By Christina Holmgren
Special to the Juneau Empire

In 1987, when "Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors: Tlingit Oral Narratives" by Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer was first published, the future of the Tlingit language looked glum. And since language carries in its heart the lifeblood of a culture, its way to conceptualize, understand, and interpret the world, the death of a language always means the richest form of inherited knowledge of a culture dies along with it.

"Children no longer speak Tlingit," wrote Nora Marks Dauenhauer in the preface of the book. "Few young parents speak the language; as far as we know, there are no speakers under the age of 30, and there are only a handful of speakers under the age of 50."

Working to preserve as much as possible the living cultural memory that is the oral tradition of telling stories, the Dauenhauers tape recorded Tlingit elders telling their stories, then transferred them into writing, first in Tlingit, then translated them into English.

Today, the future of the Tlingit language looks a bit brighter, but the Dauenhauers' book is still an invaluable source of knowledge and a cultural treasure chest.

The Tlingit and English text runs side by side, so that when difference in the language structure makes the translation decidedly "different" in grammar or form of expression, even a non-Tlingit speaker can get an idea of how the original Tlingit language expresses an idea.

The book's introduction gives a brief overview of Tlingit culture and tradition, and even gives a basic course in Tlingit - complete with alphabet, grammar, and pronounciation rules. The remarks on the language are fascinating, and any reader with interest in linguistics, and specifically in how culture is embedded in the way a language "works" will be simultaneously filled with respect for those deciding to learn this decidedly complex language, and begging for more.

Fifteen years after the book was first published, it is still very much alive and hopping off the shelves at local book stores. And as Native and non-Native Alaskans alike, along with visitors from all over the globe, stay interested in keeping the stories of the elders alive, respecting this ancient culture and its ways, and wanting to learn from it, the Dauenhauers' books will be in print.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

"Alaska native writers, storytellers and orators" (Anchorage : College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alaska, 1986.) (Oral History )

"Because we cherish you : Sealaska elders speak to the future" (Juneau : Sealaska Heritage Foundation Press, 1981.) (Oral History)

"Beginning Tlingit" (Tlingit Readers, 1976.) (Non-fiction)

"The droning Shaman" (Haines, Alaska : Black Current Press, 1988.) (Poetry in Tlingit and English)

"Haa Kusteeyi, Our Culture" (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.) (Oral History; Tlingit social and political history.)

"Haa kusteeyi, our culture : Tlingit life stories" (Seattle : University of Washington Press, 1994.) (Oral History)

"Haa shuka, our ancestors speak" (Seattle : University of Washington, 1987.) (Oral History)

"Haa tuwunaagu yis, for healing our spirit : Tlingit oratory" (Seattle : University of Washington Press, 1990.) (Oral History)

"Life woven with song" (Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 2000.)

OTHER BOOKS BY TLINGIT AUTHORS:

Rudy James: "Devilfish Bay: the giant devilfish story" (Woodinville, WA : Wolfhouse Pub., 1997.)

Walt Larson: "From the Wilderness" (Karmichael Pr, 1996.)

Frances Lackey Paul: "Kahtahah" (Anchorage : Alaska Northwest Pub. Co., 1976.) (Youth fiction; illustrated by Rie Muñoz.)

Frances Lackey Paul: "Spruce root basketry of the Alaska Tlingit." (Lawrence, Kan. : Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Indian AffairsDept. of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1954. )