Lingít Word of the Week: Ḵutx̱.ayanaháa — Star

This is Lingít Word of the Week. Each week, we feature a Lingít word voiced by master speakers. Lingít has been spoken throughout present-day Southeast Alaska and parts of Canada for over 10,000 years.

Gunalchéesh to X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and the University of Alaska Southeast for sharing the recorded audio for this series.

This week’s word is ḵutx̱.ayanaháa, or star. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say ḵutx̱.ayanaháa.

The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences. 

Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Ḵutx̱.ayanaháa. 

That means star.

Here are some sentences:

Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Ḵutx̱.ayanaháa tuteen nooch kéi ḵunas.áatʼi

We always see stars when the weather is cold.

Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: Ḵutx̱.ayanaháa máa yatee yéixʼ ḵutg̱anaháa yóo dáx̱ duwasáakw lingít x̱ʼeináx̱.

Stars are sometimes called “ḵutg̱anaháa” in Lingít.

You can hear each installment of Lingít Word of the Week on the radio throughout the week. 

Additional language resources:

Find biographies for the master speakers included in this lesson here.

Learn more about why we use Lingít instead of Tlingit here.

Watch a video introducing Lingít sounds here.