English - Tlingit Dictionary:
Nouns

Annotations to the Online
Web Edition

No revisions or changes were made to the 1996 edition of the Tlingit Noun Dictionary. We would like to thank Roby Littlefield with the North American Traditional Indian Values Enrichment (NATIVE, Inc.) who provided instructions for creating keyboard shortcuts for reproducing Tlingit characters. Because of Roby's help, and unlike other fonts on Alaskool, we did not create a font for the special characters found in the Tlingit language.

Participation by student contributor, Karle Kendall, was key in creating the online Tlingit dictionary. Karle typed in the Tlingit and English definitions using an online database produced by Katie Eberhart (refer to the Inupiat Dictionary for the process) beginning in November, 2000 and completed entering the entire dictionary in February, 2001. Karle estimated about 60 - 80 hours to enter in over 2000 words and definitions.

We are fortunate to have Karle involved in the project. Karle fit in dictionary work despite his challenging school schedule as a student pursuing a mathematics degree in the bachelor of science program.

A very important process in the creation of the online Tlingit dictionary included acquiring permission from Sheldon Jackson College who holds the copyright to the Tlingit Noun Dictionary. Many thanks go to Karen Tally at SJC who was instrumental in her research for obtaining permission for use the definitions and words from co-authors of the dictionary as well as from the Sealaska Foundation.

Lastly, the online dictionary would not be possible without the talents and abilities of Katie Eberhart who has provided a unique interactive format for building dictionaries through an online database. Once all words were entered by Karle, Katie produced and organized the data into the format you see on Alaskool. Refer to Interactive Language Tools link for a complete discussion about this feature available on Alaskool.

Notes to Contents of Online Tlingit Noun Dictionary
Karle noted that the 1996 edition of the Tlingit Noun Dictionary makes no distinction between genders in the prefix "du" (only referring to the gender him). However, this prefix pertains to the female gender "her" as well. "Du" refers to a person (not just the male gender as presented in the dictionary).

Tlingit words familiar to Karle had closely related definitions in the dictionary, but noticeably different meanings (most likely due to dialectal differences). Karle commends the Tlingit Noun Dictionary as an important tool for users of introductory Tlingit language. We encourage communities to use Alaskool's online tools to build further supplements to the Tlingit Noun Dictionary. Useful information could include examples of Tlingit noun words in complete sentences. (Karle is on the look-out for more material - please contact us if you have recommendations).

Karle noticed, with some melancholy, words contained in the dictionary hardly being used today, and also of the remarkable way in which the Tlingit language has incorporated new words into the language. For additional information about the Tlingit language, refer to the Alaska Native Language Center's Language link below.