Editing Tlingit language (section)

==Writing system==
{{Main|Tlingit alphabet}}
Until the late 1960s, Tlingit was written exclusively in phonetic transcription in the works of linguists and anthropologists except for a little-known Cyrillic alphabet used for publications by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]]. A number of amateur anthropologists doing extensive work on the Tlingit had no training in linguistics and so left numerous samples in vague and inconsistent transcriptions, the most famous being [[George T. Emmons]]. However, such noted anthropologists as [[Franz Boas]], [[John R. Swanton]], and [[Frederica de Laguna]] have transcribed Tlingit in various related systems that feature accuracy and consistency but sacrifice readability.

Two problems ensue from the multiplicity of transcription systems used for Tlingit. One is that there are many of them, thus requiring any reader to learn each individual system depending on what sources are used. The other is that most transcriptions made before Boas's study of Tlingit have numerous mistakes in them, particularly because of misinterpretations of the short vowels and ejective consonants. Accuracy of transcription can be increased by checking against similar words in other systems, or against a modern work postdating Naish and Story's work in the 1960s.