Dena'ina language

For the ethnic group, see Dena'ina people.
Dena'ina
Dena’ina Qenaga
Spoken in United States
Region Alaska (Cook Inlet region, Lake Clark, Lake Iliamna)
Native speakers 75  (date missing)
Language family
Writing system Latin (Dena'ina alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 tfn
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Dena’ina (sometimes spelled Tanaina, English pronunciation: /dɨˈnaɪnə/) is the Athabaskan language of the region surrounding Cook Inlet. It is geographically unique in Alaska as the only Alaska Athabaskan language to include territory which borders salt water. Four dialects are usually distinguished:

  1. Upper Inlet, spoken in Eklutna, Knik, Susitna, Tyonek
  2. Outer Inlet, spoken in Kenai, Kustatan, Seldovia
  3. Iliamna, spoken in Pedro Bay, Old Iliamna, Lake Iliamna area
  4. Inland, spoken in Nondalton, Lime Village

Of the total Dena'ina population of about 900 people, only 75-95 members still speak Dena’ina. James Kari has done extensive work on the language since 1972, including his edition with Alan Boraas of the collected writings of Peter Kalifornsky in 1991. Joan Tenenbaum also conducted extensive field research on the language in the 1970s.

Contents

Ethnonym

The word Dena'ina is composed of the dena, meaning 'person' and the human plural suffix ina. While the apostrophe which joins the two parts of this word ordinarily indicates a glottal stop, most speakers pronounce this with a diphthong, so that the second syllable of the word rhymes with English 'nine' (as in the older spelling Tanaina).

Phonology

Dena'ina is one of seven Alaska Athabaskan languages which does not distinguish phonemic tone.

Consonants

The consonants of Dena’ina in practical orthography, with IPA equivalents indicated in square brackets.

Labial Dental Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
plain lateral sibilant
Nasal m [m] n [n]
Plosive and
Affricate		 unaspirated (b [b]) d [t] dl [t͡ɬ] dz [t͡s] j [t͡ʃ] g [k] gg [q] ' [ʔ]
aspirated t [tʰ] tl [t͡ɬʰ] ts [t͡sʰ] ch [t͡ʃʰ] k [kʰ] q [qʰ]
ejective t' [tʼ] tl' [t͡ɬʼ] ts' [t͡sʼ] ch' [t͡ʃʼ] k' [kʼ] q' [qʼ]
Fricative voiceless (f [f]) ɬ [ɬ] s [s] sh [ʃ] x [x] h [χ] ĥ [h]
voiced v [v] l [l] z [z] zh [ʒ] ŷ [ɣ] gh [ʁ]
Approximant (r [ɹ]) [j]

[ɹ] is only found in English loanwords.

Vowels

The 4 vowels of Dena’ina. Note that high vowels are lowered in the environment of a uvular consonant.

  Front Central Back
Close i   u
Mid   e [ə]  
Open   a  

External links

Bibliography

ISBN 978-1-55500-091-2.

 Languages of Alaska
Immigrant languages
Indigenous languages
Other languages