Lingít Word of the Week: Yéil — Raven

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 yéil, or raven. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say yéil.

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

Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: yéil. 

That means raven.

Here are some sentences:

Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Yéil neechx̱ yaa nagút.

Raven is walking along the beach.

Keiyishí Bessie Coolie: Yéil yóode saduwa.áx̱ch.

A ravenʼs call is heard way over there.

Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Neechx̱ yaa nagút yéil.

Raven is walking on the beach. 

Keihéenák’w John Martin: Yéil yádi x̱at sitee.

I am a raven child.

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.