Alaska Native Languages

Dena'ina

Dena'ina (Tanaina) is the Athabascan language of the Cook Inlet area with four dialects on the Kenai Peninsula, Upper Inlet area above Anchorage, and coastal and inland areas of the west side of Cook Inlet. Dena'ina is the only Alaska Athabascan language to be spoken in a coastal environment, and the only Alaska Athabascan language to be spoken on both sides of the Alaska Range.

Distribution of the four major Dena'ina dialects

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. A comprehensive Dena'ina web portal, Qenaga.org, was created in 2005.

Greeting

Click below to hear a Dena'ina greeting:

Nda'ich' q'u t'int'a?  'How are you?'
Yagheli.   'I'm fine'

Documentation

• Alan Boraas' Dena'ina Language Guide, based on Joan Tenenbaum's 1978 Columbia University PhD dissertation, Morphology and Semantics of the Tanaina Verb. (The original dissertation is available from UMI Dissertation Services -- order no. 7613082.)
• Olga Lovick's 2005 University of Cologne PhD dissertation, Agentivity and Participant Marking in Dena'ina Athabascan, describes the distribution of pronouns.

Phrases

• Dena'ina Qenaga Du'idnaghelnik by Alex Balluta & Gladys Evanoff. Edited by Olga Müller. Dena'ina Phrases 1: Nondalton Dialect. Text and audio for common Dena'ina phrases. Produced jointly with the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

Links

• Qenaga.org a website devoted to Dena'ina language is currently being developed as part of the National Science Foundation project, Dena'ina Archiving, Training and Access. From this site it is possible to access the Dena'ina Language archives.
• ANLC Dena'ina Publications

	Alaska Native Language Center University of Alaska Fairbanks Box 757680 Fairbanks, AK 99775 (907) 474-7874 [voice] (907) 474-6586 [fax] fyanlp@uaf.edu	Comments regarding this website: anlc@www.uaf.edu Last modified April 28, 2005 Copyright ©1999-2008 Alaska Native Language Center