)

(Daughter)

Fathers
Children
Fathers
Grand
Children

Siblings
In Tahan the dual system works similarly to the rule of respect that is used with mother,
father and the mother’s kin; but in this case the duality is dictated by age - older vs. younger
whereas we never refer to our older siblings in possessive form. However, we can refer to our
younger sibling in possessive form.
(3)

Siblings
Mother & Father

Older siblings

Edade

Ediye

(older sister]

(older brother)

Sibling
Younger siblings

Es-dedze

Es-chidle

(younger sister)

(younger brother)

Cousins
In Tahan our matrilineal cousins are referred to as brothers and sisters and the ‘rule of
respect’ comes into effect when addressing our older cousins directly and/or indirectly.

85

(4) Cousins
Ts'esldye

Older

1st cousin

Father’s Sister &
Brother’s Children

Mother's Sister &
Brother's Children

(crow clan)

Edade

Ediye

Non-relatives

Non-relatives

(older sister)

(older brother)

(Different Clan)

(Different Clan)

Older

1st cousin

1st cousin

1st cousin
Younger
1st cousin

Ch'iyone
(wolf clan)

Es-dedze

Es-chidle

Non-relatives

Non-relatives

(younger sister)

(younger brother)

(Different Clan)

(Different Clan)

Younger
1st cousin

Grandparents
In Taltan the duality occurs in two ways between the grandparents and grandchildren:
The grandmother and grandfather refer to the grandchildren in different (dual) ways and the
grandchildren can refer to the matrilineal and patrilineal grandparents in different (dual) ways. In
the latter, the grandchildren can refer to the father’s parents in possessive form, but they cannot
do the same with the matrilineal grandparents.
(5)

Mothers
Children
Great grand
Children

Grandparents
Tsiye

Tsu-tsu

Es-tsu

Es-tsiye

(mother's father)

(mother’s
mother)

(father's mother)

(father’s father)

Ts'uwe
(son)

(Daughter)

Ts’uwe
(son)

(Daughter)

Cha

Cha

(son) (Daughter)

(son) (Daughter)

(son)

Cha

Non-relatives

Non-relatives

(son) (Daughter)

(Different Clan)

(Different Clan)

Ts'uwe
(Daughter)

Fathers
Children
Great grand
Children

86

Chapter 12. PREFIXES, AFFIXES AND SUFFIXES
Prefixes
In Taltan there are a group of prefixes that are used intensively with the intransitive verbphrase to walk, to go by transport, to swim, to fly etc. This pattern was among the first patterns
that surfaced during my oral learning - this is the paradigm that I used to begin mapping out the
patterns (to see the mapping out process go to Appendix 3 and 4).
Below are samples o f the prefixes used with the verb to walk (to go) used in the 1st
person with the dual grammatical numeration.
(1)

Prefix
Prefix

Translation

VerbPhrase

Phrase with
Prefix

Translation

k’ink’ink’in-

around
around
around

desal
dit’as
didetl

k’in-desat
k’in-dit’as
k’in-didetl

Around, I'm gonna walk.
Around, we gonna walk.
Around, we gonna walk.

ananan-

home
home
home

desal
dit’as
didetl

an-desal
an-dit’as
an-didetl

Home, I ’m gonna go.
Home, we gonna go.
Home, we gonna go.

tititi-

outside
outside
outside

desal
dit’as
didetl

ti-desal
ti-dit’as
ti-didetl

Outside, I ’m gonna go.
Outside, we gonna go.
Outside, we gonna go.

ninini-

to get up
to get up
to get up

desal
dit’as
didetl

ni-desal
ni-dit’as
ni-didetl

Up, I'm gonna get.
Up, we gonna get
Up, we gonna get

kakaka-

to go get
to go get
to go get

desal
dit’as
didetl

ka-desat
ka-dit’as
ka-didetl

I ’m gonna go get.
We gonna go get.
We gonna go get.

edesedesedes-

leave
leave
leave

desal
dit’as
dietl

edes-desal
edes-dit’as
edes-didetl

Away, I ’m going.
Away, we going.
Away, we going.

nennen-

across
across

desal
dit’as

nen-desal
nen-dit’as

Across, I ’m gonna go.
Across, we gonna go.

1**Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1*' Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1“ Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

l“ Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

I"' Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1“ Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1* Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)

87

(Dual 3+)

nen-

across

dietl

nen-didetl

Across, we gonna go.

ejiejieji-

hunt
hunt
hunt

desal
dit’as
diet!

eji-desal
eji-dit’as
eji-didetl

Hunting, I ’m gonna go
Hunting, we gonna go
Hunting, we gonna go

tatata-

up
up
up

desal
dit’as
diet!

ta-desal
ta-dit’as
ta-didetl

Up, I ’m gonna go
Up, we gonna go.
Up, we gonna go

lantantan-

back
back
back

desal
dit’as
dietl

tan-desal
lan-dit’as
lan-didetl

Back, I ’m gonna go
Back, we gonna go
Back, we gonna go

tantantan-

check
check
check

desal
dit’as
dietl

tan-desal
tan-dit’as
tan-didetl

I ’m gonna check
We gonna check
We gonna check

tententen-

Pull-out
Pull-out
Pull-out

desal
dit’as
dietl

ten-desal
ten-dit’as
ten-didetl

I ’m gonna pull-out
We gonna pull-out
We gonna pull-out

ghaghagha-

give to
give to
give to

desal
dit’as
dietl

gha-desal
gha-dit’as
gha-didetl

I ’m gonna give
We gonna give
We gonna give

nanana-

not specifying
not specifying
not specifying

desal
dit’as
Didel

na-desal
na-dit’as
na-didetl

I ’m gonna go
We gonna go
We gonna go

kankankan-

come get
come get
come get

desal
dit’as
didetl

kan-desat
kan-dit’as
kan-didetl

I ’m gonna come get
We gonna come get
We gonna come get

yanyanyan-

inside
inside
inside

desal
dit’as
didetl

yan-desal
yan-dit’as
yan-didetl

I'm gonna go inside
We gonna go inside
We gonna go inside

tetete-

lost
lost
lost

desal
dit’as
didetl

te-desal
te-dit’as
te-didetl

I ’m gonna get lost
We gonna get lost
We gonna get lost

I1' Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1**Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

l“ Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1“ Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1‘*Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

l rt Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1**Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1**Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1**Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

1**Person
(Singular)
(Dual 2)
(Dual 3+)

I**Person

The above pattern/paradigm can be manipulated in many different ways. When we
calculate the grammatical person(s) (1st, 2nd and 3rd etc.), dual, plural numeration and the counter

88

stem classifiers (four legs, two legs etc.), the ways in which this particular form can be
manipulated in speech is in the hundreds. I speculate that the traditional nomadic lifestyle o f the
Tahltan influenced the ways in which this pattern can be manipulated - their constant movement
upon the land is reflected in how they simplified the linguistic concept for moving about. To get
an idea of the numerous ways in which this form is manipulated see Appendix 4.

Prefixes used with Counter and Descriptive Stem-classifier
In Tahltan the prefixes remain consistent when the classifiers are interchanged. Below is
a prefix demonstrated with classifier-stems.
(2)

Prefix used with Counter and Descriptive Stem-classifiers

Prefix

Transla
tion
around
around

Counter
Stem
goch
datl

Transla
tion
around
around
around
around

Descriptive
Stem
dus
t’ah
be
letl

K’inK’inPrefix
K’inK’inK’inK’in-

Translation

Phrase

Translation

four (4) legs
two (2) legs

K’in-degoch
K’in-dedatl

around he walk
around he walk

Translation

Phrase

Translation

prone on belly
fly
swim
he/itfloats

K’in-dedus
K’in-det’ah
K’in-debe
K’in-deletl

around he crawls
Around he/it flys
around he swims
around he/itfloats

Affixes
From an oral speaking perspective there are two affixes that are important to know. They
are the future and past tense affixes. The future tense affix appeared previously in the singular
example of the phrase /desal/, which means ‘going to walk’ (see Table 3, page 60).

89

Future Tense Affix
The future tense affix is the letter /d/ combined with the elongated vowels /e/ and t i l .
(1)

Future T ense Affix
Affix

Phrase

Translation

Example Sentence

1“ person
Singular
2nd person

de

desal

I ’m gonna walk

En-gah ts’i’ desal (By you, to I’m gonna walk)

Singular

dT

dTndal

you gonna walk

Es-gah ts’i’ dTndal (By me, to you gonna walk)

de

dedal

he's gonna walk

En-gah ts’i’ dedal (By you, to he’s gonna walk)

3rdperson
Singular

Past Tense Affix
In Taltan there are two ways to denote past tense; the first is to change the entire verbphrase and the other is change or insert a single articulate. For example, in the former, the
present tense for the phrase en-dodesditl (you, I gonna tell) is totally different than the past tense
en-dohosdech (I told you). To learn the tenses in this case one must learn the tense forms
independently, but that’s not the focus here. Rather the focus is on the simpler way to denote past
tense with certain phrases by simply adding an affix. With some phrases we simply need to add
the articulation /y/ as the following table demonstrates. The past tense affix is represented by the
articulation /y/.
(2)

Past Tense Affix
Past
tense
Affix

Present
Tense
Phrase

Translation

Past Tense
Phrase

Translation

y

Aneszen

I think

Yeneszen

I thought

y

aninzen

you think

yeninzen

you thought

y

anezen

he think

yenezen

he thought

1“ person
Singular

2nd person
Singular

3rdperson
Singular

90

The past tense affix is also used in what appears to be a vowel form and it seems to be
most prevalent in the reciprocal exchange past tense phrases. It is consistent with the way the /y/
behaves in the English orthography. In English the /y/ is sometimes a consonant and sometimes a
vowel. In Taltan the lyl behaves the same way - sometimes it’s a consonant and sometimes it’s a
vowel. (This phenomenon has not been recognized as of yet and the articulation lyl has not been
added to the Tahltan Orthography as a vowel).
The following two examples demonstrate how the lyl behaves like a vowel.
(3)

Past Tense Affix
Past
Present Tense
Tense Phrase
Affix

Translation

1Mperson
Singular

2nd person
Singular

y

Ech litynichush

Shirt, I bought

y

Ech es-gynini’an

Shirt, you gave me

Suffixes
In Taltan there are three (3) cases in which ’vowels’ are added to the end of the wordstem to change its communicative value. These changes occur when we:
1. Ask a question - we add a vowel suffix,
2.

Take possession of nouns - we add a vowel suffix,

3.

Emphasize something —we add a vowel suffix.

Although the linguistic process pertaining to how this is done is relatively complex, it is not
necessary to study it in order to learn how it is done. The process of learning how to do this
comes naturally and although we made reference to this phenomenon (voicing o f the fricatives
etc.) during dialogue analysis we did not study it. Rather, it came as a natural process. Thus I feel

91

it is unnecessary to cover it in-depth here. Hardwick (1984 p: 47-49) does a thorough job in
linguistically breaking down how this is done. For more info see Hardwick (1984).
(1)

Question-mark Vowel

Questionmark Vowel
2“d person
Singular
a
Singular
i

Phrase

Translation

Question Mark
Vowel

Translation

dTndal
int’Tn

you gonna walk
you have

De’eda dTndala
Yeda int’Tni

Where you walking?
What you have?

The question-mark vowel is added to the end o f the last word in the sentence and it works
similar to the way the question mark works in English writing.
(2)

Possessive Vowel

Possessive
Vowel
1'* person
Singular
e
Singular
a
Singular
e

Phrase

Translation

possession

Translation

la’
bat
bes

hand
mittens
knife

es-la’e
es-bada
es-beze

My hand
My mittens
My knife

The possessive vowel is added to the end o f the noun that is being possessed.
(3)

Emphasis-vowel

Emph.asisVowe
3rd person
Singular
i
i

Phrase

T ranslat
ion

Emphasized

Translation

nazet
denestl’ets

he stand
dark

Lani eji nazedi
ho-denestl’ets

Really, right there he stand
The /ho-/ is black (it’s dark)

The emphasis-vowel is added to subtly emphasize the sentence.

Affix - prefix/suffix
In Taltan there is an affix that can be used as either a prefix or a suffix. This affix is the
morpheme Inal and it is used to emphasize. In Taltan if you were to say /tsini/ it would simply

92

mean to be quiet (politely), but add the affix /na/ to the end of the word (suffix) and say /tsini-na/
the meaning changes to something like shut-up (impolitely). Or if you were to say Duda ant’e
hahg (What you doing huh?) and the addressed does not respond you would press harder for a
response and follow-up with hahg-na - you would add the /na/ to emphasize the question. I
searched hard for the meaning of this affix and the closest definition I got was it is a ‘verbal
point’ - it’s sort of like pointing without using the finger (According to Robert Dennis 2014
personal conversation/dialogue analysis). The reason I consider the /na/ an affix is because it can
be used as a prefix and suffix. The phrase /na-se-ninghotl/ demonstrates /na/ being used as a
prefix.
(4)

Affix Used as a Prefix
Verb

Translation

Nanenisghotl
Nanenisighotl
Nadanisghotl
Nadanisighotl
Na’enisghotl
Nahunisghott
Nahunisighott

You, I punch
You, we punch
You (2+), I punch
You (2+). we punch
Him, I punch
Them, I punch
Them, we punch

Naseninghotl
Nasenaghotl
Natweninghotl
Nahuninghoti
Na’eninghoti
Nahuninghoti
Nahunaghoti

Me, you punch
Me, you (2+) punch
Us, you punch
Them, you punch
Him, you punch
Them, you punch
Them, you (2+)
punch

Na- se-nighotl
Nase-henighotl
Na- twe- henighotl
Na-hu-nighoti
Na-henighotl
Nahu-nighoti
Nahu-denighotl

Me, he punch
Me, they punch
Us, he punch
Them, he punch
Him, they punch
Them, he punch
Them, they punch

1’*person
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

1* person
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

3"1person
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

93

Orally, I consider this form to be the most complex, because it has the object and subject
pronoun-markers patterned directly within the word-phrase and the pronouns don’t follow the
typical pronoun patterns of the previous paradigms. In my three years of research I only found
two forms that follow this paradigm/pattern. The other is the example /kenlehudestl’utl/ used
earlier. Because of the inconsistencies in comparison to the other basic patterns, I tried validating
this pattern with the younger (65-70 year olds) native speakers and all of these expert speakers
whom I spoke to cannot complete the plural forms of this paradigm. My informant completed the
plural forms for me.

94

Chapter 13. CONTRACTION
In Tattan there are a group of w ord-phrases th at are related in meaning and in the
way in which they function. I am not sure how to classify them as a unit, but from an oral
perspective they popped out to me as a pattern. These phrases seem to be using
‘contraction’ and are derivatives of the word /k u s a / (m ust be) combined with other words.
This phenom enon is not confined to any group of words in particular and they include
conjunctions, adverbs and pronouns etc. From an oral methodology they appear to be
structured for simplicity.
(1)

Contraction

Word One Transl
ation

Word
Two

Translat
ion

Tattan
Phrase

Literal
Translation

Free
Translation

who
what
where
if
where
how

Kusa
kusa
kusa
kusa
kusa
kusa

must be
must be
must be
must be
must be
must be

Me’eku
Ye'eku
De'eku
Se’eku
Daku
Duku

Who must be?
What must be?
Where must be?
It must be?
Where must be7
How must be?

I wonder who's that?

meda
yeda
de'eda4
se'eh
dada5
duda

I wonder what's that?
I wonder where?
I wonder if?
I wonder where?
I wonder how?

The above w ord-phrases w ork well with another group (pattern) of phrases that are
also patterned for simplicity. Changing meaning o f these word-phrases is simply a matter of
exchanging the first articulation (affix). Below is an example o f how we can manipulate the
meaning of this phrase in five ways by simply changing the first letter of the word.
K a’a t’6 - is like it. - Me-ma ka’at’e - She is like her mother.
J a ’a t’6 - Is it (Means: it is). - Es-ke ja ’at’e - My shoe it is.
Na’a t’e Ethocon na’at’e (Is he a white man).
Sa’a t’e - Must be it (It must be) —John sa’at’e - John it must be.
4 The word /d e 'e d e / [where) is used in regards to unfixed positions, or locations.
5 5 The word /d a d a / (where) is used for fixed locations like in a house, lake etc.

95

Dza’a t’6 - bad it {Meaning: bad it is) - John dza’at’e. - John is bad.
Below is a dem onstration of how I orally envision them as a group/pattern:
(2)

ja’at'e Pattern

Phrase
ja’at’e
na'at’e
sa’at'e
ka'at’e
dza’at'e
da’at’e

Literal
Translation
is it
is he/she
must be it
like it
bad it
unknown

Free Translation sentence
Tl'i'ja'ate (Dog it is)
UtSO-kan na’at’e (Whiteman is he?)
TIT sa'ate (Dog itm ustbe)
T I T ka'at'e (Dog it is like.
T I T dza'at'e (Dog it is bad)
I haven'tfigured this one out as of yet, but I've heard it used in sentences

Keeping the word /ku*sa/ and /k a ’a t’e/ in mind, below is a dem onstration of how
both word phrases are used together in a sentence:
P erso n #1 sta te m e n t: De'eku6 desh*ya. (I w onder where he went].
P erso n #2 sta te m e n t: Terrace 7sa’at'e (must be Terrace].
P erso n #2 can also say: Terrace sa deshya (Terrace, must be he went].
In the third example sa’ate is contracted. Contractions can be quite complex and they can
sometimes use up to four words. These four-word combinations/contraction below (Contracted
Sentence) can appear like a word-phrase, but they are actually separate words; they are a
conjunction and a word-phrase combination.
(3)

Contracted Sentence
Regular Sentence

Translation

Contracted
Sentence

Meda ts’i’ ho-dese
Meda ts’i’ ho-deside
En-ts’i’ ho-dese
En-ts’i’ ho-deside
Me-ts’i’ ho-dese

Who to, I talk?
Who to, we talk?
You to, I talk
You to, we talk
Him to, I talk

Me-ts’odese
Me-ts’odeside
En-ts’odese
En-ts’odeside
Me-ts’odese

1st person subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject

6 The morpheme /k u / is actually the first syllable of the word /ku-sa/.
7 The morpheme /s a / is actually the second syllable of the word /ku-sa/.

96

Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

Me-ts’i’ ho- deside
Da-ts’i’ ho-dese
Da-ts’i’ ho- deside

Him to, we talk
Them to, I talk
Them to, we talk

Me-ts’odeside
Da-ts’odese
Da-ts’odeside

Meda ts’i’ ho-dinde
Meda ts’i’ ho-dade
Es-ts’i’ ho-dinde
Es-ts’i’ ho-dade
Me-ts’i’ ho-dinde
Me-ts’i’ ho-dade
Da-ts’i’ ho-dlnde
Da-ts’i’ ho-da de

Who to, you talk?
Who to, you (2) talk?
Me to, you talk
Me to, you (2) talk
Him to, you talk
Him to, you (2) talk
Them to, you talk
Them to, you (2) talk

Me-ts’odinde
Me-ts’o-dade
Es-ts’o-dmde
Es-ts’o-dade
Me-ts’o-dinde
Me-ts’o-dade
Da-ts’o-dinde
Da-ts’o-dade

Meda ts’i’ ho-dede
Meda ts’i’ hudede
Es-ts’i’ ho-dede
Es-ts’i’ hu dede
Me-ts’i’ ho-dede
Me-ts’i’ hu dede
Da-ts’i’ ho-dede
Da-ts’i’ hu dede

Who to, he talk?
Who to, they talk?
Me to, you talk
Me to, they talk
Him to, he talk
Him to, they talk
Them to, he talk
Them to, they talk

Me-ts’o-dede
Me-ts’udede
Es-ts’o-dede
Es-ts’udede
Me-ts’o-dede
Me-ts’udede
Da-ts’o-dede
Da-ts’udede

Ede-ts’i’ ho-dese

Myself to, I talk

Ede-ts’odedese

2nd person subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

2nd person subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Singular object & singular subject
Singular object & plural subject
Plural object & singular subject
Plural object & plural subject

1st person object/subject
Singular object & singular subject

In the Iskut dialect of the English language we also contract phrases and the best example
would either be the phrase ‘Onnacana’, which means ‘On account o f , or ‘Um gon-go to Terrace,
but Um nut-gon get drunk’ (I am gonna go to Terrace, but I am not going to get drunk). Below
are examples o f mass-classifier stem contractions.
(4)

Contracted Stem
Un-contracted
stem

Translation

Contracted Stem

Translation

litadeslel
litadesilel

I ’m gonna buy
I ’m gonna buy

K’unts Htadesle
K’unts titadesile

Potatoes I ’m gonna buy
Potatoes I ’m gonna buy

iitadintitl
litadatitl

you gonna buy
you gonna buy

Una litadinti
Una litadati

Gun I ’m gonna buy
Gun I ’m gonna buy

litadekatl
litahedekati

I'm gonna buy
I ’m gonna buy

Cup litadeka
Plate litahedeka

Cup I ’m gonna buy
Plate I'm gonna buy

1"
person
Singular
Plural

2“d
person
Singular
Plural

1*
person
Singular
Plural

97

Putting It All Together
Fluent speakers of the language use contractions all the time and as a beginner this can
sometimes be confusing and the contraction can make the language unrecognizable. Below is an
example of two (2) brothers conversing over the phone with one brother’s wife and a friend
sitting nearby. Let’s say their names are:
Jim (brother 1), John (brother 2), Jane (wife), and Tammy (wife’s friend).
Phone rings and John picks up.
John: Haha’ (hello)
Jim: Haha’. Ediya John jani en-gah’e (Hello, my older brother John beside you?)
John Sini ja John (I is John). Meda nini (Who’s you?).
Jim: En-chitl Jim ja sini (Your younger brother Jim is I)
John: Oh! Duda ant’e (Oh! How are you?)
Jim: Soga ast’e nini k’aji (Good my state and you?)
John: Sini k’aj soga ast’e. (Me too I’m good).
Jim: Es-li’e te-deget. Es-li’e yihn’ini ( My dog ran away. My dog you seen him?)
John: Ehhh. Ah’ene k’in-degoji. Kan-dTndali (Yes. Outside he walk around. You coming to get
him?)
Jim: Ehhh. K’adle es-li’e ka-desal (Yes, quick my dog I’m gonna get him).
John: ehh. Hehe’ (Ok bye)
Tammy turns to Jane and says: Me’eku ts’odede (I wonder who to he talk?)
Jane turns to her husband and asks: Me-tsodTnde (Who to you talk?)
John answers as he puts on his jacket: Es-chitle Jim ts’odese (My younger brother Jim I talk to.)
Jane: De’ede dlndali (Where you going/walking?)
98

John: Uwe ts’ih kedi kime ho-ts’i’ desat (Always from purchase house/store, to I’m walking.)
Jane: Ye daga (What for?)
John: Una litadesti (Gun I’m gonna buy).
John leaves, end of conversation.
This is how a typical short conversation in the Tattan language utilizes contraction,
possessives, postpositional phrases, transitive and intransitive phrases, 1st, 2nd and 3rd person
pronouns, numeration, mass classifier, prefixes, affixes, suffixes, etc. One must learn these
basics to speak and understand the language.

99

Chapter 14. CONCLUSION
This thesis represents the results of my successful attempt to combine our oral
methodology and digital recording with the contemporary formal writing system introduced by
Carter (1991). It demonstrates how I learned to speak the Tahan language, in an environment
where minimal pedagogical resource material existed with my father as my oral teacher. In the
process of learning I sought out the deep cultural significance o f our language and I deciphered
the complex grammatical structure from an oral perspective. The understanding that I developed
in the process helped me get past what I consider to be the grammatical and cultural barriers
(differences) that are preventing our language from being passed on to native English speakers
who are interested in learning the language, be they Tahltan or other.
The biggest differences between Tahan and English are the grammatical structure and the
worldview and both are barriers that contribute to the demise of the language.
In Tahan there are no verbs and adjectives per se. Rather in Tahan we have what is
referred to, from a grammatical perspective, as verb, noun and adjective-phrases. The object and
subject-marker (personal pronouns) are embedded/patterned within the phrases. This makes it
totally different in comparison to English.
In Tahan the ’paradigms’ are encoded with ingenious sequential grammatical patterns that
remain consistent throughout the language and from an oral learning perspective it makes the
learning process very predictable. The predictability is built around the object and subjectmarkers and from an oral perspective it pops out as a theme that runs throughout the language
from simple to complex.
Although I studied the language orally, I could not get totally away from my adaptation to
writing thus I mapped out the pronoun patterns in writing and I used the map as a template in my

100

mind to guide my oral research on how the patterns run throughout the language. Understanding
how the personal pronoun-markers are patterned into the overall structure grounded me as a
second language learner and this in-tum sped up the process o f learning.
There is a huge difference in English and Tattan language and worldview(s) and this
creates barriers for researchers, informants and native English speakers attempting to learn
and/or teach Tahan as a second language. This difference in perspective is reflected in some of
the inconsistencies in the translation of work by other non-Tahltan researchers and in how our
language continues to die amidst our ongoing language program(s).
Aside from the total differences in worldview, the traditional Tahltan perspective includes
a different teaching/learning methodology that is not compatible with the formal imposed
methodology that is used today in formal education. The Tahan native speakers learned the
language orally (without writing). They have been trying to teach students, who are adapted to
the western formal visual learning process from an oral perspective (which is not dependent upon
writing) and they are unsuccessful.
To add to the problem, in the Tahltan community(s) the Tahan language is not being
spoken and this creates a huge gap in the promotion and the learning process for those studying
the language. To communicate fluently in a particular language one needs to develop both
‘speech production’ and ‘speech recognition’, but in the Iskut community, where I studied, the
language is not being used often enough to help in the development o f speech recognition. Not
hearing the language in its natural setting contributes to the rapid disappearance of our language
and during my study it caused my ‘speech recognition’ to suffer. I addressed this problem by
creating an artificial speech environment that is compatible with the modem digital gadgetry
(iPod) and it was very successful in developing our (myself and my colleagues) speech

101

recognition.
My insights into how the subject and object-markers are patterned and embedded directly
into the word-phrases and the differences in worldviews of Tahltan and English, leads me to
conclude that:

•

There is a structural theme patterned throughout our language and it’s the study of
the grammatical structure, from the perspective of the patterns that will allow us to
maintain an aspect of our oral tradition in the practical study of our language while
taking advantage o f our adaptation to the visual (writing) learning process.

•

There is a huge cultural difference between the English and Tahan languages and
this must be considered a major element in the development of Tahan resource
material.

•

There is a need for the development of practical comprehensive resource material
that takes into consideration the oral teaching methodology, linguistic barriers and
cultural dynamics, while at the same time utilizing the ‘current adapted visual
learning methodology’ and ’social media’ that our society has adapted to.

To be successful in teaching and creating the mechanisms for the overall revitalization of
the Tahan Language teachers and researchers alike must take the differences into consideration
and make it an important part o f their methodological approach in the classroom and in
pedagogical resource development.

102

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Louie, Louis. 2005, Personal communication.
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Appendix I.

T ahan O rthography
The Tahan Orthography was developed by Carter (1991) with suggestions on vowel
structure and an emphasis on keeping the orthography similar to the neighboring Athabascan
systems developed by Leer (1985).
The symbols that are used in the Tahan practical orthography are based on the principles
of a phonetic alphabet. In a phonetic alphabet every sound within the language is always
represented with the same written symbol. Although the English writing system is nonphonetically based, the Tahan system utilizes the symbols of the English alphabet, albeit with a
few adjustments. For example, within the Tahan language the sounds T , ‘q ’, ‘r ’ and ‘v ’ are non­
existent, thus they are excluded from the Tahan alphabet. Also the sounds that are non-existent
in English, but present in Tahan are added by using modified or combined English symbols. For
example, the sounds at the on-set of the Tahan words for fish (luwe) and grease (tleyh) are
foreign to the English language therefore they are represented by the introduction of the modified
/!/ (1 with a line through) and/or the combination of ‘t and the ‘1’ (‘tl’). Overall there are 42
symbols in the Tahan alphabet, including a glottal, five vowels, and thirty-six consonants.

The Glottal Stop
The glottal /’/ has no English equivalent and is pronounced with a stoppage in the throat.
An example o f the stoppage in throat can be found at the beginning of the English word ‘apple’.
For more information on the Glottal see Basic Tahltan Conversation Lessons (Carter 1992), or
Talhtan Dictionary (Tahltan Tribal Council 1992, 1993).
Letter

English equivalent/description

Example

Meaning

9

No English equivalent

k’aji

again

Letter

English equivalent/description

Example

Meaning

a

Same as u in cup

gah

rabbit

a

Same as au in caught

anla

You make

e

Same as e in ten

edu

don’t/not

e

Same as e but longer in duration

bes

knife

i

Same as ee in keep

nT

face

T ahan Vowel

107

I

Same as i but longer in duration

antTni

you doing

o

Same as oa in oats

khoh

grizzly

6

Same as o in go

cho

big

u

Same as oo in boot

ghu’

tooth

u

Same as u but longer in duration

tu

water

Tattan Consonants
There are approximately thirty-six consonants in the Tahan alphabet. Following are
examples o f each, along with the English equivalent/description, an example word and the
meaning.
Letter

English equivalent/description

Example

Meaning

b

Same as b in big

bede

food

ch

Same as ch in church

chime

son

ch’

Same as ch but done with glottal

ch’iyone

wolf

d

Same as d in did

de’e

give it here

dl

No English equivalent

dlu’an

flu, he caught

dz

Same as ds in pads

dza’at’e

bad, it

dz

No English equivalent

dzel

mountain

g

Same as g in good

gah

beside

gh

Same as g but a softer sound

ghah

because

h

Same as h in head

hodede

she/he talks

j

Same as j or dg in judge

kuji

now

k

Same as k in keep

kadlnya

you go get

k’

Same as k but done with a glottal

k ’aji

again

kh

Similar to k but softer in sound

khadi

hurry

108

Letter

English equivalent/description

Example

Meaning

I

Same as 1 in large

la’

hand

1

No English equivalent

lagu

stop it/quit

m

Same as m in mother

meneslln

I like

n

Same as n in not

nin’an

you put it

nh

No English equivalent

ninh’Tn

look!

P

Same as p in pup

es-pane

my friend

s

Same as s in see

soga

well

s

Same as th in thin or s in sin

sindah

sit

sh

Same as sh in shoot

deshya

(s)he went

t

Same as t in tell

tu

water

t’

Same as t but done with a glottal

ast’e

I am feeling

tl

No English equivalent

tli’

dog

tr

No English equivalent

tl’a

after

ts

Same as ts in cats

tslni

be quiet

ts’

Same as ts but done with a glottal

ts’ots

blow fly

ts

No English equivalent

tse

rock

ts’

Same as ts but done with a glottal

ts’adi

sweetheart

w

Same as w in wash

washman

police

y

Same as y in yes

yeda

what/how

yh

No English equivalent

tleyh

grease

z

Same as z in zoo

in-zike ost’ini

let me help you

z

Same as th in then

zul

empty

109

Appendix 2

THE TAHLTAN LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION PROGRAM
PO Box: 90
Iskut, British Columbia
VOJ1K0
In consideration of the work the Tahltan Language Revitalization Program is
doing to collect and preserve material of value for the study of our Tahltan Language
past and present in die tabonot'Tn Area (tuwe Chon). 1would like to deposit with
diem for their use the items represented by the accession number(s) given below.
These audio recordings and the accompanying transcripts are the result of
one or more recorded voluntary interview(s) with me. Any reader, or researcher
should bear in mind that he/she is reading a transcript of my spoken, not written,
word and that the audio recording(s), not the transcripts, is the primary document
It is understood that the Tahltan Language Revitalization Program will allow
the Tahltan membership to download edited copies of the digital audio(s) and read
the transcripts and use diem in connection with their research and/or for other
personal and educational purposes of interests.
It is also understood that the Tahltan Language Revitalization Program will,
at the discretion of the Director/Coordinator, allow any qualified scholar(s) to listen
to the tapes and read the transcripts and use them in connection with their research
and for other educational purposes, it is further understood that no copies of the
tapes or transcript will be made and/or nothing may be used from diem in any
published form without die written permission of the Tahltan language
Revitalization Program.
Signed:
Understood and agreed to:
Interviewer: J*
Coordinator.
Accessi
VM-1, VM-2, VM-3, VM-4, VM-5, VM-6, VM-7, VM-8, VM-9, VM-10, VM-11, VM-12,
VM-13, VM-14, VM-15, VM-16, VM-17, VM-18, VM-19, VM-20, VM-21, VM-22, VM-23,
VM-24, VM-25, VM-26, VM-27, VM-28, VM-29, VM-30, VM-31, VM-32, VM-33, VM-34,
VM- 35, VM-36, VM-37, VM-38, VM-39, VM-40.

110

Sleep - tetl (Stem)

1st Person
(Singular) I’m old (Plural) We old -

Sesjan
Srjan

2nd Person
(Singular) You old (Plural) You old -

Sin jan
Sa-jan

3rd Person
(Singular) He's old (Plural) They old -

Sejao
Hes jan

Note the consistency in the pattern for the animate, inanimate and
plurals and possessives.

1st Person
(Singular) 1Sleep (Plural) We Sleep -

N ested
Nesited

2nd Person
(Singular) You Sleep (Plural) You Sleep -

Nintetl
Na-ted

3rd Person
(Singular) He’s Sleep (Plural) They Sleep -

Ne- ted
Hene-ted

Note the consistency in the pattern for the animate, inanimate and
plurals and possessives.
Stand - zet (Stem)
1st Person
(Singular) I stand (Plural) We stand -

Put Out— tees (Stem)
Nasget
N asiget

2nd Person
(Singular) You Stand (Plural) You Stand 3rd Person
(Singular) He Stand (Plural) They Stand -

Nanget
N adaget
Na get
N ahaget

Note the consistency in the pattern for the plurals and possessives.

1st Person
(Singular) I Seated (Plural) We Seated-

Nes-jit
Nesijit

2nd Person
(Singular) You Seated (Plural) You Seated 3rd Person
(Singular) He’s Sewed (Plural) They Scared -

1st Person
(Singular) I See (Plural) We See 2nd Person
(Singular) You See (Plural) You See 3rd Person
(Singular) He’s See (Plural) They See -

Kon ne tees
Kon n esitses

2nd Person
(Singular)Fire you put out (Plural) Fire you put out -

Kon nlntees
Kon na-tees

3rd Person
(Singular) Fire he put out (Plural)Fire they put out

Kon netses
Kon henetses

Note the pattern for the plurals and possessives are consistent.
However, in the 1st person singular the linguistic rule o f
’intolerance to three (3) consonant cluster word medial’ (following
a long vowel) changes the 1st person possessive to appear like die
regular 3rd person possessive.

Scared—jit (Stem)

See - ’In (Stem)

1st Person
(Singular) Fire I put out (Plural) Fire we put old -

N injit
N ajit
N ejit
Henejit

Cry - tseyh (Stem)
1st Person
(Singular) I Cty (Plural) W eC iy-

Nestseyh
Nesitseyh

2nd Person
(Singular) You Cty (Plural) You Cry -

Nmteeyh
Natsejdi

3rd Person
(Singular) He’s Cty ■
(Plural) They Cty -

Neteeyh
Heneteeyh

Note the consistency in the pattern for the animate, inanimate and
plurals and possessives.

Present Tense
NesTn
Nesi’fil
N inln
Na’fo
Ne’ta
HeneTn

Stand - zet (Stem)
1“ P erson
(Singular) 1stand (Plural) We stand -

Nas-zet
Na-si-get

2*d Person
(Singular) You Stand (Plural) You Stand -

Nan-jet
Na-da-zet

3rt Person
(Singular) He Stand ■
(Plural) They Stand -

Na-zet
Naha-zet

113

Smart - yan (Stem)

Know - dih (Stem)
1st Person
(Singular) I know (Plural) We know -

me’esdih
me’eji dih

1st Person
(Singular) I smart (Plural) We smart -

hushyan
hoshijan

2nd Person
(Singular) You know (Plural) You know -

mendih
ma a dih

2nd Person
(Singular) You smart (Plural) You i

honyan
hayan

3rd Person
(Singular) He know (Plural) They know -

ye’e dih
hi ye’e dih

3rd Person
(Singular) He smart (Plural) They smart -

hu-yan
huhuyan

Note the inconsistency in the pattern for the 2nd person plural. The
reason being that this form has to stay consistent to the 2nd person
plural ’a’.

Note the consistency in the pattern for the plurals and possessives.
However, the 3rd person plural repeats the 3rd person pluraT albeit
elongated.

Tied U p - tl’un (Stem)
1st Person
(Singular) Dog I tied-up (Plural) Dog we tied-up -

T IT ke tl’un
Tl’i’ kesitl’un

2nd Person
(Singular)Dog you tied-qi (Phiral) Dog you tied-up -

TIT ken ti’ud
Tl’i’ ka tl’im

3rd Person
(Singular) Dog he tied-up (Plural)Dog they tied-up

Tl’i’ kes tl’un
Tl’i’ ke he’es tl’un

Note the pattern for die plurals and possessives are consistent.
However, in the 1st person singular the linguistic rule o f
’intolerance to three (3) consonant cluster word medial’ (following
a long vowel) changes die 1st person possessive to appear like the
regular 3rd person possessive. Also, notice in the 3rd person ’the
three (3) consonant cluster word medial’ is tolerated following a
short vowel. To accommodate the intolerance the 1st person and
3rd person forms are switched.

114

Appendix 4.
The text below is actually the first document that I produced to map out the pronoun structure of the patterns that are embedded
in the language.
L inguistic P a tte rn

The concept o f ‘going’ is based on the root word ‘desa’ - Change the prefix and the meaning changes! The prefixes can be
applied to 'past and present tense’ in the same manner to change its meaning. (See right column for present-tense application)
These prefixes can be applied to 2nd person and 3rd person as well

1" PERSON Future Tense
VERB df-sal - 1 gonna walk
di-t’as - We walk (2 people),
di-detl —We walk (3+ people)
K’in-df-sal - I’m walking around
K’in-di-f as - We’re walking around (2 people).
K’in-di-detl - We’re walking (3+ people).
N a-df-sal-1 am going
Na-di-t’as - We are going (2 people).
Na-di-deti - We are going (3+ people).
An-df-sal - I am going home.
An-di-t’as —We are going home (2 people).
An-di-detl - We are going home (3+ people).
Tl-df-sal - I am going out.
Ti-di-t’as - We’re going out (2 people).
Ti-di-detl - We’re going out (more then 2 people).

San- di-detl - We are gonna turn back (3+ people).
Ta»-df-sal - I’m gonna check
Tan- d i-f as - We’re gonna check .... (2 people).
Tan- di-detl - We’re gonna check .... (3+ people).
Ten- df-sal - -I’m pulling out
Ten- d i-f as - We’re pulling out (2 people).
Ten- di-detl - We’re pulling out (3+ people).
Ghn- df-sal-1 am going to give
Gha- d i-f as - We’re going to give (2 people).
Gha- di-detl - We’re going to give (3+ people).

Laa- df-sal—I am coining back
Lan- d i-f as - We’re coming back (2 people).
Lan- di-detl - We’re coming back (3+ people)
Lan-fs-da! - 1 am back
Lan-si-f as - We are back (2 People).
Lan-si-detl - We are back (3+ People).

Nt-df-sal - 1 am gonna get up
Ni-di-t'as - We are gonna get up (2 people).
Ni-di-detl - We are gonna get up (3+ people).

Las-al - 1came (Present Tense)

k a-df-sal- I am going to get
ka-di-t’as - We’re going to get (2 people),
ka-di-detl - We’re going to get (3+ people).

1“ PERSON (Plural) Present Tense
STEM

lun-df-sal - 1am going back to get
kan-di-t’as - We’re going back to get (2 people),
kan-di-detl —We’re going back to get (3+ people).
Ho-ts’l ' df-sal - 1am going to there
Ho-ts’i’ di-fas - We are going to there (2 people).
Ho-ts’i’ di-detl - We are going to there (3+ people).
E d it- df-sal - I am going away
Edfs - di-fas - We’re going away (2 people).
Edfs - di-deti - We’re going away (3+ people).

do- f asi - Let’s go (2 people)
dfl-deli- Let’s go (3+ people)

K’in -d O f asi - Let’s walk around (2 people)
K’in-dO-deli- Let’s walk around (3+ people)
No- d o -f asi - Let’s go (2 people)
Na- do dcli - Let’s go (3+ people)

An- d a -f asi - Let’s go home (2 people)
An- dn-deli - Let’s go home (3+ people)

Tl- do-t’asi - Let’s go outside (2 people)
Nen- df-sal - 1am going across
Nen- d i-fas - We are going across (2 people).
Nen- di-detl - We are going across (3+ people).
EJI- df-sal - 1 am going hunting
Eji - di -f as - We’re going hunting (2 people).
Eji - di-detl - We’re going hunting (3+ people).
Ta- d f - s a l- 1 am going up.
Ta- di-fas - We are going up (2 people).
Ta- di-detl - We are going up (3+ people).
§an- d f-sa l-1 am gonna turn back
San- d i-f as - We are gonna turn back (2 people).

Ti- dO-ddi - Let’s go outside (3+ people)
N M fl- f asi - Let’s get up (2 people)
Ni- do dcli - Let’s get up (3+ peopIeN
Ka- do-t’asi - Let’s go get (2 people)
Ka- dfl-deli - Let’s go get (3+ people)
Kan- dO-t’asi - Let’s go back get (2 people)
Kan- dO-deli - Let’s go back get (3+ people)
Ho-ts’i’- dO-t*asi - Let’s go to (2 people)
Ho-ts’i’- do-deli - Let’s go to (3+ people)

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Edts- dO l'isi - Let’s go away (2 people)
Edfs- do-deli - Let’s go away (3+ people)
Nen- dfl-t’isi - Let’s go across (2 people)
Nen- do-deli - Let’s go across (3+ people)
Eji- do f Ssi - Let’s go hunting (2 people)
Eji- do-deli - Let’s go hunting (3+ people)
Ta-dO f asi - Let’s go up (2 people)
Ta- dfl-deli - Let’s go up (3+ people)
J^aa-a-f Ssi - Let’s go back (2 people)
Lan-a-deli- Let’s go back (3+ people)
Tan- do-t’asi - Let’s go check (2 people)
Tan- do-deli - Let’s go check (3+ people)
Gh*-dO f asi - Let’s go give (2 people)
Gha- dO-deli - Let’s go give (3+ people)

San-da-detl - You're gonna turn back (3+ people).
Ta*- dln-dal - You’re gonna check traps
T an-da-f as - You’re gonna check traps (2 people).
Tan-da-detl - You’re gonna check traps (3+ people).
Ten-dln-dal - I’m pulling out
Ten-da-t’a s - W e ’re pulling out (2 people).
Ten-da-dctl - We’re pulling out (3+ people).
G h a-d ln -d al- You’re going to give
Gha-da- f as - We’re going to give (2 people).
Gha-da-detl - We’re going to give (3+ people).
La*- dln-dal - You’re coming back
Lan-da-t’as - You’re coming back (2 people).
Lan-da-drll - You’re coming back (3+ people)
La*- an-da! - You came back
Lan-an- t’as - You came back (2 people).
Laa-an-dell - You came back (3+ people).
Lan- dal - You came back.

VERB

2* PERSON F u tu re T ense
Dln-da - You walk
Da’t’as - You walk (2 people).
Da-de -detl - You walk (More then 2)
VERB

K’in-dtn-dal - You’re walking around
K ’in-da-t’as - You’re walking around (2 people).
K’in-da-detl - You’re walking around (3+ people).
Na- dtn-dal - You’re going
N a-d a-fas-Y o u ’re going (2 people).
Na-da-detl - You’re going (3+ people).
AB- din-dal - You’re going home.
An-da- fa s - You’re going home (2 people).
An-da-detl - You’re going home (3+ people).

3* PERSON F u tu re T ense
de-dal - S/he walk
A da-f as - S/he walk (2 people).
Ada-detf - S/he walk (3+ people)

K’in- de dal - He/she’s walking around
K’in-da-f as - They’re walking around (2 people).
K’in-da-detl - They’re walking around(3+ people).
Na- de-dal - He/she’s going
N a-ada-f as - They’re going (2 people).
Na-ada- detl - They’re going (3+ people).

A*- de- dal - He/she’s going home.
Nl- dln-dal- You’re getting up
N i-d a-fas- You’re getting up (2 people).
Ni-da-d<tl - You’re getting up (3+ people).
Tl- dln-dal - You’re going out
Ti-da- fa s - You’re going out (2 people)
Ti-da-detl - You’re going out (3+ people).
ka- d ln-dal- You’re going to get
ka-da-f as - We’re going to get (2 people),
ka-da-deti - We’re going to get (3+ people).

An-heda-t’as - They’re going home (2 people).
An-da-detl - They’re going home (3+ people).
Ni- de dal - He/she’s getting up
N i-hada-fas-T hey’re getting up (2 people).
Ni-hada-detl - They’re getting up (3+ people).
H - de d a l-Y o u ’re going out
Ti-heda- fa s - You’re going out (2 people).
Ti-heda-detl - You’re going out (3+ people).

ka- de dal - He/she’s going to get
kan- dln-dal- You’re going back to get
kan-da- fa s - We’re going back to get (2 people),
kan-da-detl - We’re going back to get (3+ people).

ka-hcda- t’as - He/she going to get (2 people).
ka-hada-dcti - They’re going to get (3+ people).

kan- de dal - He/she's going back to get
Eji- din-dal - You’re going hunting
E ji-da-f as - You’re going hubting (2 people).
Eji-da-deti - You’re going hunting (3+ people).

kan-heda-f as - He/she going back to get (2 people),
kan-hada-detl - They’re going back to get (3+ people).

Eji- de-dal - He/she going hunting
Nea- dln-dal - You’re going across
Nen-da-f as - You’re going across (2 people).
Nen-da-ded - You’re going across (3+ people).

Eji-hida- t’as - He/she going hunting (2 people).
Eji-hida-dttl - He/she going hunting (3+ people).

Nen- dedal - He/she’s going across
Ho-ts’i’ dln-dal —You’re going to
Ho-ts’i’ d a -f as - You’re going to (2 people).
Ho-ts’i’ da-detl - You’re going to (3+ people)

Nen-heda-f a s - They’re going across (2 people).
N en-hada-detl- They’re going across (3+ people).

H o-ts'i' de-dal - He/she’s going to
Sa*- dln-dal - You’re gonna turn back
San-da-f as - You’re gonna turn back (2 people).

Ho-ts’i’ ad a-f as - They’re going to (2 people)
Ho-ts’i’ ada-detl - They’re going to (3+ people)

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Saa- ded al - He/she’s gonna trum around
San-heda-t'as-T hey’re gonna turn around (2 people).
San-hada-drtl - They’re gonna turn around (3+ people).

2m4PERSON P a st T ense
VERB

T « - de dal - He/she gonna checl trap
Tan-hrda -fas - He/she gonna checl trap (2 people).
Tan-hcda-deti - He/she gonna checl trap (3+ people).
Ten-df -dal —I’m pulling out
Ten-hedt-t’as - We’re pulling out (2 people).
Ten-hede-dell - We’re pulling out (3+ people).

Din-x a —You were at
Da-t’a s- You were at (2 people).
Da-detl —You were at (More then 2)

K’in-din-dal - You’re walking around
K ’in-da-t’as - You’re walking around (2 people).
K'in-da-detl - You’re walking around (3+ people).

Na- dln-dal - You’re going
Gha- d ln -d al- You’re going to give
Gha-hede-t'as - We’re going to give (2 people).
Gha-hede-dett - We’re going to give (3+ people).

Na-da- t'as - You’re going (2 people).
Na-da-dct! - You’re going (3+ people).

An- dln-dal - You’re going home.
Laa- de dal —He/she’s coming back
Lan-hede-t’as - They’re coming back (2 people).
Lan-hede- detl - They’re coming back (3+ people).
Laa- a-da I - He/she’s coming back
L an-a't'as - They’re coming back (2 people).
Lan-a-detl - They’re coming back (3+ people)

An-da- t’as - You’re going home (2 people).
An-da-detl - You’re going home (3+ people).
Ni> dln-dal - You’re getting up
Ni-da-t’as - You’re getting up (2 people).
Ni-da-detl - You’re getting up (3+ people).
Tl- dln-dal - You’re going out
Tl-da-t’as - You’re going out (2 people).
T l-da-detl- You’re going out (3+ people).
ka- dln-dal - You’re going to get
ka-da-t'as - We’re going to get (2 people),
ka-da-dctl - We’re going to get (3+ people).
Eji- dln-dal - You’re going hunting
Eji-da-t’as - You’re going hubting (2 people).
Eji-da-dctl - You’re going hunting (3+ people).
Nen- din- dal - You’re going across
Nen-da-t’as - You’re going across (2 people).
Nen-da-detl - You’re going across (3+ people).
IbHs*t* dln-dal - You’re going to
Ho-ts’i’ da-t’as - You’re going to (2 people).
Ho-ts’i’ da-detl - You’re going to (3+ people).

Saa- dm-dal - You’re gonna turn back
San-da-t’as - You’re gonna turn back (2 people).
San-da-detl - You’re gonna turn back (3+ people).
Tan- dm- dal - You’re gonna check traps
Tan-da-t’as - You’re gonna check traps (2 people).
Tan-da-deti - You’re gonna check traps (3+ people).
Ten-dln-dal - I’m pulling out
Ten-da- t’as - We’re pulling out (2 people).
Ten-da- detl - We’re pulling out (3+ people).

Lan- dm-dal - You’re coming back
Laa-da-t'as - You’re coming back (2 people)
Lan-da-detl - You’re coming back (3+ people).

Lan- an-dal - You came back
Lan-an- t’as - You came back (2 people).
Lan-an-detl - You came back (3+ people).
Lan-dal - You came.

117

Appendix 5.
Basic Intransitive Phrase
Below are both the singular and plural forms for the Basic Intransitive Phrase. The reason for
this is the example in the main body does not have the plurals whereas this one does for your
perusal."

Translation

Phrase

Phrase

Translation
Dangerous - jit
(noun stem)

Desire - hue
(noun stem)

Enviro

nene konelTne

I ’m desirable
we desirable

sone-lTne
hone line

sone-jit
hone-jit

I ’m dangerous
we dangeroous

You desirable
you desirable

none line
hone line

none-jit
hone-jit

you dangerous
you dangerous

l" person

1* person
Singular
Plural

Plural

Singular
Plural

Plural
Singular
Plural
'v rd

3 person

3rd person
Singular

Singular

2mi person

2>dperson
Singular

Enviro

nene kone-jit Land’s danger

Land’s beautiful

Girl’s desirable
she desirable
they desirable

t’ede one-line
monelTne
hu-yonelTne

t’ede one-jit girl’s dangerous
mone-jit
he dangerous
hu-yone-jit They dangerous

Singular
Singular
Plural

118

Appendix 6.

Permission to use Maps (Figures 1 & 4) in Albright, 1984 granted Nov 2014.4:36:13 PM.
Dear Mr. Dennis,
You are herewith granted permission to use the text figures listed below from the SFU
Archaeology Press publication Tahltan Ethnoarchaeology in your master's thesis. The source of
the figures should be acknowledged as part of the caption for these figures in your thesis.
Yours sincerely,
Roy L. Carlson
MANAGING EDITOR
SFU Archaeology Press

Figure 1.

Tahltan Territory. Page 1.

Figure 4.

Tahltan Tribal Territories. Page 11.

119