Geographic Information

Thousands of years ago the Tsimshian lived on the upper reaches of the Skeena River near present-day Hazelton BC. However, a series of disasters occurred and some of the Tsimshian, led by a prince, had to migrate away to the coast, where they founded Kitkatla, one the oldest continually inhabited communities on Earth. Later on, other Tsimshian chiefs then migrated down the river and began to occupy all the lands of the lower Skeena valley. Now, the Tsimshian communities are located in multiple places such as: British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island.

Background Information

Over the course of migrating, the Tsimshian established a new dialect and distinctively considered themselves as a population, all while sharing the customs/rights of their kin from the upper Skeena. The approximation of the number of Tsimshian people back then were around 10,000. In 1862, the smallpox epidemic hit the Tsimshian people and annihilated many of them, as well as a few future epidemics. A while later, the head chiefs led the process of assimilation to become what the White colonists are, and so they adopted the culture, religion and language. However, the Tsimishian did go back to their tradition in the 1970s. A century before that, the people requested a settlement, but then later became a reservation in Alaska, under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which still goes on today.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The Native Language

The Tsimshian speak their own languages, of which there are three. Linguists refer to is as "Coast Tsimshian" due to the difference in dialect among the three languages. There is a cluster of neighboring tribes who speak similar or the same language with different dialects based on their region. The Tsimshians refer to their language as Sm'algyaz, meaning "real or true tongue." The language originated in Canada, but since the Tsimshian people moved from Canada to Alaska in 1887, Tsimshian has been spoken on islands at the tip of the Alaska Panhandle. Today, there are very few native speakers remaining in Canada and Alaska. This is largely due to the fact that there is no actual alphabet, so the language can only be passed down through the spoken word. The Tsimshian's situation can easily be compared to the video seen in class, We Still Live Here, because there is little left of their tribe. Their language is vanishing right before their eyes since there are very few native speakers left, and their language is not written anywhere. They would largely benefit from a program similar to that which Jane Little Doe set up for the Wampanoag people.

Citation:

Powell, J.V.

2010 Tsimshian. Electronic document, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/

tsimshian. 20 March, 2014.

http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/languages/ts/

1 comment:

UnknownApril 14, 2014 at 7:32 PM
Researching the language of the Tsimshian people was very interesting, but also very challenging. Since their language was not written down anywhere and is only spread through the generations by word, it was hard to find many examples of their language and much information on their grammar or etymology of common words. I found it very interesting that their language is only passed down verbally since they have moved around a bit as a group. Also, it was very nice to see how the Tsimshian people's situation compared to that of the Wampanoag, which we learned about in class. It was cool that what we learned directly tied into our project, making my understanding of their language, and lack thereof in recent times, easier. I hope that there are children like the daughter of Jessie Little Doe in "We Still Live Here" for the Tsimshian so that their language can be passed down further.
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