Lesson 3 – Environment & Weather

Overview & Goals

This lesson will focus on understanding your environment and the weather, an important natural component of living close to the land. It is also a good subject that you can have conversation with Gwich’in speakers about.

After this lesson, you should begin to be familiar with some of the terms for plants and geography in Gwich’in as well as a cursory understanding of Gwich’in meteorological terminology.

Lecture Video

Resource Videos

Video 1 – Gwich’in Weather terms with Lillian Garnett. Some spelling errors, reads “Jii taii doonch’yaa?’ When it should read “Chiitaii doonch’yaa?’ All pronounciations are correct.

Video 2 – Gwich’in Children’s book “Let it snow’… Affiliated weather terms used in a narrative that is narrated.

Video 3 – Jidii AÅ‚tsan, basic plants and counting narrative. 9 mins 20 sec.

Grammar

Weather

ChiitaÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨ doÌ‚onch’yaa?

How is the weather? (literally, “How is it outside?’)

The word “chiitaÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨’ literally means “outside‘. When speaking about the weather begin with the “chiitaÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨’ then add the word for the type of weather being described, saying “Outside it is ____________’.

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. For instance in the sentence “I have big eyes.‘, the adjective “big‘ describes the noun “eyes‘. In English an adjective usually comes before the word it modifies; in Gwich’in the placement of the adjective in a sentence is opposite with the adjective generally following the word it describes.

I	have		*long*	hair
Pronoun	verb		adjective	noun

Shikiighai’		ninjyaa
Noun		adjectival verb

An adjective in Gwich’in can take one or more of the following forms:

Simple Adjectives (SF): functions like adjectives in English, needing a noun and a verb to complete a sentence.
Areal Adjectives (AA): an adjective beginning with the areal prefix used to describe an areal noun/pronoun. Areal adjectives also need a noun and a verb to complete a sentence.
Adjectival Verbs (AV): an adjective that also function as the verb in the sentence. Only a noun and the adjectival verb are needed to complete a sentence.

For example, the adjective meaning “black’ in Gwich’in appears in all three forms.

zhraÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨	gwazhraÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨	azhraÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨
Simple Adjective	Areal Adjective	Adjectival Verb

The choice of which form of an adjective to use will depend on a variety of factors, including what is being described and the sentence structure. For example:

Simple Adjective:

Ninjii zhuu	vikiighai’		zhraÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨	gwaÌ€nliÌ¨iÌ¨
Domestic cat	its hair		black	has
		The cat has black hair

Time Words

In English time is spoken of in a linear manner, like a timeline, one day progressing to the next, from month to month and from year to year always progressing forward. In Gwich’in time is spoken of more like a circle, the seasons, much like a day, goes through a cycle and then begins again. Instead of breaking the year up into specific days of the week and months of the year, like in English, Gwich’in refers to the times of the year by what activities occur or important events. EXAMPLE. In order communicate with English speakers, over time Gwich’in names for times of the year have been applied to the English system of 12 months they roughly refer to. EXAMPLE

Names for days of the week have also been incorporated Gwich’in. Below are some Gwich’in time terms.

k’ehdÃ i’	juÌ€k drin	nihkaa
yesterday	today	tomorrow


vaÌ€hn	khaa
morning	night

These words can be combined to refer to the time of a specific day like in English. For example, “k’ehdÃ i’ vahn’ means “yesterday morning‘ and “khaa’ refers to “tomorrow night‘. “JuÌ€k’, generally meaning “this’, can be placed before these time words to refer to “this morning‘ (“juÌ€k vahn’) or “this evening/tonight‘ (“juÌ€k khaa’).

Vocabulary

Weather

ChiitaÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨ — outside
DoÌ‚onch’yaa — How is it
Chiitaii doÌ‚onch’yaa? — How is the weather?
Giashreiin’aii — It is sunny
Gwit’eh goo’aii — It is cloudy
Ahtsin — It is rainy
Aht’rÄ…Ä¯Ä¯ — It is windy
GwiÌ‚indhaa — It is warm in the area
GwiÌ‚ink’oo — It is cold in the area
ShrÃ´onch’yaa – It is nice
Ahshii – It is snowing

How are you? (when you are outside)

Neenjit doÌ‚onch’yaa? – how are you?
Ihdluu — I am cold
Nihthaa – I am hot
Cheeshandak – I am tired
ShatthaÌ€i’ niziÌ¨iÌ¨ – I am rested

Time Terms

vaÌ€hn — morning
Drin tÅ‚’an – noon
khaa — night
k’ehdÃ i’ — yesterday
juÌ€k drin — today
nihkaa — tomorrow
GwitÅ‚’ee jiÌ€ – later
Khaii – winter
Shin – summer
Shreenyaa – spring
Khaiits’a’ – fall
K’eegwaadhat k’iighai’ – if god is willing

Environment and Animal Terms

tÅ‚’oo — grass
zhee — sky
ts’iivii — spruce tree
k’aii — willow
t’aa — cottonwood
k’ih — Birch bark
ah — branch
ch’at’an — leaf
taÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨ — trail
taih — hill
han — river
k’oÌ¨oÌ¨ — slough
GwaÌ‚ak’a’ -fire
Shree – sun
ToÌ¨oÌ¨ ozhrii – moon
ChuÌ¨uÌ¨ – water
Dinjii – man
Tr’iÌ€njaÌ€a – woman –
ÅaÌ¨iÌ¨iÌ¨ – dog
Ninjii zhuu – Cat
Shoh zhraii – Black Bear
Shih tthoo – Brown Bear
Geh – Rabbit
Ts’it – Porcupine
Tsee – Beaver
Dlak – Squirrel
Bird – Chiitsal

Tools - Vaat'eet'aara'in

Assignments

Assignment – Weather

(100 points)

Create a new post on this website with the category ‘Weather’. In this written post:

In Gwich’in, describe the current or typical weather in your home town. (1 paragraph)
In English, reflect on your experience with this lesson. (Did you have any challenges with this lesson? Did you have any specific successes? etc.)

Need help? See: How to make a blog post.

Other Resources

Alaska Native Language Archive
The Alaska Native Language Archive has hundreds of thousands of recordings and documents available to aid you in your studies. There are stories that have been transcribed that you can study to learn new words and phrases in Gwich’in, as well as learning Gwich’in language content at the same time. Search the ANLA for all Gwich’in language resources.

Cultural Astronomy
A Newly Documented Whole-Sky Circumpolar Constellation in Alaskan Gwich’in by Chris Cannon (view PDF)

Video of what it’s like to land in Arctic Village, Alaska in summertime