Tlingit Language Data Covenant
This covenant governs how Tlingit language recordings, words, and knowledge are gathered, shared, and protected within the Chief Situk Voice & Language experience. It is a promise to the people, made in the spirit of our traditional values.
The language belongs to the people
Tlingit language, stories, songs, and ceremony are the collective inheritance of the Tlingit people. This platform holds them in trust on behalf of the community — it does not own them, and it never will.
Consent comes first
Recordings and knowledge are only used in ways their speakers and rights-holders have agreed to. “Downloadable for study” is not permission to redistribute, train models on, or clone a voice. Each new use requires its own clear consent.
Provenance is always kept
Every recording carries its source, its speakers, and its rights notes. We cite where words come from — including the published Tlingit Dictionary — so learners always know the origin and can verify it.
No fabrication, no fakery
We never invent Tlingit words, translations, pronunciations, stories, or ceremony. We never synthesize or clone a Tlingit voice. Authentic pronunciation comes only from fluent speakers and elders — technology supplements them, it never replaces them.
No training or cloning without permission
Source audio is treated as study material only. No machine-learning training, voice cloning, or commercial use happens without explicit, documented permission from the rights-holders and the community.
The right to correct, revoke & take down
Elders, speakers, families, and the Tlingit & Haida nation may correct an entry, restrict access, or request removal at any time. Those requests are honored promptly. Review by fluent speakers governs what is shared.
How we honor this covenant here
- Recordings are stored with their permissions. Only recordings marked for public playback are shared, and each is presented with its speakers and source.
- Dictionary entries are drawn directly from the published Tlingit Dictionary (X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell, ed., 2017) with the page cited. Nothing is invented.
- Chief Situk speaks English guidance in a general narration voice and never pretends to pronounce Tlingit. He points learners to fluent speakers and elders.
- All language content currently carries an unreviewed status pending review by fluent speakers before wider community release.
To correct an entry, restrict access, add consent, or request a takedown, please reach the Institute directly.