Tlingit language

Template:Short description Template:More footnotes Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check |unknown=Template:Main other |preview=Page using Template:Infobox language with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| acceptance | agency | aiatsis | aiatsis2 | aiatsis3 | aiatsis4 | aiatsis5 | aiatsis6 | aiatsisname | aiatsisname2 | aiatsisname3 | aiatsisname4 | aiatsisname5 | aiatsisname6 | altname | ancestor | ancestor2 | ancestor3 | ancestor4 | ancestor5 | ancestor6 | ancestor7 | ancestor8 | ancestor9 | ancestor10 | ancestor11 | ancestor12 | ancestor13 | ancestor14 | ancestor15 | boxsize | coordinates | coords | created | creator | date | dateprefix | development_body | dia1 | dia2 | dia3 | dia4 | dia5 | dia6 | dia7 | dia8 | dia9 | dia10 | dia11 | dia12 | dia13 | dia14 | dia15 | dia16 | dia17 | dia18 | dia19 | dia20 | dia21 | dia22 | dia23 | dia24 | dia25 | dia26 | dia27 | dia28 | dia29 | dia30 | dia31 | dia32 | dia33 | dia34 | dia35 | dia36 | dia37 | dia38 | dia39 | dia40 | dialect_label | dialects | ELP | ELP2 | ELP3 | ELP4 | ELP5 | ELP6 | ELPname | ELPname2 | ELPname3 | ELPname4 | ELPname5 | ELPname6 | era | ethnicity | extinct | fam1 | fam2 | fam3 | fam4 | fam5 | fam6 | fam7 | fam8 | fam9 | fam10 | fam11 | fam12 | fam13 | fam14 | fam15 | family | familycolor | fontcolor | glotto | glotto2 | glotto3 | glotto4 | glotto5 | glottoname | glottoname2 | glottoname3 | glottoname4 | glottoname5 | glottopedia | glottorefname | glottorefname2 | glottorefname3 | glottorefname4 | glottorefname5 | guthrie | ietf | image | imagealt | imagecaption | imagescale | iso1 | iso1comment | iso2 | iso2b | iso2comment | iso2t | iso3 | iso3comment | iso6 | isoexception | lc1 | lc2 | lc3 | lc4 | lc5 | lc6 | lc7 | lc8 | lc9 | lc10 | lc11 | lc12 | lc13 | lc14 | lc15 | lc16 | lc17 | lc18 | lc19 | lc20 | lc21 | lc22 | lc23 | lc24 | lc25 | lc26 | lc27 | lc28 | lc29 | lc30 | lc31 | lc32 | lc33 | lc34 | lc35 | lc36 | lc37 | lc38 | lc39 | lc40 | ld1 | ld2 | ld3 | ld4 | ld5 | ld6 | ld7 | ld8 | ld9 | ld10 | ld11 | ld12 | ld13 | ld14 | ld15 | ld16 | ld17 | ld18 | ld19 | ld20 | ld21 | ld22 | ld23 | ld24 | ld25 | ld26 | ld27 | ld28 | ld29 | ld30 | ld31 | ld32 | ld33 | ld34 | ld35 | ld36 | ld37 | ld38 | ld39 | ld40 | linglist | linglist2 | linglist3 | linglist4 | linglist5 | linglist6 | lingname | lingname2 | lingname3 | lingname4 | lingname5 | lingname6 | lingua | lingua2 | lingua3 | lingua4 | lingua5 | lingua6 | lingua7 | lingua8 | lingua9 | lingua10 | linguaname | linguaname2 | linguaname3 | linguaname4 | linguaname5 | linguaname6 | linguaname7 | linguaname8 | linguaname9 | linguaname10 | listclass | liststyle | map | map2 | mapalt | mapalt2 | mapcaption | mapcaption2 | mapscale | minority | module | name | nation | nativename | notice | notice2 | official | posteriori | pronunciation | protoname | pushpin_image | pushpin_label | pushpin_label_position | pushpin_map | pushpin_map_alt | pushpin_map_caption | pushpin_mapsize | qid | ref | refname | region | revived | revived-cat | revived-category | script | setting | sign | signers | speakers | speakers_label | speakers2 | stand1 | stand2 | stand3 | stand4 | stand5 | stand6 | standards | state | states }}<templatestyles src="Template:Infobox/styles-images.css" /> Template:Infobox ethnonym File:WIKITONGUES- Lgeik'i and Naakil.aan speaking Lingít.webm Tlingit (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref name="Intro" /> Template:Lang Template:IPA)<ref name="Intro">Template:Harvnb</ref> is an endangered language indigenous to Southeast Alaska and Western Canada spoken by the Tlingit people that forms an independent branch of the Na-Dene language family. Although the number of speakers is declining, extensive effort is being put into revitalization programs in Southeast Alaska to revive and preserve the language.

Missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church were the first to develop a written version of Tlingit by using the Cyrillic script. After the Alaska Purchase, Tlingit language use was suppressed by the United States government, though preservation programs were introduced beginning in the 20th century. Today, Tlingit is spoken natively by perhaps only 100 elders.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Tlingit's placement in the Na-Dene family has provoked much debate over the last century, with most scholars now considering it to form a separate branch in the phylum, the other being Eyak-Athabaskan (including Eyak and the Athabaskan languages). Tlingit is notable for its unusual phonology, especially compared to Indo-European languages, and its morphological complexity.

History

Template:See also The early history of Tlingit is poorly known, mostly because there was no written record until Robert de Lamanon collected numerals and five nouns during the La Pérouse expedition in 1786.<ref>Kinkade 1990, p. 98 in Template:Harvnb</ref> The language appears to have spread northward from the Ketchikan–Saxman area towards Icy Bay<ref name="Terr" /> since certain conservative features are reduced gradually from south to north.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In fact, Tlingit northerly expansion into Eyak and Athabaskan territories was still taking place in recorded times.<ref name="Terr">de Laguna 1990, p. 203 in Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Mutual" />

The first Tlingit orthography and literacy program were created by the Russian Orthodox church during the Russian colonization of Alaska.<ref name="Gale">Template:Harvnb </ref> However, following the 1867 purchase of Alaska by the United States, native languages were suppressed in favor of English language homogeneity and assimilation.<ref name="Gale" /><ref>Worl 1990, p. 151 in Template:Harvnb</ref> It was not until the mid-20th century that the language literacy movement would regain ground,<ref name="Gale" /> but the total number of speakers continued to decline.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Beginning in the late-20th century, revitalization and preservation programs were also introduced.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Classification

Tlingit is currently classified as a distinct and separate branch of Na-Dene, an indigenous language family of North America.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In 1915, Edward Sapir argued for its inclusion in the Na-Dene family,<ref name="Sapir">Template:Harvnb</ref> a claim that was subsequently debated by Franz Boas, P.E. Goddard, and many other prominent linguists of the time.<ref name="Dürr">Template:Harvnb</ref> Its inclusion in the family has proven controversial due to lack of common vocabulary despite shared phonological and grammatical features.<ref name="tentw" />

Studies in the late 20th century by Heinz-Jürgen Pinnow and Michael E. Krauss showed a strong connection to Eyak and hence to the Athabaskan languages, thus essentially proving the Na-Dene family as including Tlingit.<ref name="tentw">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Sapir initially proposed a connection between Tlingit and Haida,<ref name="Sapir" /> but the debate over Na-Dene gradually excluded Haida from the discussion. Haida is now considered an isolate,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> with some borrowing from its long proximity with Tlingit.<ref name="Golla2011">Template:Harvnb</ref> However, some contemporary linguists still hold that Haida is part of the Na-Dene family – such as John Enrico, a specialist in Haida.<ref name="Golla2011" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

The first proposal linking Na-Dene and thus Tlingit to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia was made by Italian linguist Alfredo Trombetti in 1923.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In the early 2000s, Edward Vajda presented empirical evidence for the existence of this super family, Dene–Yeniseian.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Although support for the hypothesis has not been universal,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> it has been called "the first demonstration of a plausible genealogical link between languages of Eurasia and languages of the Americas".<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Geographic distribution

The Tlingit language was traditionally spoken from near the mouth of the Copper River at Controller Bay down the open coast of the Gulf of Alaska and throughout almost all of the islands of the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> It is characterized by about four distinct dialects,<ref name="P2">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Thorn">Template:Harvnb</ref> but they are mostly mutually intelligible,<ref name="Mutual">Template:Harvnb</ref> indicating relatively recent territorial expansion.<ref name="Mutual" /><ref>Thompson and Kinkade, p. 31 in Template:Harvnb</ref> Almost all of the area where the Tlingit language is endemic is contained within the modern borders of Alaska. The exception is an area known as "Inland Tlingit"<ref name="Laguna">Template:Harvnb</ref> that extends up the Taku River and into northern British Columbia and the Yukon around Atlin Lake (Template:Lang "Big Lake"<ref name="Basic">Template:Harvnb</ref>) and Teslin Lake (Template:Lang < Template:Lang "Big Thread"<ref name="Basic" />), as well as around Tagish Lake near the Chilkoot Trail (Template:Lang).<ref name="Laguna" /> There is a small group of speakers (about 30) in Washington as well.<ref>Template:Cite</ref>

Use and revitalization efforts

Tlingit is classified as critically endangered by UNESCO.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In 2007, Golla reported a maximum population of 500 speakers in Alaska, and an additional 185 in Canada.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The First Peoples' Cultural Council reported 2 fluent speakers in British Columbia out of an ethnic population of 400.<ref>Gessner, S., Herbert, T., Parker, A., Thorburn, B., & Wadsworth, A. (2014). Report on the status of B.C. First Nations languages, Second Edition, 2014, pp. 25, 43. First Peoples’ Cultural Council. Accessed 4 July 2025.</ref>

Tlingit courses are available at the University of Alaska Southeast, taught in part by Lance Twitchell. In 2022, the university began offering these classes for free.<ref name = "templeUAS">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2014, Alaska HB 216 recognized Tlingit as an official language of Alaska, lending support to language revitalization.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Dialects

Tlingit is divided into roughly four major dialects,<ref name="Thorn" /> all of which are essentially mutually intelligible:<ref name="Mutual" />

The Northern dialect is spoken in a vast area south from Yakutat (Template:Lang) and Lituya Bay (Template:Lang) to Angoon (Template:Lang) and Sitka (Template:Lang), also covering the area around Hoonah (Template:Lang) and Juneau (Template:Lang).<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
- The Inland Tlingit dialect, a subdialect of Northern,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> is spoken in Canada around Atlin Lake and Teslin Lake.<ref name="Laguna" />
The Transitional dialect, having features "in-between" those of the Northern and Southern dialects, was historically spoken in and around Kake (Template:Lang "Daylight"), and Wrangell (Template:Lang "Template:Lang's Little Lake").<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
The Southern subdialects of Sanya (Template:Lang) and Heinya (Template:Lang) are spoken from Sumner Strait south to the Alaska-Canada border, excepting the southern end of Prince of Wales Island, which is the land of the Kaigani Haida (Template:Lang).<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
Tongass Tlingit, the most divergent of the dialects,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> was once spoken south of Ketchikan to the Portland Canal,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> but recently died with its last speakers in the 1990s.<ref name ="P2" />

Most dialects of Tlingit can be classified into two-tone (Northern and Transitional) and three-tone (Southern) systems.<ref name="Classify">Template:Harvnb</ref> Tongass Tlingit, however, has no tone, but rather a four-way register contrast between short, long, glottalized, and "fading" vowels.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> (In the last type, the onset of the vowel is articulated normally but the release is murmured, essentially a rapid opening of the glottis once articulation is begun, resulting in fading of volume and pitch.)<ref name="Fading">Template:Harvnb</ref>

The tone values in two-tone dialects can be predicted in some cases from the three-tone values but not the reverse. Earlier, it was hypothesized that the three-tone dialects were older and that the two-tone dialects evolved from them.Template:Cn However, Jeff Leer's discovery of the Tongass dialect in the late 1970s has shown that the Tongass vowel system is adequate to predict the tonal features all the other dialects,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> but that none of the tonal dialects could be used to predict vocalic feature distribution in Tongass Tlingit. Thus, Tongass Tlingit is the most conservative of the various dialects of Tlingit, preserving contrasts which have been lost in the other dialects.

The fading and glottalized vowels in Tongass Tlingit have also been compared with similar systems in the Coast Tsimshian dialect, which has led some to believe that the Tongass system was inherited from Coast Tsimshian.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> However, the Tongass system also shows remarkable similarity to the Eyak system, suggesting that Tongass retained features from Proto-Na-Dene which instead developed into tonal systems in most of the Athabaskan languages and the other dialects of Tlingit.<ref name="Conserv">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Phonology

Tlingit has a complex phonological system compared to Indo-European languages such as English or Spanish. It has an almost complete series of ejective consonants accompanying its stop, fricative, and affricate consonants. The only missing consonant in the Tlingit ejective series is Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The language is also notable for having several laterals but no voiced Template:IPA and for having no labials in most dialects, except for Template:IPA and Template:IPA in recent English loanwords.<ref name="Inventory" />

Consonants

The consonants in the table are given in the IPA, with the popular orthography equivalents in brackets. Dialectal, obsolete, and marginal consonants are given in parentheses.

Tlingit Consonants<ref name="Inventory">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
		Labial	Alveolar			Palato- alveolar	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Labial	plain	sibilant	lateral	Palato- alveolar	plain	labial	plain	labial	plain	labial
Plosive	unaspirated		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	(Template:IPA link) Template:Angbr Template:Efn
	aspirated		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
	ejective		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Fricative	voiceless			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	(Template:IPA link) Template:Angbr Template:Efn
Fricative	ejective			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Sonorant		(Template:IPA link) Template:Angbr Template:Efn	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		(Template:IPA link) Template:Angbr Template:Efn	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	(Template:IPA link) Template:Angbr Template:Efn	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr

Template:Notelist

Nasal consonants assimilating with Template:IPA and the velar and uvular plosives is common among Tlingit-speakers of all dialects. For example, the sequence Template:Lang (Template:IPA) is often heard as Template:IPA and Template:Lang (Template:IPA) as Template:IPA. Native speakers in a teaching position may admonish learners when they produce these assimilated forms, deriding them as "not Tlingit" or "too English", but it is common to later hear such speakers producing those forms themselves.Template:Citation needed It is uncertain whether this assimilation is autochthonous or if it arose from contact with English, but the former is more likely from a purely articulatory perspective.

Young speakers and second-language learners are increasingly making a voiced/unvoiced distinction between consonants, rather than the traditional unaspirated/aspirated distinction. That is because of the influence of English, which makes a similar distinction. For speakers who make the voiced/unvoiced distinction, the distribution is symmetrical with the unaspirated/aspirated distinction among other speakers.

Phonetic analysis shows that all Tlingit word final non-ejective stops are phonemically unaspirated, although there is a wide variation in ordinary speech, ranging from unreleased Template:IPA to a very delayed aspiration Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The underlying phoneme is the unaspirated stop, since this form is consistently produced when the word is suffixed. The orthography usually but not always reflects that: Template:Lang "house" is written Template:Lang "(his) house" when marked with the possessive suffix Template:Lang. It is possible but has not been verified that aspirated and unaspirated stops are collapsed into a single phoneme word-finally.

Phonetic analysis also shows that the ejective fricatives in Tlingit are in fact true ejectives, with complete closure of the glottis before frication begins and the larynx raising in the same manner as with ejective stops.<ref name=:)>Template:Harvnb</ref> This contrasts with common analyses in some other languages with ejective fricatives, which considers them a sequence of fricative and glottal stop.<ref name=:)></ref>

Vowels

Tlingit has eight phonemic vowels, four of these distinguished formally by length. However, shorter vowels are typically pronounced more centralized,<ref name=":141" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> or less tense,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> particularly in rapid speech.Template:Cn

Tlingit Vowels<ref name=":141">Template:Harvnb</ref>
	Tense/Long			Lax/Short
	front	central	back	front	central	back
close	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
mid	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
open		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	(Template:IPA link Template:Angbr)Template:Efn		(Template:IPA link Template:Angbr)

Template:Notelist

Word onset is always consonantal in Tlingit. Thus, in order to avoid a word starting with a vowel, an initial vowel is always preceded by either Template:IPA<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> or Template:IPA. The former is universal in single words, and both are found in word-medial position in compounds. The orthography does not reflect the Template:IPA in word-initial position, but either Template:Lang or Template:Lang may be seen in medial position. For example:

Template:Interlinear

But when the perfective prefix Template:Lang is word-initial, the glottal stop appears to ensure that the word begins with a consonant.

Template:Interlinear

Tone

Tone is contrastive in all dialects of Tlingit but Tongass.<ref name="Classify" /> In the Northern and Transitional dialects, there are high and low tones, and in the Southern dialect there is an additional falling tone.<ref name="9-10">Template:Harvnb</ref> Rather than tone, Tongass Tlingit has a register system of vowel phonation and glottalization<ref name="Fading" /> that corresponds to the tone systems of other dialects. An illustration of some of these correspondences can be seen below.<ref name="Leertone">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Tongass register			Southern tone			Northern tone			Example translation<ref name="Classify" />
Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Example translation<ref name="Classify" />
V	short	Template:Lang	V́	high tone	Template:Lang	V́	high tone	Template:Lang	"head"
VV	long	Template:Lang	V́V	long high tone	Template:Lang	V́V	long high tone	Template:Lang	"woman"
VV'	long glottalized	Template:Lang	V̂V	long falling tone	Template:Lang	V́V	long high tone	Template:Lang	"man"
VV`	long fading	Template:Lang	V̀V	long low tone	Template:Lang	V̀V	long low tone	Template:Lang	"land"

Writing system

Template:Main The very first instance of written Tlingit presents itself from the La Pérouse expedition in 1786, where for example, Template:Lang ("one") was transcribed as Template:Tlit.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> A more formal orthography based on the Cyrillic alphabet was created by the Russians during their colonization of Alaska.<ref name="Gale" /> However, after Alaska was acquired by the United States, native language literacy was discouraged,<ref name="Gale" /> and until the latter half of the 20th century, Tlingit was only written by linguists for the purpose of phonetic transcription.Template:Cn

The most widespread orthography used today is based off of the transcription systems of some of these linguists, particularly Constance Naish and Gillian Story.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Like other popular writing systems, it uses the letters for voiced obstruents to represent unaspirated sounds; e.g., Template:Angbr for Template:IPA. Uvular sounds are distinguished from velars by an underline; that is, Template:Angbr for Template:IPA. Typing an underline was straightforward on the typewriters of the 20th century, but it is no longer so on modern computers.<ref name="orth">Template:Harvnb</ref> Thus, an alternative "email" orthography was developed in the 1990s<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> that replaces the underline with an appended Template:Angbr; so, Template:Angbr becomes Template:Angbr, and so on.<ref name="orth" />

The Inland Tlingit orthography does not use vowel digraphs. Instead, short high vowels are marked with an acute accent, long high vowels are marked with a circumflex, and long low vowels are marked with a grave accent. Short low vowels are unmarked. So, Coastal Tlingit Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are Inland Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr respectively. Coastal Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are Inland Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr; Coastal Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are Inland Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr; and Coastal Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are Inland Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr.Template:Cn

Grammar

Template:More citations needed section

Tlingit grammar at first glance appears to be highly fusional, but this is an incorrect assumption. There are predictable processes by which the basic phonetic shapes of individual morphemes are modified to fit various phonological requirements. These processes can be described with a regular language, and such descriptions are given here on a per morpheme basis by giving rule schemas for the context sensitive phonological modification of base morphemes. Analyzing all the possible combinations of morphemes and phonological contexts in Tlingit and constructing a regular language to describe them is a daunting but tractable task.Template:Citation needed

Despite not being a fusional language, Tlingit is still highly synthetic as an agglutinating language, and is even polysynthetic to some extent. The verb, as with all the Na-Dene languages, is characteristically incorporating. Nouns are in comparison relatively simple, with many being derived from verbs.

Word order

Tlingit word order is SOV when non-pronominal agent and object phrases both exist in the sentence. However, there is a strong urge to restrict the argument of the verb phrase to a single non-pronominal noun phrase, with any other phrases being extraposed from the verb phrase. If a noun phrase occurs outside of the verb phrase then it is typically represented in the verb phrase by an appropriate pronoun.

Nouns

See main article: Tlingit noun

Pronominals

Tlingit has a complex system of pronominals, which vary depending on their relationship to the verb. The subject pronominals are incorporated into the verb in its subject slot.<ref name="Pronominals"></ref> The object pronominals are essentially graphically independent. They are divided into three classes: the verbal object, nominal object, and postpositional object. There are also independent pronominals which are completely separate from the verb; they can be used in dependent clauses or in subject or object position.

The pronominals can be visualized in the following table.<ref name="Pronominals">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name=Dictionary>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Type	Subject	Object			Independent
Type	Subject	VO	NO	PO	Independent
1 SINGULAR	Template:Lang	Template:Lang, Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
1 PLURAL	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang		Template:Lang
2 SINGULAR	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang		Template:Lang
2 PLURAL	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang		Template:Lang
3 RECESSIVE		Template:Lang, Ø-	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
3 NEUTRAL	Ø-	Template:Lang, Ø-	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
3 SALIENT		Template:Lang	Template:Lang
REFLEXIVE		Template:Lang, Ø-	Template:Lang
RECIPROCAL		Template:Lang	Template:Lang
INDEFINITE HUMAN	Template:Lang	Template:Lang, Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
INDEFINITE NON HUMAN		Template:Lang	Template:Lang
PARTITIVE		Template:Lang

The numbers in the first column represent the usual concept of person, i.e. first, second, or third. Story and Naish identified a fourth person, but this term is inappropriate since they did not describe a clear separation between the so-called fourth person and the other impersonal pronominals.Template:Citation needed

When analyzing a sentence, the pronominal type is given first, then the form (subject, object, independent) is given following a period. This uniquely represents the pronominal as a two dimensional unit. Thus 1SINGULAR SUBJECT is the first person singular subject pronominal, realized as Template:Lang. The RECIPROCAL does not uniquely identify one of the two reciprocal pronominals, but since they are both phonetically identical as Template:Lang, it is generally unnecessary to uniquely identify them.

There is also a notional zeroth person which can be of subject, object, or independent form. This is not realized in Tlingit, instead it is an empty placeholder for analysis.

Subject pronominals

The subject pronominals are all incorporated into the verb. Thus when the subject is represented as a pronominal, the syntactic subject position of the sentence is empty.

Object pronominals

Object pronominals are divided into three classes, the verbal, nominal, and postpositional.Template:Citation needed

The verbal object pronominals function similarly to the subject pronominals in that they preclude an explicit object when used.

The nominal object pronominals are similar in some respects to the possessive pronouns of English. They precede a noun and represent the object of the noun, typically implying possession of the noun.

Postpositional object pronominals function as objects to which postpositions are attached. They act as the object of a postposition in a manner similar to an ordinary noun suffixed with a postposition.

Directionals

Strictly speaking, the Tlingit directionals can be classified as nouns on the basis of their syntactic function. However, they form a distinct semantic set of nouns which indicate direction relative to some stated position. They also show stem variation depending locative suffixation, in particular with the allative suffix Template:Lang. These stem variants also occur with the adverb construction N₁-da-N₂-(i)n "N₂ N₁-ward" where N₂ is an anatomic noun and N₁ is a directional stem.

	Noun	N-dei	N-naa	Adverb (+15)
up above	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
down below	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
upstream	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang ~ Template:Lang	–
downstream	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	–
from landshore, interior	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
toward landshore	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang ~ Template:Lang
toward seashore	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	—	Template:Lang
from seashore, out to sea	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang ~ Template:Lang	Template:Lang
across, other side	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	—	Template:Lang
inside	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	—	Template:Lang
outside	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	—	—
back	—	Template:Lang	—	Template:Lang
aground, shallow water	—	Template:Lang	—	Template:Lang

Particles

Particles function as neither noun nor verb. They are restricted to positions relative to phrases in the sentence.

Focus particles

The focus particles follow the left periphery ("forephrase" per Leer) of a sentence. The Naish–Story term for them is "post-marginals". Many of them may be suffixed with a demonstrative (Template:Lang), and they may also be combined with the interrogative (Template:Lang). Focus particles are stylistically written as separate words, but phonetically, they may be indivisible from the preceding utterance.

Template:Lang — wh-question
Template:Lang — dubitative, unlikelihood, "perhaps", "maybe, "it would seem..."
Template:Lang — focus
Template:Lang — interrogative (< Template:Lang + Template:Lang)
Template:Lang — discovery, understanding of previously unclear information, "oh, so..."
Template:Lang — second hand information, "I hear...", "they say..." (< Template:Lang + Template:Lang)
Template:Lang — contrastive, "however"
Template:Lang – softening, "you see"
Template:Lang — dubitative, likelihood, "perhaps", "probably"
Template:Lang — emphatic assertion, "indeed", "for sure"
Template:Lang — mild surprise
Template:Lang — strong surprise
Template:Lang — rhetorical interrogative, request for corroboration, "I wonder", "perhaps"
Template:Lang — hypothetical, "as if", "even if", "if only"

The combination of the focus Template:Lang with the demonstratives gives the frequently used particles Template:Lang and Template:Lang, and the less common Template:Lang and Template:Lang. Combination of the interrogative Template:Lang with the demonstratives gives the confirmative particles Template:Lang and Template:Lang (Template:Lang and Template:Lang are uncommon), used to elicit a yes/no response from the listener.

The interrogative Template:Lang also usually contracts to Template:Lang before Template:Lang "also": Template:Lang "also?" < Template:Lang + Template:Lang.

The particle Template:Lang is obligatory in forming wh-question phrases. It can be combined with a demonstrative, the dubitative, the rhetorical interrogative, and the emphatic assertion:

Template:Lang (< Template:Lang + Template:Lang), Template:Lang, ... — focused question, "... is that?"
Template:Lang (< Template:Lang + Template:Lang) — dubitative question, "maybe?", "perhaps?"
Template:Lang — "I wonder?"
Template:Lang (< Template:Lang + Template:Lang) — "(what) on earth?", "really?"

Phrasal particles

Phrasal particles may occur after focus particles that occur with or without demonstrative finals. The following are postphrasal particles, thus they may only occur after the phrase that they modify.

Template:Lang — "only then"
Template:Lang — "also"
Template:Lang — "first", "really!"
Template:Lang — "now", "this time"
Template:Lang — "be sure to"
Template:Lang — "be sure not to"

Except for Template:Lang and Template:Lang, the above may occur after the focus particles.

The following are prephrasal particles, i.e. they occur before the phrase that they modify. Naish and Story call these "pre-marginals".

Template:Lang — "just", "the very"
Template:Lang — "only", "just"
Template:Lang — "even"
Template:Lang — "very"

Mobile particles

These particles may occur before or after any phrase in a clause.

Template:Lang — "just," "simply," "just then"
Template:Lang — "already," "by now"
Template:Lang — "again", "still", "some more"

Compare the mobile particle Template:Lang with the postphrasal particle Template:Lang. Both the sentence Template:Lang "I need more coffee" and the sentence Template:Lang "I also need coffee" are acceptable. However the sentence Template:Lang is syntactically inadmissible because the particle Template:Lang is postphrasal, i.e. it cannot precede the phrase it modifies, in this case the noun phrase Template:Lang. The corresponding sentence with the Template:Lang particle in front, Template:Lang "I need coffee again/still" is in contrast syntactically acceptable. Thus a Tlingit listener will recognize the Template:Lang particle in a phrase-initial position without confusion but tone is necessary to distinguish it in a phrase-final position. For this reason the Template:Lang particle is often used prephrasally although it is syntactically admitted in either position. Thus the song name Template:Lang could also be Template:Lang, but placing the Template:Lang in front has the advantage of unambiguity, and thus seems more euphonious to native speakers.

Sentence-initial particles

These particles may only occur at the front of a sentence. Naish–Story term these "clause marginals".

Template:Lang, l — negative, "not"
Template:Lang — dubitative, "perhaps"
Template:Lang — optative, "hopefully"
Template:Lang — contrary, "actually", "in fact"
Template:Lang — "I thought..."