Lower Tanana (also Tanana and/or Middle Tanana) is an
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
language spoken in Interior
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
in the lower
Tanana River villages of
Minto and
Nenana. Of about 380 Tanana people in the two villages, about 30 still speak the language. As of 2010, “Speakers who grew up with Lower Tanana as their first language can be found only in the 250-person village of Minto.”
It is one of the large family of
Athabaskan languages
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
, also known as
Dené.
The
Athabaskan
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific ...
(or Dené) bands who formerly occupied a territory between the
Salcha
Salcha ( Tanana: ''Soł Chaget'', Tanacross: ''Saagescheeg'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,09 ...
and the
Goodpaster rivers spoke a distinct dialect that linguists term the Middle Tanana language.
Dialects
*Toklat area dialect (')
*Minto Flats-Nenana River dialect: Minto (') and Nenana (')
*Chena River dialect: Chena Village ()
*Salcha River dialect: Salcha ()
Vocabulary samples
* “man”
* “woman”
* “my grandfather”
* “my grandmother”
* “clan”
* “mountain”
* “black bear”
* "brown bear"
* “caribou”
* “dog”
* “his/her dog”
* “willow”
* “moccasin”
* “canoe”
* “Northern Lights”
* “trail”
* “river”
* “girl” (Middle Tanana)
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Vowel sounds in Tanana are .
Songs
In a 2008–2009 project, linguist
Siri Tuttle
Siri Tuttle is the former director of the Alaska Native Language Center, the Alaska Native Language Archive, and a former Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She specializes in Dene (Athabascan) languag ...
of the
University of Alaska
The University of Alaska System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was created in 1917 and comprises three separately accredited universities on 19 campuses. The system serves nearly 30,000 full- and part-time stu ...
's Native Language Center “worked with elders to translate and document song lyrics, some on file at the language center and some recorded during the project.”
[
]
“The Minto dialect of Tanana ... allows speakers to occasionally change the number of syllables in longer words.”
Notes
Bibliography
* Charlie, Teddy. 1992. ''Ode Setl'oghwnh Da': Long After I Am Gone'', Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
* Kari, James, Isabel Charlie, Peter John & Evelyn Alexander. 1991. ''Lower Tanana Athabaskan Listening and Writing Exercises'', Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
* Tuttle, Siri. 1998. ''Metrical and Tonal Structures in Tanana Athabaskan'', Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Washington.
* Tuttle, Siri. 2003. ''Archival Phonetics: Tone and Stress in Tanana Athabaskan''. University of Alaska Fairbanks.
External links
Lower Tanana basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{Languages of Alaska
Tanana Athabaskans
Northern Athabaskan languages
Indigenous languages of Alaska
Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
Endangered Dené–Yeniseian languages
Native American language revitalization
Official languages of Alaska