Athabaskan or Athabascan (also Dene, Athapascan, Athapaskan) is the language of a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America and in Alaska.
The four spellings: “Athabaskan”, “Athabascan”, “Athapaskan”, and “Athapascan,” are in approximately equal use.
Particular communities may prefer one spelling over another.
For example, the Alaska Native Language Center prefers the spelling “Athabascan,” following a decision in favor of this spelling in 1997 by the Tanana Chiefs Conference.
Michael Krauss had previously endorsed the spelling “Athabaskan” (1987).
Ethnologue uses “Athapaskan” in naming the language family and individual languages.
The word Athabaskan is an anglicized version of a Cree language name for Lake Athabasca (Cree: Aδapaska˙w “[where] there are reeds one after another”) in Canada.
The name was assigned by Albert Gallatin in his 1836 classification of the languages of North America.
The Athabaskan language family is the second largest language family in North America in terms of number of languages and the number of speakers, following the Uto-Aztecan family which extends into Mexico.
In terms of territory, only the Algic language family covers a larger area. Most Athabaskans prefer to be identified by their specific language and location; however, the general term persists in linguistics and anthropology despite alternative suggestions such as Dene’.
In 2012 the annual Athabaskan Languages Conference changed its name to the Dene’ Languages Conference.
Eyak 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.
Athabaskan Languages
Apachean Languages
Eastern Apache
Dine (Navajo)
Western Apache
Northern Athabaskan Languages
Central Alaska-Yukon Athabascan Languages
Degexit’an (Ingalik)
Gwich’in
Han
Holikachuk
Koyukon
Lower Tanana
Tanacross
Tutchone
Upper Tanana
Upper Kuskokwim
Southern Alaskan Athabascan Languages
Ahtna (Ahtena)
Tanaina
Central British Columbia Athapaskan Languages
Babine
Dakelh (Carrier, Yinka Dene)
Chilcotin
Northwest Canadian Athapaskan Languages
Kaskan Languages (Nahanni)
Kaska
Tahltan
Tagish
Dane-zaa (Beaver)
Dene Suline (Chipewyan)
Dogrib
Sekani
Dene Tha (Slavey)
Clatskanie
Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee)
Tsetsaut
Pacific Coast Athabaskan Languages
Oregon Athabaskan Languages
Dakubetede
Chetco
Galice
Tolowa
Tututni-Coquille
Upper Umpqua
California Athabaskan Languages
Hupa
Mattole
Wailaki (Sinkyone/Lassik)
Kato
Eyak is the other language in the Athabaskan-Eyak family.
Tlingit is distantly related to the Athabaskan–Eyak group to form the Na-Dené family – also known as Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit (AET). With Jeff Leer’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 Ethnologue 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 Alaska Native Language Center, for example, takes the position that recent improved data on Haida have served to conclusively disprove the Haida-inclusion hypothesis.
They have determined Haida to be unrelated to Athabaskan languages.
New Athabaskan Hypothesis.
The major advance in Athabaskan and Na-Dene external classification resulted from a symposium in Alaska in February 2008.
Edward Vajda of Western Washington University summarized ten years of research, based on verbal morphology and reconstructions of the proto-languages, indicating that the Yeniseian and Na-Dené families might be related.
Vajda’s research was published in June 2010 in The Dene–Yeniseian Connection in the Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska (ISBN 978-0-615-43296-0).
Athabaskan is the name of a language group, also called Na-Dene or Apachean, that includes languages associated with Native American and First Nation people that today live in Alaska, northwest Canada, and coastal Oregon and California.
The Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has published a new Athabascan dictionary.