Hän language

The Hän language (Dawson, Han-Kutchin, Moosehide) is a Native American endangered language spoken in only two places: Eagle, Alaska and Dawson City, Yukon. There are only a few fluent speakers left (perhaps about 10), all elderly.

It is a member of the Athabaskan language family, which is part of the larger Na-Dené family. The name of the language is derived from the name of the people, "Hän Hwëch'in", which in the language means "people who live along the river", the river being the Yukon. There are currently efforts to revive the language locally.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonants of Hän in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):

Vowels

• short
  • a [a]
  • ä [ɑ]
  • e [e]
  • ë [ə]
  • i [i]
  • o [o]
  • u [u]
• long
  • aa [aː]
  • ää [ɑː]
  • ee [eː]
  • ëë [əː]
  • ii [iː]
  • oo [oː]
  • uu [uː]
• diphthongs
  • aw [au]
  • ay [ai]
  • äw [ɑu]
  • ew [eu]
  • ey [ei]
  • iw [iu]
  • oy [oi]
• nasal vowels are marked by an ogonek accent, e.g., ą
• low tone is marked with a grave accent, e.g., à
• rising tone is marked with a circumflex accent, e.g., â
• falling tone is marked with a caron (or háček), e.g., ǎ
• high tone is never marked, e.g., a

Notes

External links

• Hän alphabet
• Han (ANLC)

References

Hän language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Alaska Native Language Center. Alaska Native Language Center (accessed July 24, 2005).
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.