Kwak̕wala Text

This excerpt from a Kwak̕wala text was narrated by a Da̱'naxda'x̱w man, Wetłax̱a̱'as (Jack Peters), and it relates events at Knight Inlet. This story was taken from “Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw Settlements”, and it is written in the U'mista standard orthography as it appears in the book, except that the apostrophe accent is written above the consonant where appropriate. Stress is not marked here.

La̱'maa̱n's g̱wagwixs'alał lax̱ g̱wix'ida'as'wa̱łsa̱n gukwa̱lutida Da'naxda'x̱w lax̱ Dzawadi, le ḵ̓iḵ̓eḵa̱lasa loła 'yexwa̱x̱sa loł t̓a̱p̓idux̱da hestalisex̱ 'wi'la. We g̱wała̱l'mis ḵ̓otła̱lax̱s hiłila'metł, le gukwilida Dzawadalalistła. Mukwi sasa̱mas. La̱m om dida'la̱msis gukwa̱lut wa'okwa̱x̱s le 'la̱ḵasa t̕łiḵ̓a lax̱is dzuxwa̱msg̱a̱m, ḵu'la t̓a̱p̓idtł. Wa̱yuḵ̕wa̱sida wa'okw he g̱wix'idtłi. La̱m ḵ̓otła̱li Dzawadalalisax̱ ga̱n's gig̱adex. “Gi'yi”, nik x̱an's gig̱a̱ma'yi. We, la̱m 'yugwa̱x'ida, ol 'yugwa. Ugwaḵ̓a̱la'mida xwak̕wa̱na la yatłudala x̱is dzuxwa̱m lak. Mut̕saḵida xwak̕wa̱na. La̱m 'ma̱nida biba̱gwana̱m x̱a da̱nas kas mugwana̱we'.