Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan
Dene
Geographic distribution	Western North America
Linguistic classification	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dene Athabaskan–Eyak Athabaskan
Proto-language	Proto-Athabaskan
Subdivisions	Northern Athabaskan Pacific Coast Athabaskan Southern Athabaskan
ISO 639-2 / 5	ath
Glottolog	atha1247
Geographic distribution of the Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan (

Chipewyan is spoken over the largest area of any North American native language, while Navajo is spoken by the largest number of people of any native language north of Mexico.

The word Athabaskan is an

The four spellings—Athabaskan, Athabascan, Athapaskan, and Athapascan—are in approximately equal use. Particular communities may prefer one spelling over another (Krauss 1987). For example, the Tanana Chiefs Conference and Alaska Native Language Center prefer the spelling Athabascan.^[3] Ethnologue uses Athapaskan in naming the language family and individual languages.^[4]

Although the term Athabaskan is prevalent in linguistics and anthropology, there is an increasing trend among scholars to use the terms Dené and Dené languages, which is how many of their native speakers identify it. They are applying these terms to the entire language family. For example, following a motion by attendees in 2012, the annual Athabaskan Languages Conference changed its name to the Dené Languages Conference.^[5]

Languages

Linguists conventionally divide the Athabaskan family into three groups, based on geographic distribution:

1. Northern Athabaskan languages
2. Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages
3. Southern Athabaskan languages or "Apachean"

The 32 Northern Athabaskan languages are spoken throughout the interior of

The seven or more Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages are spoken in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These include Applegate, Galice, several Rogue River area languages, Upper Coquille, Tolowa, and Upper Umpqua in Oregon; Eel River, Hupa, Mattole–Bear River, and Tolowa in northern California; and possibly Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie in Washington.

The seven Southern Athabaskan languages are isolated by considerable distance from both the Pacific Coast languages and the Northern languages. Reflecting an ancient migration of peoples, they are spoken by Native Americans in the American Southwest and the northwestern part of Mexico. This group comprises the six Southern Athabaskan languages and Navajo.

The following list gives the Athabaskan languages organized by their geographic location in various North American states, provinces and territories (including some languages that are now extinct). Several languages, such as Navajo and Gwich'in, span the boundaries: these languages are repeated by location in this list. For alternative names for the languages, see the classifications given later in this article.

• Alaska: Ahtna, Deg Hit'an, Dena'ina/Tanaina, Gwich'in/Kutchin, Hän, Holikachuk, Koyukon, Lower Tanana, Middle Tanana, Tanacross, Upper Tanana, Upper Kuskokwim
• Yukon: Gwich'in/Kutchin, Hän, Kaska, Mountain, Tagish, Northern Tutchone, Southern Tutchone, Upper Tanana
• Northwest Territories: Bearlake, Dëne Sųłiné/Chipewyan, Gwich'in, Hare, Mountain, Slavey, Tłįchǫ Yatiì/Dogrib
• Nunavut: Dëne Sųłiné
• British Columbia: Babine–Witsuwit'en, Bearlake, Beaver, Chilcotin, Dakelh/Carrier, Hare, Kaska, Mountain, Nicola Athapaskan, Sekani/Tsek'ene, Slavey, Tagish, Tahltan, Tsetsaut
• Alberta: Beaver, Dëne Sųłiné, Slavey, Tsuut'ina/Sarcee
• Saskatchewan: Dëne Sųłiné
• Washington: Kwalhioqua-Clatskanai (Willapa, Suwal)
• Oregon: Applegate, Clatskanie, Galice, Rogue River (Chasta Costa, Euchre Creek, Tututni, Upper Coquille), Tolowa, Upper Umpqua
• California: Eel River, Hupa, Mattole–Bear River, Kato, Tolowa
• Utah: Navajo
• Colorado: Jicarilla, Navajo
• Arizona: Chiricahua, Navajo, Western Apache
• New Mexico: Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan, Navajo
• Texas: Mescalero, Lipan
• Oklahoma: Chiricahua, Plains Apache
• Sonora: Chiricahua
• Chihuahua: Chiricahua

Alaskan Athabaskan languages

External classification

Tlingit is distantly related to the Athabaskan–Eyak group to form the Na-Dene family, also known as Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit (AET). With Jeff Leer's 2010 advances, the reconstructions of Na-Dene (or Athabascan–Eyak–Tlingit) consonants, this latter grouping is considered by Alaskan linguists to be a well-demonstrated family. Because both Tlingit and Eyak are fairly remote from the Athabaskan languages in terms of their sound systems, comparison is usually done between them and the reconstructed Proto-Athabaskan language. This resembles both Tlingit and Eyak much more than most of the daughter languages in the Athabaskan family.

Although Ethnologue still gives the Athabaskan family as a relative of Haida in their definition of the Na-Dene family, linguists who work actively on Athabaskan languages discount this position. The Alaska Native Language Center, for example, takes the position that recent improved data on Haida have served to conclusively disprove the Haida-inclusion hypothesis. Haida has been determined to be unrelated to Athabaskan languages.

A symposium in Alaska in February 2008 included papers on the Yeniseian and Na-Dené families. Edward Vajda of Western Washington University summarized ten years of research, based on verbal morphology and reconstructions of the proto-languages, indicating that these languages might be related.^[8]

Internal classification

The internal structure of the Athabaskan language family is complex, and its exact shape is still a hotly debated issue among experts. The conventional three-way split into Northern, Pacific Coast, and Southern is essentially based on geography and the physical distribution of Athabaskan peoples rather than sound linguistic comparisons. Despite this inadequacy, current comparative Athabaskan literature demonstrates that most Athabaskanists still use the three-way geographic grouping rather than any of the proposed linguistic groupings given below, because none of them has been widely accepted. This situation will presumably change as both documentation and analysis of the languages improves.

Overview

Besides the traditional geographic grouping described previously, there are a few comparatively based subgroupings of the Athabaskan languages. Below the two most current viewpoints are presented.

The following is an outline of the classification according to Keren Rice, based on those published in Goddard (1996) and Mithun (1999). It represents what is generously called the "Rice–Goddard–Mithun" classification (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:73), although it is almost entirely due to Keren Rice.

Branches 1–7 are the Northern Athabaskan (areal) grouping. Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai (#7) was normally placed inside the Pacific Coast grouping, but a recent consideration by Krauss (2005) does not find it very similar to these languages.

A different classification by Jeff Leer is the following, usually called the "Leer classification" (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:72–74):

Neither subgrouping has found any significant support among other Athabaskanists. Details of the Athabaskan family tree should be regarded as tentative. As Tuttle and Hargus put it, "we do not consider the points of difference between the two models ... to be decisively settled and in fact expect them to be debated for some time to come." (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:74)

The Northern group is particularly problematic in its internal organization. Due to the failure of the usual criteria of shared innovation and systematic phonetic correspondences to provide well-defined subgroupings, the Athabaskan family – especially the Northern group – has been called a "cohesive complex" by Michael Krauss (1973, 1982). Therefore, the Stammbaumtheorie or family tree model of genetic classification may be inappropriate. The languages of the Southern branch are much more homogeneous and are the only clearly genealogical subgrouping.

Debate continues as to whether the Pacific Coast languages form a valid genealogical grouping, or whether this group may instead have internal branches that are tied to different subgroups in Northern Athabaskan. The position of

Similarly to Nicola, there is very limited documentation on Tsetsaut. Consequently, it is difficult to place it in the family with much certainty. Athabaskanists have concluded that it is a Northern Athabaskan language consistent with its geographical occurrence, and that it might have some relation to its distant neighbor Tahltan. Tsetsaut, however, shares its primary hydronymic suffix ("river, stream") with Sekani, Beaver, and Tsuut'ina – PA *-ɢah – rather than with that of Tahltan, Tagish, Kaska, and North and South Tutchone – PA *-tuʼ (Kari 1996; Kari, Fall, & Pete 2003:39). The ambiguity surrounding Tsetsaut is why it is placed in its own subgroup in the Rice–Goddard–Mithun classification.

For detailed lists including languages, dialects, and subdialects, see the respective articles on the three major groups:

Northern Athabaskan

The Northern Athabaskan languages are the largest group in the Athabaskan family, although this group varies internally about as much as do languages in the entire family. The

Very little is known about Tsetsaut, and for this reason it is routinely placed in its own tentative subgroup.

The Nicola language is so poorly attested that it is impossible to determine its position within the family. It has been proposed by some to be an isolated branch of Chilcotin.

The Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie language is debatably part of the Pacific Coast subgroup, but has marginally more in common with the Northern Athabaskan languages than it does with the Pacific Coast languages (Leer 2005). It thus forms a notional sort of bridge between the Northern Athabaskan languages and the Pacific Coast languages, along with Nicola (Krauss 1979/2004).

Pacific Coast Athabaskan

• Pacific Coast Athabaskan
  • California Athabaskan subgroup
    • Hupa (also known as Hupa-Chilula, Chilula, Whilkut)
    • Mattole–Bear River
    • Eel River
      (also known as Wailaki, Lassik, Nongatl, Sinkyone)
    • Kato (also known as Cahto)
  • Oregon Athabaskan subgroup
    • Upper Umpqua
      (also known as Etnemitane)
    • • Lower Rogue River and Upper Coquille
        (also known as Tututni, Chasta Costa, Euchre Creek and Coquille)
      • Upper Rogue River
        (also known as Galice/Taltushtuntede, Applegate/Dakubetede)
    • Tolowa (also known as Smith River, Chetco, Siletz Dee-ni)

Southern Athabaskan

• Southern Athabaskan
  • Plains Apache subgroup
    • Plains Apache (also known as Kiowa-Apache)
  • Western Apachean subgroup
    • Chiricahua–Mescalero
      • Chiricahua
      • Mescalero
    • Navajo (also known as Navaho)
    • Western Apache (also known as Coyotero Apache)
  • Eastern Apachean subgroup
    • Jicarilla
    • Lipan

Sicoli & Holton (2014)

Using

computational phylogenetic methods, Sicoli & Holton (2014)^[9] proposed the following classification for the Athabaskan languages based exclusively on typological (non-lexical) data. However, this phylogenetic study was criticized as methodologically flawed by Yanovich (2020), since it did not employ sufficient input data to generate a robust tree that does not depend on the initial choice of the "tree prior", i.e. the model for the tree generation.^[10]

• Athabaskan
  • (Yeniseian)
  • (Tlingit–Eyak)
  • South Pacific Coast Athabaskan (California)
  • (unnamed clade)
    • Tsetsaut
    • Upper Kuskokwim
    • Ahtna
    • Dena'ina
    • West Alaska (Koyukon)
      • Deg Xinag
      • Holikachuk, Koyukon
    • North Pacific Coast (Oregon)
    • Alaska-Canada-2
      • Gwich’in
      • Dogrib
      • North Slavey
      • Carrier, Dane-zaa (Beaver)
    • Plains-Apachean
      • Sarsi
      • Southern Athabaskan
    • Alaska-Canada-1
      • Tanana
        • Upper Tanana
        • Lower Tanana, Tanacross
      • Northwestern Canada
        • Hän
        • South Slavey, Kaska
        • Southern Tutchone

Proto-Athabaskan

Main article:

Proto-Athabaskan

Proto-Athabaskan is the reconstructed ancestor

of the Athabaskan languages.

See also

• trade language
  based on Slavey, French, and Cree.
• Dené–Yeniseian languages
• Loucheux Pidgin
  , another trade language based on at least Dëne Sųłiné (Chipewyan) and Gwich'in (Loucheux).

References

1. ^ Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 52
2. ^ Albert Gallatin, 1836:116–17.
3. ^ Alaska Native Language Center: "The Name Athabascan" Archived June 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
4. ^ Ethnologue: Language Family Trees – Athapaskan
5. ^ "Dené (Athabaskan) Languages Conference". Retrieved 18 March 2020.
6. Dena'ina#Language
7. ^ Alaska Native Language Center (ANLC). University of Alaska Fairbanks.
8. ISBN 978-1-55500-112-4
   .
9. PMID 24621925
   .
10. S2CID 209542004
    .

Bibliography

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• Hymes, Dell H. (1957). "A note on Athapaskan glottochronology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 23 (4): 291–297.
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• Kari, James (2010). "The concept of geolinguistic conservatism in Na-Dene prehistory" (PDF). In Kari, James; Potter, Ben A. (eds.). The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, new series. Vol. 5. Fairbanks: University of Alaska. pp. 194–222. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-05-23.
• Kari, James; Fall, James A.; Shem Pete (2003). Shem Pete's Alaska: The territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Denaʼina. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press.
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• Krauss, Michael E. (1969). On the classification in the Athapascan, Eyak, and the Tlingit verb. Baltimore: Waverly Press by Indiana University.
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• Krauss, Michael E. (1977). "Proto-Athabaskan–Eyak fricatives and the first person singular". Alaska Native Language Archive. CA961K1977a.
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• Krauss, Michael E. (1979). "Athabaskan tone". CA961K1978. (Published with revisions as Krauss 2005)
• Krauss, Michael E. (November 1981). "On the history and use of comparative Athapaskan linguistics". Alaska Native Language Archive. CA961K1981.
• Krauss, Michael E. (1986). "Edward Sapir and Athabaskan Linguistics, with Preliminary Annotated Bibliography of Sapir's Work on Athabaskan and Na-Dene". In Cowan, William; Foster, Michael; Koerner, K. (eds.). New Perspectives in Language, Culture, and Personality: Proceedings of the Edward Sapir Centenary Conference (Ottawa, 1–3 October 1984). Studies in the History of the Language Sciences. Vol. 41. Amsterdam: Benjamins. pp. 147–190.
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• Krauss, Michael E. (1987). "The name Athabaskan". In Corey, Peter L. (ed.). Faces, Voices & Dreams: A celebration of the centennial of the Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, Alaska, 1888–1988 (PDF). Sitka, AK: Division of Alaska State Museums and the Friends of the Alaska State Museum. pp. 105–108. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-23.
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• Krauss, Michael E.; Golla, Victor (1981). "Northern Athapaskan languages". In Helm, J. (ed.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 6: Subarctic. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 67–85.
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• Leer, Jeff (1979). Proto-Athabaskan verb stem variation I: Phonology. Alaska Native Language Center research papers. Vol. 1. Fairbanks, AK: Alaska Native Language Center. CA965L1979b.
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• Leer, Jeff (2008). "Recent advances in AET comparison". Alaska Native Language Archive. CA965L2008b.
• Leer, Jeff (2010). "The Palatal Series in Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit, with an Overview of the Basic Sound Correspondences". In Kari, J.; Potter, B. (eds.). The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, new series. Vol. 5. Fairbanks: University of Alaska. pp. 168–193.
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• Tlingit Verb Dictionary. Summer Institute of Linguistics. 1973.
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• Rice, Keren (1997). "A reexamination of Proto-Athabaskan y". Anthropological Linguistics. 39 (3): 423–26.
• Rice, Keren (18 May 2000). Morpheme Order and Semantic Scope: Word Formation in the Athapaskan Verb. Cambridge University Press.
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• Sapir, Edward (1936). "Linguistic evidence suggestive of the northern origin of the Navaho". American Anthropologist. 38 (2): 224–235.
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• Sapir, Edward; Golla, Victor (2001). "Hupa Texts, with Notes and Lexicon". In Golla, Victor; O'Neill, Sean (eds.). Collected Works of Edward Sapir. Vol. 14: Northwest California Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Saville-Troike, Muriel (1985). "On variable data and phonetic law: A case from Sapir's Athabaskan correspondences". International Journal of American Linguistics. 51 (4): 572–574.
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• Sturtevant, William C., ed. (1978). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 1–20. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. (As of January 2024[update], vols. 18–20 not yet published)
• Vajda, Edward (2010). "A Siberian Link with Na-Dene Languages". In Kari, J.; Potter, B. (eds.). The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, new series. Vol. 5. Fairbanks: University of Alaska. pp. 33–99.
• Vajda, Edward J. (2023-01-12). "The Dené-Yeniseian Hypothesis". Linguistics.
  ISBN 978-0-19-977281-0. Archived from the original
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Further reading

• Leer, Jeff (1992-03-17). "Na-La-Dene cognate sets". Alaska Native Language Archive. CA965L1992b.
• Leer, Jeff (1996). "Comparative Athabaskan Lexicon". Alaska Native Language Archive. CA965L1996.
• Leer, Jeff (2008). "Recent advances in AET comparison: Paper prepared for the Dene-Yeniseian Symposium. Fairbanks, Feb. 26, 2008". Alaska Native Language Archive. CA965L2008b.
• Saxon, Leslie (2024). "Dene – Athabaskan". In Carmen Dagostino; Marianne Mithun; Keren Rice (eds.). The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America: A Comprehensive Guide. Vol. 2. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 875–930.
  ISBN 978-3-11-071274-2
  .
• Thompson, Chad (1984). "Athabaskan Languages and the Schools: A Handbook for Teachers". Juneau: Alaska Native Language Center. Retrieved 2 July 2020.

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Athapascan".

Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-Athabaskan reconstructions

• Pan-Dene Comparative Lexicon (PanDeneComPlex; formerly the Pan-Athapaskan Comparative Lexicon Archived 2021-06-20 at the Wayback Machine)
• Alaska Native Language Center
• Comparative Athabaskan Lexicon (University of Alaska Fairbanks)
• Athabaskan Satellites & ASL Ion-Morphs
• Yukon Native Language Center
• Athapascan Bibliography
• Don Macnaughtan (10 February 2014). "Oregon Athapaskan Languages: Bibliography of the Athapaskan Languages of Oregon". Retrieved 2018-05-30.
• California Athapascan
• ATHAPBASCKAN-L mailing list for Athabaskan linguistics Archived 2010-06-01 at the Wayback Machine