Editing Tlingit language (section)

===Particles===

Particles function as neither noun nor verb. They are restricted to positions relative to phrases in the sentence.

====Focus particles====

The focus particles follow the left periphery ("forephrase" per Leer) of a sentence. The Naish-Story term for them is "post-marginals". Many of them may be suffixed with a demonstrative (''-yá'', ''-hé'', ''-wé'', ''-yú''), and they may also be combined with the interrogative (''-gé''). Focus particles are stylistically written as separate words, but phonetically, they may be indivisible from the preceding utterance.

* ''sá'' — wh-question
* ''gé'' — dubitative, unlikelihood, "perhaps", "maybe, "it would seem..."
* ''á'' — focus
* ''ágé'' — interrogative (< ''á'' + ''gé'')
* ''ásé'' — discovery, understanding of previously unclear information, "oh, so..."
* ''ásgé'' — second hand information, "I hear...", "they say..." (< ''ásé'' + ''gé'')
* ''khu.aa'' — contrastive, "however"
* ''xháa'' – softening, "you see"
* ''shágdéi'' — dubitative, likelihood, "perhaps", "probably"
* ''dágáa'' — emphatic assertion, "indeed", "for sure"
* ''shéi'' — mild surprise
* ''gwáa'', ''gu.áa'' — strong surprise
* ''gwshéi'', ''gushéi'' — rhetorical interrogative, request for corroboration, "I wonder", "perhaps"
* ''óosh'' — hypothetical, "as if", "even if", "if only"

The combination of the focus ''á'' with the demonstratives gives the frequently used particles ''áyá'' and ''áwé'', and the less common ''áhé'' and ''áyú''. Combination of the interrogative ''ágé'' with the demonstratives gives the confirmative particles ''ákwé'' and ''ákyá'' (''ák-hé'' and ''ákyú'' are uncommon), used to elicit a yes/no response from the listener.

The interrogative ''ágé'' also usually contracts to ''ág'' before ''tsú'' "also": ''ág tsú'' "also?" < ''ágé'' + ''tsú''.

The particle ''sá'' is obligatory in forming [[Interrogative word|wh-question]] phrases. It can be combined with a demonstrative, the dubitative, the rhetorical interrogative, and the emphatic assertion:

* ''sáwé'' (< ''sá'' + ''áwé''), ''sáyá'', ... — focused question, "... is that?"
* ''sgé'' (< ''sá'' + ''gé'') — dubitative question, "maybe?", "perhaps?"
* ''ságwshéi'' — "I wonder?"
* ''sdágáa'' (< ''sá'' + ''dágáa'') — "(what) on earth?", "really?"

====Phrasal particles====

Phrasal particles may occur after focus particles that occur with or without demonstrative finals. The following are postphrasal particles, thus they may only occur after the phrase that they modify.

* ''tsá'' — "only then"
* ''tsú'' — "also"
* ''s'é'' — "first", "really!"
* ''déi'' — "now", "this time"
* ''x'wán'' — "be sure to"
* ''tsé'' — "be sure not to"

Except for ''x'wán'' and ''tsé'', the above may occur after the focus particles.

The following are prephrasal particles, i.e. they occur before the phrase that they modify. Naish and Story call these "pre-marginals".

* ''ch'a'' — "just", "the very"
* ''ch'as'' — "only", "just"
* ''ch'ú'' — "even"
* ''tlaxh'' — "very"

====Mobile particles====

These particles may occur before or after any phrase in a clause.

* ''tlei'' — "just," "simply," "just then"
* ''déi'' — "already," "by now"
* ''tsu'' — "again", "still", "some more"

Compare the mobile particle ''tsu'' with the postphrasal particle ''tsú''. Both the sentence ''káaxwei '''tsu''' eetéenaxh xhat yatee'' "I need more coffee" and the sentence ''káaxwei '''tsú''' eetéenaxh xhat yatee'' "I also need coffee" are acceptable. However the sentence ''*'''tsú''' káaxwei eetéenaxh xhat yatee'' is syntactically inadmissible because the particle ''tsú'' is postphrasal, i.e. it cannot precede the phrase it modifies, in this case the noun phrase ''káaxwei''. The corresponding sentence with the ''tsu'' particle in front, '''''tsu''' káaxwei eetéenaxh xhat yatee''  "I need coffee again/still" is in contrast syntactically acceptable. Thus a Tlingit listener will recognize the ''tsu'' particle in a phrase-initial position without confusion but tone is necessary to distinguish it in a phrase-final position. For this reason the ''tsu'' particle is often used prephrasally although it is syntactically admitted in either position. Thus the song name ''Tsu Héidei Shugaxhtootaan'' could also be ''héidei tsu shugaxhtootaan'', but placing the ''tsu'' in front has the advantage of unambiguity, and thus seems more [[Euphony|euphonious]] to native speakers.

====Sentence-initial particles====

These particles may only occur at the front of a sentence. Naish-Story term these "clause marginals".

* ''tléik'', ''l'' — negative, "not"
* ''gwál'' — dubitative, "perhaps"
* ''gu.aal'' — optative, "hopefully"
* ''khaju'', ''xhaju'' — contrary, "actually", "in fact"
* ''khashde'' — "I thought..."