Tlingit language

Tlingit
Lingít
Pronunciation/ɬɪ̀nkɪ́tʰ/
Native toUnited States, Canada
RegionAlaska, British Columbia, Yukon, Washington
Ethnicity10,000 Tlingit (1995)[1]
Native speakers
~50 highly proficient first language speakers in United States, 10 highly proficient second language speakers (2020)[2]
120 in Canada (2016 census)[3]
Na-Dene
  • Tlingit
Tlingit alphabet (Latin script)
Official status
Official language in
 Alaska[4]
Language codes
ISO 639-2tli
ISO 639-3tli
Glottologtlin1245
ELPTlingit
Tlingit is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Lingít
"People of the Tides"
PeopleTlingit
LanguageLingít
CountryTlingit Aaní
Two Tlingit speakers, recorded in the United States.

The Tlingit language (English: /ˈklɪŋkɪt/ ⓘ KLING-kit;[5] Lingít Tlingit pronunciation: [ɬɪ̀nkɪ́tʰ])[6] is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada and is a branch of the Na-Dene language family. Extensive effort is being put into revitalization programs in Southeast Alaska to revive and preserve the Tlingit language and culture.

Missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church were the first to develop a written version of Tlingit by using the Cyrillic script to record and translate it when the Russian Empire had contact with Alaska and the coast of North America down to Sonoma County, California. After the Alaska Purchase, English-speaking missionaries from the United States developed a written version of the language with the Latin alphabet.

  1. ^ Tlingit language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "2020 Biennial Report to the Governor and Legislature" (PDF). The Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council. p. 6. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Census in Brief: The Aboriginal languages of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. ^ Chappell, Bill (21 April 2014). "Alaska OKs Bill Making Native Languages Official". NPR.
  5. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  6. ^ Maddieson et al. 2001