Athabaskan languages

Group of indigenous languages of North America AthabaskanDeneGeographicdistributionWestern North AmericaLinguistic classificationNa-DeneAthabaskan–EyakAthabaskanProto-languageProto-AthabaskanSubdivisions Northern Pacific † Southern Language codesISO 639-2 / 5athGlottologatha1247Geographic distribution of the Athabaskan languages Athabaskan (/ˌæθəˈbæskən/ ATH-ə-BASK-ən; also spelled Athabascan, Athapaskan or Athapascan), also known as Dene (/ˈdeɪneɪ/ DAY-nay; also spelled Dené), is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Coast and Southern (or Apachean). Kari and Potter (2010:10) place the total territory of the 53 Athabaskan languages at 4,022,000 square kilometres (1,553,000 sq mi). 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 anglicized version of a Cree language name for Lake Athabasca (Moose Cree: Āðapāskāw '[where] there are reeds one after another') in Canada. Cree is one of the Algonquian langua