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Tagish language
Tagish is an extinct Athabaskan language spoken by the Tagish or Carcross-Tagish, a First Nations people that historically lived in the Northwest Territories and Yukon in Canada. The Tagish people refer to themselves as /ta:gizi dene/, literally "Tagish people", where /ta:gizi/ is a place name meaning "it (spring ice) is breaking up".
The language is a Northern Athabaskan language, closely related to Tahltan and Kaska. The three languages are often grouped together as Tahltan-Kaska-Tagish; the three languages are sometimes considered dialects of the same language. As of 2004, there was only 1 native fluent speaker of Tagish documented: Lucy Wren (Agaymā/Ghùch Tlâ). She died in 2008.
Tagish is a Northern Athabaskan language, which is a subgrouping of the large Na-Dene language family. Tagish is closely related to neighboring languages Tahltan and Kaska (forming a complex known as Tagish-Tahltan-Kaska) and Southern Tutchone. The languages in this complex have an extremely similar lexicon and grammar but differ in systems of obstruents. It is alternatively known as Dene K'e.[citation needed]
The Tagish people make their territory in southern Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia in Canada, most specifically at Tagish, which lies between Marsh Lake and Tagish Lake, and Carcross, located between Bennett and Nares Lake. The language was used most frequently in the Lewes and Teslin plateaus.
The culture of the Tagish people has its roots in both the coastal indigenous cultures and those from the interior (Tlingit and Athabaskan, respectively). Trade and travel across the Chilkoot pass contributed to the mixing of these cultures. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Tlingit-speaking peoples began to move in from the coast and intermarry with the native Tagish-speaking population. By the time outsiders first made contact in the 1880s, the majority of the people were bilingual, and the Tlingit language had replaced Tagish as the language of the majority.
Tagish became less common partially because native traditions were domesticated and suppressed in writing by the colonial administration. The most significant impact on the decline of nearly every native language in Canada came when aboriginal children were forced to attend residential schools where they were forbidden to speak their own languages.
After the Yukon Gold Rush in 1898, English became the majority language of the area. As the majority of children attended the English-only Chooutla Anglican school nearby, fluency in the native languages began to be lost. Language courses began to be reintroduced in the 1970s, but the programs had little funding and were not comparable to the French or English programs present. More recently, political awareness has led to movements to gain constitutional provisions for the language, as well as a greater focus on in-school programs, language conferences, and public awareness. For example, beginning in 2004, Southern Tutchone and Tagish languages were being revitalized and protected through an on-line approach called FirstVoices.
The federal government signed an agreement giving the territory $4.25 million over five years to "preserve, develop and enhance aboriginal languages"; however, Tagish was not one of the offered native language programs. Ken McQueen stated that despite efforts, the language will likely become extinct after the last fluent Tagish speaker dies.
Hub AI
Tagish language AI simulator
(@Tagish language_simulator)
Tagish language
Tagish is an extinct Athabaskan language spoken by the Tagish or Carcross-Tagish, a First Nations people that historically lived in the Northwest Territories and Yukon in Canada. The Tagish people refer to themselves as /ta:gizi dene/, literally "Tagish people", where /ta:gizi/ is a place name meaning "it (spring ice) is breaking up".
The language is a Northern Athabaskan language, closely related to Tahltan and Kaska. The three languages are often grouped together as Tahltan-Kaska-Tagish; the three languages are sometimes considered dialects of the same language. As of 2004, there was only 1 native fluent speaker of Tagish documented: Lucy Wren (Agaymā/Ghùch Tlâ). She died in 2008.
Tagish is a Northern Athabaskan language, which is a subgrouping of the large Na-Dene language family. Tagish is closely related to neighboring languages Tahltan and Kaska (forming a complex known as Tagish-Tahltan-Kaska) and Southern Tutchone. The languages in this complex have an extremely similar lexicon and grammar but differ in systems of obstruents. It is alternatively known as Dene K'e.[citation needed]
The Tagish people make their territory in southern Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia in Canada, most specifically at Tagish, which lies between Marsh Lake and Tagish Lake, and Carcross, located between Bennett and Nares Lake. The language was used most frequently in the Lewes and Teslin plateaus.
The culture of the Tagish people has its roots in both the coastal indigenous cultures and those from the interior (Tlingit and Athabaskan, respectively). Trade and travel across the Chilkoot pass contributed to the mixing of these cultures. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Tlingit-speaking peoples began to move in from the coast and intermarry with the native Tagish-speaking population. By the time outsiders first made contact in the 1880s, the majority of the people were bilingual, and the Tlingit language had replaced Tagish as the language of the majority.
Tagish became less common partially because native traditions were domesticated and suppressed in writing by the colonial administration. The most significant impact on the decline of nearly every native language in Canada came when aboriginal children were forced to attend residential schools where they were forbidden to speak their own languages.
After the Yukon Gold Rush in 1898, English became the majority language of the area. As the majority of children attended the English-only Chooutla Anglican school nearby, fluency in the native languages began to be lost. Language courses began to be reintroduced in the 1970s, but the programs had little funding and were not comparable to the French or English programs present. More recently, political awareness has led to movements to gain constitutional provisions for the language, as well as a greater focus on in-school programs, language conferences, and public awareness. For example, beginning in 2004, Southern Tutchone and Tagish languages were being revitalized and protected through an on-line approach called FirstVoices.
The federal government signed an agreement giving the territory $4.25 million over five years to "preserve, develop and enhance aboriginal languages"; however, Tagish was not one of the offered native language programs. Ken McQueen stated that despite efforts, the language will likely become extinct after the last fluent Tagish speaker dies.