List of contributors

A large number of people have made contributions to the development of the database from which this Sm’algyax Living Legacy talking dictionary has been developed. The following list provides brief details on many of these contributions. Sincere regrets if any individuals have been inadvertently omitted below.

Lexical Database and Software Development

The original database for this dictionary was developed through a process led by the Ts’msyen Sm’algyax Authority and the Sm’algyax Committee of School District 52. A graduate student in linguistics at the time, Tonya Stebbins was hired to establish the initial lexical database, which was based on data from John Dunn’s Practical Dictionary*, entered in SIL’s Shoebox software by Stebbins. Some data from Franz Boas’ publications on the Tsimshian was also referenced. The Sm’algyax committee then met regularly to add entries and to provide examples and details on meaning and usage for the entries. Members of the Sm’algyax committee since its inception have included:  Margaret Anderson, Tammy Blumhagen, Doug Brown, Marjorie Brown, Alex Campbell, Sandra Carlick, Kelli Clifton, Sampson Collinson, Tina Demings, Pauline Dudoward, Roberta Edzerza, Stephanie Fisher, Verna Helin, Ernie Hill, Isabel Hill, Mariannne Ignace, Laura Leask, Nadine Leighton, Sylvia Leighton, Theresa Lowther, Ellen Mason, Velna Nelson, Beatrice Robinson, Alayna Russell, Ben Spencer, Debbie Leighton-Stephens, Missy Trimble, Darlene Wilson and Mildred Wilson. After the printing of a draft of the initial database, Stebbins was hired to import the data to SIL’s LinguaLinks Software so that Margaret Anderson could use it as the basis for her research project, which provided funding to expand the dictionary, record and link sound files and images, and link lexical entries to texts that were transcribed and entered into a separate component of the database linked to the lexicon, including transcriptions of recordings made by John Dunn and Margaret Anderson and re-writings of texts by William Beynon from the collection that he sent to Boas in the 1930s. This work was a component of a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, called The Spoken Land.  Some data was added in the latter stages of this project from recordings and transcriptions by Fumiko Sasama, a linguist from Japan who has worked in Hartley Bay for the past twenty years. The content of the Sm’algyax curriculum taught in School District 52 is included in the database as well; this was developed by the Sm’algyax Committee, with Dr. Marianne Ignace. The exported dictionary has been available on the web as the Sm’algyax Living Legacy Talking Dictionary since 2003 at the following website: https://smalgyax.unbc.ca

Recording and Data Review/Confirmation

The following individuals have contributed enormously to the work on the Living Legacy database. Some of them made sound recordings, some assisted with confirmation of transcriptions and translations, while others entered data, edited sound files, and collected and prepared image files. Some made multiple contributions. Each of these individuals is a hero in the effort to retain and revitalize Sm’algyax:  Clarence Anderson, Txałgiiw; Tammy Blumhagen, Txałgiiw; Alvin Bolton, Txałgiiw; Bernice Bolton, Txałgiiw; Arnold Booth, New Metlakatla, Alaska; Mary Booth, New Metlakatla, Alaska; Albert Brooks, Lax Kw’alaams; Doug Brown, Gitxaała; Marjorie Brown, Gitxaała; Bea Bryant, Lax Kw’alaams; Bert Bryant, Lax Kw’alaams; Alex Campbell, Lax Kw’alaams; Sampson Collinson, Gitxaała; Alfred Eaton, New Metlakatla, Alaska; George Eaton, Txałgiiw; Lorraine Green, Lax Kw’alaams; Percy Green, Lax Kw’alaams; Isobel Hill, Gitxaała, Robert Hill, Txałgiiw; Sylvia Leighton, Metlakatla; Darlene Leland, Txałgiiw; Delores Lewis, Gitxaała; John Lewis, who was then a student of Sm’algyax provided one sound recording facilitated by his teacher, Tammy Blumhagen; Theresa Lowther, Txałgiiw; Elinor Mason, Txałgiiw; Morris Mason, Kitselas; Violet McKay, Lax Kw’alaams; Velna Nelson, Txałgiiw; Perry Reece, Txałgiiw; Fred Ridley, Txałgiiw; Herbert (Sonny) Ridley, Jr., Txałgiiw; Beatrice Robinson, Gitxaała; Delores Robinson, Txałgiiw; Everett Robinson, Gitxaała; Violet (Tina) Robinson, Txałgiiw; and Mildred Wilson, Txałgiiw.  Please note that village identifications in this list reference the home community of the speaker, not their current residence. All of the recordings were made by fluent speakers who grew up speaking the language except one file made by a student, as indicated above. When listening to a sound file it is generally possible for users of this talking dictionary to identify the speaker, since the file names for the sound recordings include the initials of the speaker and an abbreviation of their village home.

During 2013 - 2017 the database was reviewed by a panel of fluent speakers: Marjorie Brown, Theresa Lowther, Ellen Mason, Velna Nelson and Beatrice Robinson, working with Margaret Anderson and Alayna Russell. Some variant spellings of entries were merged during this process, reducing the number of entries in the database and making the most common spelling more prominent. However the information on variation remains, and can be accessed in the database in the image clips from the Draft Sm'algya̱x Dictionary (2000) and Dunn's Practical Dictionary.

Sound Clips from Archival Recordings

While many of the sound recordings linked in the lexical database were recorded specifically for this project, support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada allowed Margaret Anderson to hire several individuals who catalogued a number of archival recordings made from 1968 to 1987. These were selected from recordings made by Dr John Dunn during his research in Kitkatla, and by Dr. Margaret Seguin Anderson during her research in Hartley Bay. Tammy Blumhagen and Theresa Lowther did a great deal of work in locating appropriate clips and cleaning them up with sound editing software. Archival Recordings included are from: Alfred Anderson, Txałgiiw, Clarence Robinson, Txałgiiw, Louisa Anderson, Txałgiiw, Dorothy Brown, Gitxaała, Elizabeth (Betty Lou) Dundas, Txałgiiw, Alfred Eaton, New Metlakatla, Alaska, Flora (Lola) Eaton, Txałgiiw, Belle Eaton, Txałgiiw, Cora Robinson, Txałgiiw, Violet Robinson, Txałgiiw, and Kathleen Vickers, Gitxaała.

Images Provided

A number of clip art images are used from Print Artist Platinum software, version 23 (abbreviated in picture captions as "PAP v23").

A number of images are provided courtesy of Aboriginal Education, School District 52 (abbreviated in picture captions as "Aboriginal Ed, SD 52").

Dr. Nancy Turner provided a large collection of photographs of plants, all with their Latin nomenclature – much appreciated!  Several photographs were provided by the following: Nadine Leighton, Txałgiiw and Donald Reece, Txałgiiw, Edward Bryant, Lax Kw’alaams and Michael Dangeli, Vancouver. The artwork used at the top of this site is a collage of images from Bryant and Dangeli. Marianne Ignace provided a number of images of animals, and many images were scanned from Margaret Anderson's research materials.

One PowerPoint image was provided by each of the following, who were then students of Sm’algyax at Charles Hayes Secondary School in Prince Rupert: Brianne Gladstone, Vance Leask, Vanessa Leighton, Graham Lindsay, William Nelson, Kiesha Pahl, and Alana Russell.

Recording and Editing Sound Clips, & Image Acquisition

Tammy Blumhagen, Txałgiiw, Lorraine Green, Lax Kw’alaams, Theresa Lowther, Txałgiiw and Morris Mason, Kitselas.

Scanning and editing of image clips from previous dictionaries and archival materials from Franz Boas, William Beynon and Marius Barbeau, Janice Astawa, Karla Booth, Charanda McLean, Keisha Pahl, and Alana Nelson, Debbie Ridley, Txałgiiw and Erin Seguin, Tracy, California.

Financial Support

First Peoples Heritage, Language and Culture Council/First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation facilitated several grants to for expansion of the original lexical database, and especially for the recording and editing of sound files now linked to most entries in the database.  Support and accounting of these grants was provided at various points by the former Tsimshian Tribal Council (Pansy Blackmon) and the Hartley Bay Band Council office staff (Ann Clifton).

School District 52 has supported this project and other initiatives for the revitalization of the Sm’algyax language in numerous ways. The Aboriginal Education Council and the Aboriginal Education Department of School District 52 have supported the development of this and other resources. The district’s contributions have included substantial time and energy from Debbie Leighton-Stephens, as well as defraying expenses and facilitating meetings of the Sm’algyax Committee and the Ts’msyen Sm’algyax Authority. The Ts’mysen Sm’algyax Authority was established under the auspices of the Tsimshian Tribal Council, and has been facilitated by the Aboriginal Education Council of the school district since the tribal council was disbanded.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded a research grant to The Spoken Land project, for which Margaret Anderson was the primary researcher. The funds from this grant facilitated much of the work on this database.

The University of Northern British Columbia has provided support through Dr. Anderson’s research time, by providing research accounting services for the three-year SSHRCC grant that facilitated much of the work on this project, by hosting the online version of the Living Legacy Sm’algyax Talking Dictionary and generous assistance by computer support personnel.

Beginning in 2013 work on the database was supported by a seven-year SSHRCC Partnership Grant, for which Dr. Marianne Ignace was the Principal Investigator and Dr. Margaret Anderson was a co-investigator. The Ts'msyen Sm'algya̱x Authority was a partner in the grant.

For the past ten years Dr. Anderson has received advice, assistance and occasionally rescue from data disasters by Larry Hayashi, who teaches at Trinity Western University, and is affiliated with SIL and CanIL. He provided the export software that facilitated uploading the talking dictionary to the web, and has been an enormous help in this process.

It is now 2018, and work on the database continues. Supported by the SSHRC Partnership Grant, a small research team has continued to add texts to the project's FieldWorks database: Beatrice Robinson, Velna Nelson, Ellen Mason and Theresa Lowther, working with Margaret Anderson and Alayna Russell; the late Marjorie Brown was an important member of our team till her death. We have rewritten dozens of texts that were sent by Ts'msyen ethnographer William Beynon to Franz Boas during the 1930s, and which were archived at Columbia University library. Through this process we have "harvested" words from the rewritten archival texts, words that were recalled to memories of the fluent speakers through these texts. We have also added conversational material to the database, especially during a project supported by the Jacobs Research Funds in 2017. Despite the decades of work already completed, there is much still to be done to ensure that the Sm'algya̱x Living Legacy Talking Dictionary captures the richness and nuances of the language and we continue to seek resources to do more. In 2018 the Ts'msyen Sm'algya̱x Authority received two new grants that will facilitate continuation of this work, a two-year Aboriginal Languages Initiative grant and a three-year British Columbia Languages Initiative grant, both through the First Peoples' Cultural Council.