Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Coast and Southern (or

Apachean The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan homelands in the north into th ...

). Kari and Potter (2010:10) place the total territory of the 53 Athabaskan languages at .

Chipewyan The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancest ...

is spoken over the largest area of any North American native language, while

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

is spoken by the largest number of people of any native language north of Mexico. The word ''Athabaskan'' is an

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

version of a

Cree language Cree ( ; also known as Cree–Montagnais language, Montagnais–Naskapi language, Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 86,475 people across Canada in 2021, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to ...

name for

Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...

( '

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

there are reeds one after another') in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Cree is one of the

Algonquian languages The Algonquian languages ( ; also Algonkian) are a family of Indigenous languages of the Americas and most of the languages in the Algic language family are included in the group. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from ...

and therefore not itself an Athabaskan language. The name was assigned by

Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist, and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years ...

in his 1836 (written 1826) classification of the languages of North America. He acknowledged that it was his choice to use this name for the language family and the associated ethnic groups: "I have designated them by the arbitrary denomination of Athabascas, which derived from the original name of the lake." 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 The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), the traditional tribal consortium of the 42 villages of Interior Alaska, is a non-profit organization that works toward meeting the needs and challenges for more than 10,000 Alaska Natives (mostly Alaskan Atha ...

and

Alaska Native Language Center The Alaska Native Language Center, established in 1972 in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a research center focusing on the research and documentation of the Native languages of Alaska. It publishes grammars, dictionaries, folklore collections and research m ...

prefer the spelling ''Athabascan''. ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' uses ''Athapaskan'' in naming the language family and individual languages. Although the term ''Athabaskan'' is prevalent in linguistics and anthropology, there is an increasing trend among scholars to use the terms 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.

Languages

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

Northern Athabaskan languages Northern Athabaskan is a geographic sub-grouping of the Athabaskan language family spoken by indigenous peoples in the northern part of North America, particularly in Alaska ( Alaskan Athabaskans), Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The spr ...

Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family. California Athabaskan * California Athabaskan ** Hupa (dining'-xine:wh, a.k.a. Hoopa-Chilula) *** dialects: **** Hupa **** Tsn ...

Southern Athabaskan languages Southern Athabaskan (also Apachean) is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the Southwestern United States (including Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah) with two outliers in Oklahoma and Texas. The languages are spoken in ...

or "Apachean" The 38 Northern Athabaskan languages are spoken throughout the interior of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and the interior of northwestern

in the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

and

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, as well as in the provinces of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. Five Athabaskan languages are

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

s in the Northwest Territories, including

(), Dogrib or , Gwich'in (Kutchin, Loucheux), and the Northern and Southern variants of

Slavey The Slavey (also Awokanak, Slave, and South Slavey) are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations group of Indigenous peoples in Canada. They speak the Slavey language, a part of the Athabaskan languages. Part of the Dene people, their homeland ...

. 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 Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

; Eel River, Hupa, Mattole–Bear River, and Tolowa in northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; 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 Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. 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

Eyak The Eyak are an Alaska Native people historically located on the Copper River Delta and near the town of Cordova, Alaska. They are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast. Today, Eyak people live in Cordova, Yakutat, across Alaska, and the U ...

and Athabaskan together form a genealogical linguistic grouping called ''Athabaskan–Eyak'' (AE) – well- demonstrated through consistent sound correspondences, extensive shared vocabulary, and cross-linguistically unique homologies in both verb and noun

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

is distantly related to the Athabaskan–Eyak group to form the Na-Dene family, also known as ''Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit'' (AET). With

Jeff Leer Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

'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 ''

'' 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

, 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 Edward J. Vajda (Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, September 10, 1958 as Edward M. Johnson; changed his name in 1981) is a historical linguist at Western Washington University, Washington. He is known for his work on the proposed Dené–Yeniseia ...

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.

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 Keren D. Rice (born 1949) is a Canadians, Canadian linguist. She is a professor of linguistics and serves as the director of the Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives at the University of Toronto. Education and career Rice earned her PhD in 1976 ...

, 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. * Athabaskan ** Southern Alaska (Dena'ina, Ahtna) ** Central Alaska–Yukon (Deg Hit'an, Holikachuk/Kolchan, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Lower Tanana, Tanacross, Upper Tanana, N. Tutchone, S. Tutchone, Gwich'in, Hän) ** Northwestern Canada (Tagish, Tahltan, Kaska, Sekani, Dunneza/Beaver, Slavey, Mountain, Bearlake, Hare, Tłįchǫ Yat'iì/Dogrib, Dëne Sųłiné/Chipewyan) ** Tsetsaut ** Central British Columbia (Babine–Witsuwit'en, Dakelh/Carrier, Chilcotin, Nicola?) ** Tsuut'ina/Sarsi ** Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai ** Pacific Coast Athabaskan (Upper Umpqua, Tututni, Galice–Applegate, Tolowa, Hupa, Mattole, Eel River, Kato) ** Apachean (

, White Mountain Apache,

Tonto Apache The Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona or Tonto Apache () is a federally recognized tribe of Western Apache people located in northwestern Gila County, Arizona. The term "Tonto" is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Weste ...

, San Carlos Apache, Mescalero–Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Plains) 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): * Athabaskan ** Alaskan (Ahtna, Dena'ina, Deg Hit'an, Koyukon, Holikachuk/Kolchan, Lower Tanana, Tanacross, Upper Tanana, Gwich'in, Hän) ** Yukon (Tsetsaut, N. Tutchone, S. Tutchone, Tagish, Tahltan, Kaska, Sekani, Dunneza/Beaver) ** British Columbia (Babine–Witsuwit'en, Dakelh/Carrier, Chilcotin) ** Eastern (Dëne Sųłiné/Chipewyan, Slavey, Mountain, Bearlake, Hare, Tłįchǫ Yat'iì/Dogrib) ** Southerly Outlying (Tsuut'ina/Sarsi, Apachean, Pacific Coast Athabaskan, Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai) 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 Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai is also debated, since it may fall in either the Pacific Coast group – if that exists – or into the Northern group. The records of Nicola are so poor – Krauss describes them as "too few and too wretched" (Krauss 2005) – that it is difficult to make any reliable conclusions about it. Nicola may be intermediate between Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai and Chilcotin. Similarly to Nicola, there is very limited documentation on

Tsetsaut The Tsetsaut (Nisga'a language: ''Jits'aawit''; in the Tsetsaut language: ''Wetaŀ'' or ''Wetaɬ'') were an Athabaskan-speaking group whose territory was around the head of the Portland Canal, straddling what is now the boundary between the US sta ...

. 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 Northern Athabaskan is a geographic sub-grouping of the Athabaskan language family spoken by indigenous peoples in the northern part of North America, particularly in Alaska ( Alaskan Athabaskans), Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The spra ...

Pacific Coast Athabaskan Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family. California Athabaskan * California Athabaskan ** Hupa (dining'-xine:wh, a.k.a. Hoopa-Chilula) *** dialects: **** Hupa **** Tsnu ...

Southern Athabaskan Southern Athabaskan (also Apachean) is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the Southwestern United States (including Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah) with two outliers in Oklahoma and Texas. The languages are spoken in ...

. For the remainder of this article, the conventional three-way geographic grouping will be followed except as noted.

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

urheimat In historical linguistics, the homeland or ( , from German 'original' and 'home') of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the reconstructed or historicall ...

of the Athabaskan family is most likely in the

Tanana Valley The Tanana Valley is a lowland region in central Alaska in the United States, on the north side of the Alaska Range, where the Tanana River emerges from the mountains. Traditional inhabitants of the valley are Tanana Athabaskans of Alaskan Athaba ...

of east-central Alaska. There are many homologies between Proto-Athabaskan vocabulary and patterns reflected in archaeological sites such as Upward Sun, Swan Point and Broken Mammoth (Kari 2010). The Northern Athabaskan group also contains the most linguistically conservative languages, particularly Koyukon, Ahtna, Dena'ina, and Dakelh/Carrier (Leer 2008). * Northern Athabaskan ** ''Southern Alaskan subgroup'' ***

Ahtna The Ahtna (also Ahtena, Atna, Ahtna-kohtaene, or Copper River) are an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. The people's homeland called Atna Nenn', is located in the Copper River area of southern ...

*** Dena'ina (also known as Tanaina, Kenaitze) ** ''Central Alaska–Yukon subgroup'' ***

Deg Xinag Deg Xinag (Deg Hitan) is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Deg Hitʼan peoples of the GASH region. The GASH region consists of the villages of Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River in Interior Alask ...

(also known as Deg Hitʼan, Ingalik (deprecated)) *** Holikachuk (also known as Innoko) *** Koyukon (also known as Denaakkʼe, Tenʼa) *** Upper Kuskokwim (also known as Kolchan) *** Lower Tanana and Middle Tanana (also known as Tanana) *** Tanacross ***

Upper Tanana Upper Tanana (also known as Tabesna, Nabesna or Nee'aanèegn') is an endangered language, endangered Alaskan Athabaskans, Athabaskan language spoken in eastern Interior Alaska, United States, mainly in the villages of Northway, Alaska, Northway ...

*** Southern Tutchone *** Northern Tutchone *** Gwich'in (also known as Kutchin, Loucheux, Tukudh) *** Hän (also known as Han) ** ''Northwestern Canada subgroup'' *** Tahltan–Tagish–Kaska (also known as "Cordilleran") **** Tagish ****

Tahltan The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahan ...

(also known as Nahanni) **** Kaska (also known as Nahanni) ***

Sekani Sekani or Tse’khene are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in the northern interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The n ...

(also known as Tsekʼehne) ***

Dane-zaa The Dane-zaa (ᑕᓀᖚ, also spelled Dunne-za, or Tsattine) are an Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations people. Their traditional territory is around the Peace River (Canada), Peace River in A ...

(also known as Beaver) *** Slave–Hare **** Slavey (also known as Southern Slavey) **** Mountain (Northern Slavey) **** Bearlake (Northern Slavey) **** Hare (Northern Slavey) *** Dogrib (also known as Tłįchǫ Yatiì) *** Dene Suline (also known as Chipewyan, Dëne Sųłiné, Dene Soun'liné) Very little is known about Tsetsaut, and for this reason it is routinely placed in its own tentative subgroup. ** ''Tsetsaut subgroup'' ***

(also known as Tsʼetsʼaut, Wetalh) ** ''Central British Columbia subgroup'' (also known as "British Columbian" in contrast with "Cordilleran" = Tahltan–Tagish–Kaska) *** Babine–Witsuwit'en (also known as Northern Carrier, Bulkley Valley/Lakes District) ***

Dakelh The Dakelh (pronounced ) or Carrier are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people living a large portion of the British Columbia Interior, Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The Dakel ...

(also known as Carrier) *** Chilcotin (also known as Tsilhqot'in) 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. ** Nicola (also known as Stuwix, Similkameen) ** ''Sarsi subgroup'' *** Tsuut'ina (also known as Sarcee, Sarsi, Tsuu T'ina) 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). ** ''Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie subgroup'' (also called ''Lower Columbia Athapaskan'') *** Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie (also known as Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanie or Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai)

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 Upper Umpqua is an extinct Athabaskan language formerly spoken along the south fork of the Umpqua River in west-central Oregon by Upper Umpqua (Etnemitane) people in the vicinity of modern Roseburg. It has been extinct for at least seventy ye ...

(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 The Plains Apache are a small Southern Athabaskan tribe who live on the Southern Plains of North America, in close association with the linguistically unrelated Kiowa Tribe. Today, they are headquartered in Southwestern Oklahoma and are federally ...

(also known as Kiowa-Apache) ** ''Western Apachean subgroup'' *** Chiricahua–Mescalero ****

Chiricahua Chiricahua ( ) is a band of Apache Native Americans. Based in the Southern Plains and Southwestern United States, the Chiricahua historically shared a common area, language, customs, and intertwined family relations with their fellow Apaches. ...

****

Mescalero Mescalero or Mescalero Apache () is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-central New Mexico. In ...

***

(also known as Navaho) ***

Western Apache The Western Apache are an Indigenous people of North America, and a subgroup of the greater Apache identity, who live primarily in east central Arizona, in the United States and north of Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Most live ...

(also known as Coyotero Apache) ** ''Eastern Apachean subgroup'' *** Jicarilla *** Lipan

Sicoli & Holton (2014)

Using

computational phylogenetic Computational phylogenetics, phylogeny inference, or phylogenetic inference focuses on computational and optimization algorithms, heuristics, and approaches involved in phylogenetic analyses. The goal is to find a phylogenetic tree representing op ...

methods, Sicoli & Holton (2014) 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. * Athabaskan ** ( Yeniseian) ** (

–

) ** South Pacific Coast Athabaskan (California) ** (unnamed clade) *** ''

'' *** '' Upper Kuskokwim'' *** ''

'' *** '' Dena'ina'' *** West Alaska (Koyukon) **** ''

'' **** '' Holikachuk'', '' Koyukon'' *** North Pacific Coast (Oregon) *** Alaska-Canada-2 **** '' Gwich’in'' **** '' Dogrib'' **** ''North

'' **** '' Carrier'', ''

'' (''Beaver'') *** Plains-Apachean **** '' Sarsi'' ****

*** Alaska-Canada-1 **** Tanana ***** ''

'' ***** '' Lower Tanana'', '' Tanacross'' **** Northwestern Canada ***** '' Hän'' ***** ''South

'', '' Kaska'' ***** ''

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

'', '' Northern Tutchone'', '' Southern Tutchone''

Proto-Athabaskan

Proto-Athabaskan Proto-Athabaskan is the reconstructed ancestor of the Athabaskan languages. Phonology The reconstruction of Proto-Athabaskan phonology is still under active debate. This section attempts to summarize the less controversial parts of the Proto-At ...

is the reconstructed ancestor of the Athabaskan languages.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (Reprinted as Krauss 1976.) * (Reprint of Krauss 1973) * * * (Published with revisions as Krauss 2005) * * * * Revision of unpublished manuscript dated 1979. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (, vols. 18–20 not yet published) * *