X̱aayda kil ga sḵ'aadgada daas llGaayGa sda
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Anthropology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
alternative: Haida language ember carriers and language learners : Elder wisdom and family language transmission in Haida language revitalization
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Cullis-Suzuki, Severn
issued: 2025-10-22T16:08:12Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This dissertation examines X̱aad kíl/X̱aayda kil Haida language (X̱K) revitalization through ethnographic and linguistic perspectives. Grounded in X̱aaydas giinaa.ah Haida ways of being and situated within Haida Gwaii's historical context—where Haida people have lived for over 13,000 years—this research draws on oral history interviews with ten Elders representing the first-language (L1) speaker cohort, alongside detailed linguistic analysis of X̱aayda kil (Skidegate dialect) acquisition in a year-long, family language immersion program. The ethnographic research traces X̱K's dramatic shift from the language of a thriving nation to being suuda ḵ’uhlda whispered in secret following colonial violence, particularly the 1862 smallpox epidemic that reduced the Haida population by over 95%, and systematic assault through Indian Agents, Churches and residential schools. Through incredibly difficult times, fluent speakers carried X̱K as embers through four decades of silence, bringing it back out when the darkest times had passed, in the early 1970s. They are X̱aayda kil daas llGaayGa Ember carriers of the Haida language, who successfully carried the language to current generations of Haida. Through interviews, L1 Elders identified critical factors of language shift from X̱K to English. Their personal histories (born 1924 - 1948) converged on timing of the language story. Elders also shared wise counsel for language learning and teaching. Grounded in X̱aaydas giinaa.ah, Language Revitalization and Second Language Acquisition principles, a multi-disciplinary methodology created an immersion program involving participants across three generations (one L1 fluent Elder and four L2 learners) in eight month-long Intensive Language Periods (ILPs) over a year. Language transmission involved land-based practices, family interaction and play. To document changes in productive X̱K speech, storytelling recordings were made after each ILP, providing rich data that identified structural …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92695
note: XAAYDA KIL GA SK’AADGADA DAAS LLGAAYGA SDA LANGUAGE LEARNING FROM THE EMBER CARRIERS: ELDER WISDOM AND FAMILY LANGUAGE TRANSMISSION IN HAIDA LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION by Severn Cullis-Suzuki B.Sc., Yale University 2002 M.Sc., University of Victoria, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2025 © Severn Cullis-Suzuki, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: X̱aayda kil daas llGaayGa ad Xaayda kil sk’aadGadas Haida language ember carriers and language learners: Elder wisdom and family language transmission in Haida language revitalization submitted by Severn Cullis-Suzuki in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology Examining Committee: Dr. Patricia Shaw, Anthropology, UBC Vancouver Supervisor Dr. Patricia Duff, Language and Literacy Education, UBC Vancouver Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Wade Davis, Anthropology, UBC Vancouver Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Margaret Kovach, Educational Studies, UBC Vancouver University Examiner Dr. Christine Schreyer, Anthropology, UBC Okanagan University Examiner Dr. Leanne Hinton, Professor Emerita, University of California, Berkeley External Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Dr. Bernard Perley, Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, UBC Vancouver Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract This dissertation examines Xaad kíl/Xaayda kil Haida language (XK) revitalization through ethnographic and linguistic perspectives. Grounded in Xaaydas giinaa.ah Haida ways of being and situated within Haida Gwaii's historical context—where Haida people have lived for over 13,000 years—this research draws on oral history interviews with ten Elders representing…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450531
language: eng
degree discipline: Anthropology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Shaw, Patricia A., 1946-
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92695