By Alyssa Peterson, UAS Intern, Amanda Mosher, UAS Intern, Ishmael Hope, UAS Intern
Title: Seth Cable Recordings Collection, 1972-2011
ID: MC/026
Primary Creator: Cable, Seth
Extent: 2.0 Boxes
Date Acquired: 04/03/2012
Subjects: Tlingit language.
This collection consists of reports and recordings generated by linguistic scholar Seth Cable for his research on the Tlingit language as a Visiting Scholar at the Sealaska Heritage Institute from 2005 to 2008, along with his further research from 2011. During this period Cable interviewed fluent speakers of the Tlingit language about aspects of the Tlingit language, such as its syntax and semantics, among other subjects. This research contributed to his 2010 publication, The Grammar of Q: Q-Particles, Wh-Movement, and Pied-Piping, published by Oxford University Press.
Box 1 of the collection primarily consists of audio recorded interviews with fluent Tlingit speakers, with transcriptions and translations usually provided by Seth Cable. Most interviews were with Johnny Marks, with others by David Katzeek, Fred White, and Anita Lafferty. Also included in the collection are several reports of Cable’s research, with focus on Tlingit syntax and semantics.
Further components of this collection include ten audio recording of Tlingit speakers Beatrice Brown, Margaret Dutson, William Fawcett, and Helen Sarabia. These recording were collected in August 2011 by Seth Cable for use in his 2011 publication, Report on Empirical Findings from Field Research on Tlingit: Distributive numerals, Plural Marking of Predicates, Plural Root Suppletion. Though the recordings contained in this collection possess some detailing of the grammatical intricacies of the Tlingit language they center on a broad range of topics from cultural knowledge to the personal histories of the previously mentioned Tlingit speakers Beatrice Brown, Margaret Dutson, William Fawcett, and Helen Sarabia.
Box 2 of the collection primarily consists of audio recorded interviews with fluent Tlingit speakers Margaret Dutson, Selena Everson and William Fawcett. No transcriptions/translations are available for these recordings. Box 2 also contains linguistic analysis of the Tlingit phrases developed by the Tlingit speakers, which discusses future and Potential Inflection, Conditionals and Decessive Suffix.
Repository: Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives
Use Restrictions: Intellectual Properties Note: Since SHI adheres to the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, and since we desire to honor Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian traditional cultural belief that clans retain the intellectual property rights to clan stories or songs, patrons who use or study clan songs or stories are asked to credit clan ownership to stories and songs.
Acquisition Source: Seth Cable
Acquisition Method: The material in the collection was donated to Sealaska Heritage Institute in various batches by linguist Seth Cable, primarily as he completed ongoing research fieldwork projects and then donated his fieldwork materials to SHI. A batch of materials documenting his work from between 2005 to 2011 was donated on April 3, 2012 (accession # 2012.023) and a batch documenting his work conducted during 2012 was donated on Sept 20, 2012 (accession # 2012.24).
Folder 1:
Item 1: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language, including discussions on Tlingit words, pronunciation, grammar, and phrases, with a focus on natural, fluent speech. Transcription/translation provided by Seth Cable, focusing on Tlingit phrases. Audio recording on CD. Length 77 minutes, 26 seconds. Recorded April 26, 2006.
Item 2: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language with a focus on words, pronunciation, grammar, and phrases. Transcription/translation provided by Seth Cable, focusing on Tlingit phrases. Audio recording on CD. Length 20 minutes, 17 seconds. Recorded April 27, 2006.
Item 3: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language, with a focus on language structure and Tlingit grammar. Transcription/translation provided by Seth Cable, focusing on Tlingit phrases. Audio recording on CD. Length 36 minutes, 38 seconds. Recorded April 28, 2006.
Folder 2:
Item 4: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language with a focus on pronunciation, grammar, and phrases. Includes a transcription/translation by Seth Cable, focusing on Tlingit phrases. Audio recording on CD. Length 19 minutes, 5 seconds. Recorded May 1, 2006.
Item 5: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language with a focus on pronunciation, grammar, and phrases. Includes a transcription and translation by Cable of the Tlingit phrases spoken in interview. Audio recording on CD. Length 17 minutes, 8 seconds. Recorded May 2, 2006.
Folder 3:
Item 6: Seth Cable interviewing Anita Lafferty (Hoonah), John Marks (Juneau), and Fred White (Yakutat). Discussions focus on Tlingit language, regarding grammar. Includes a transcription by Cable of the interview. Audio recording on CD. Length 48 minutes, 21 seconds. Recorded April 24, 2007 at Sealaska, Juneau, AK.
Item 7: Seth Cable interviews John Marks (Juneau) and Fred White (Yakutat) about Tlingit language, focusing on grammar. Includes a transcription by Cable of the interview. Audio recording on CD. Length 43 minutes, 15 seconds. Recorded April 25, 2007 at Sealaska, Juneau, AK.
Item 8: Summary by Seth Cable of interviews from April 23-27, 2007. Document entitled: “Summary Report of Research”. Includes discussion of rules in Tlingit language and grammar.
Folder 4:
Item 9: Handwritten transcriptions by Seth Cable of Tlingit oral histories and legends recorded in 1972 and 1986. It appears that most were told by Susie James (Tlingit name was Kaasgéiy, from the Eagle / Chookanedí clan) recorded by Nora Marks Dauenhauer. The stories told are about Raven, including; ‘Raven and the Nass River’, ‘Raven and Whale’, ‘Raven and the Flood’, and ‘Raven and Octopus’. Some clan crests are mentioned for the Kiks.ádi and the T’akdeeintaan. Transcriptions are in Tlingit with English translations included.
Folder 5:
Item 10: Document entitled ‘Word Order, Discourse Structure and the Syntax of Tlingit: Project Description’ by Seth Cable. Analysis of interviews with David Katzeek and John Marks, from December 3-7, 2007. Focus on Tlingit grammar and sentence structure.
Folder 6:
Item 11: Seth Cable interviewing separately David Katzeek and John Marks about Tlingit language, focusing on phrases and dialogue in Tlingit. Audio recording on CD. Length 35 minutes, 8 seconds. Recorded May 21-22, 2008.
Item 12: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language with a focus on pronunciation, grammar, and phrases. Audio recording on CD. Length 46 minutes, 20 seconds. Recorded May 27, 2008 at Sealaska Heritage Institute. [See Item 14 for analysis]
Item 13: Seth Cable interviewing John Marks about Tlingit language, with a focus on pronunciation, grammar, and phrases. Audio recording on CD. Length 43 minutes, 11 seconds. Recorded May 29, 2008 at Sealaska Heritage Institute. [See Item 14 for analysis]
Item 14: Document entitled ‘The Syntax of the Tlingit Clause and the Semantics of the Tlingit Decessive: Project Description’ by Seth Cable. Analysis of interviews with John Marks and David Katzeek, from May 19-23, 2008. Focus on Tlingit sentence structure and the meaning of the Tlingit decessive suffix. [See Items 11-13 for original interviews]
Folder 7:
Item 15: Document entitled ‘The Interrogative Words of Lingít: A Preliminary Study’ by Seth Cable. Report on syntax and semantics of Tlingit words and phrases. Dated July 3, 2005.
Folder 8:
Item 16: Document entitled ‘The Interrogative Words of Tlingit: An Informal Grammatical Study’ by Seth Cable. Focus on syntax of Tlingit syntax and semantics of Tlingit words and phrases. Dated July, 2006.
Folder 9:
Item 17:Document entitled ‘Word Order, Discourse Structure and the Syntax of Tlingit: Project Description’ by Seth Cable. Analysis of interviews with David Katzeek and John Marks, from December 3-7, 2007. Focus on Tlingit grammar and sentence structure.
Item 18: Document entitled “Report on Empirical Findings from Field Research on Tlingit: Distributive numerals, Plural Marking of Predicates, Plural Root Suppletion” by Seth Cable, August 2011.
Folder 10:
Item 19: Ten audio recordings of Tlingit speakers Beatrice Brown, Margaret Dutson, William Fawcett, and Helen Sarabia from August 1, 2011 through August 5, 2011. These recording were used to create the document by Seth Cable listed in item 18. English is spoken for the majority of the recordings though the Tlingit language is used occasionally throughout, especially in regards to specific translation questions put forth by Seth Cable. A variety of topics are discussed on the ten recording including distributive numerals, distributive prefix, cumulative plural predication, collective plural predication, iterative suffixes, perambulative aspect, the number marking of predicates, plural root suppletion, learning the language as children, the recollection of Tlingit dialects, Mr. Fawcett’s use of Tlingit in school, Mrs. Brown’s story of “The Girl Who Told a Lie”, personal reminiscences, the death of Mrs. Brown’s husband, teaching Tlingit in schools, learning English as children, the death of Mrs. Brown’s mother, constellations and astronomical knowledge, Mrs. Anita Lafferty’s funeral, reminiscences about Mrs. Lafferty, reminiscences about school, the difficulty of the subsistence lifestyle, getting into trouble as kids, writing love letters in Tlingit, the difficulties of dating within the traditional ‘moiety system’, Tlingit names, weather descriptions, Tlingits who contributed to the construction of post-war Juneau, the transportation of Xeitl Hit, words for ‘pole’, Mrs. Duston’s family relations to the Gaanaxteidí clan, ‘the church, the language, and Tlingit culture’, the personal story of Mrs. Dutson, the personal story of Mrs. Sarabia, the personal story of Mr. Fawcett. Note: each recording details its contents.
