Téel’ — chum or dog salmon

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 téel’, or chum or dog salmon. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say téel’.

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

Keiyishí Bessie Coolie: Téel’. 

That means chum or dog salmon.

Here are some sentences:

Keiyishí Bessie Coolie: Téelʼ tsú, Deisleent dax̱ uxʼaakch, yéis yít.

Dog Salmon, too, they swim to Teslin in the fall.

Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Ḵúnáx̱ yak’éi áwé wé téel’ útlx̱i

Dog salmon is really good boiled fish. 

Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Aangoon yá Lʼeeneidí has du ádix̱ sitee yá téelʼ.

In Angoon the dog salmon belongs to the Lʼeeneidí.

Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Téelʼ yeisxʼ áwé has yax̱ ya.aa, hóochʼi aayí 

Dog salmon, in the fall, they complete their migration. They are the last one. 

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

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

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