Na-Dene - Definition

Na-Dené or Na-Dene is a Native American language family which includes the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit. Haida, with 15 fluent speakers (M. Krauss, 1995), was once considered a member of Na-Dene, but most linguists dispute this today. The family includes:

• Tlingit language: 700 speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
• Athabaskan languages
  • Eyak language: 1 speaker, (N. Barnes, 1996)
  • Athabaskan languages
    • Athabaskan languages proper
      • Ahtna language: 80 speakers, (M. Krauss, 1995)
      • Beaver language
      • Chipewyan language
      • Han language: 7 or 8 fluent speakers, (M. Krauss, 1995)
      • Holikachuk language: 12 fluent speakers, (M. Krauss, 1995)
      • Koyukon language: 300 speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
      • Tanaina language: 75 or fewer speakers (M. Krauss, 1997)
      • Lower Tanana language: 30 or fewer speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
      • Upper Tanana language: 105 or fewer speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
      • Tolowa language: 5 speakers (SIL, 1977)
    • Apachean languages
      • Jicarilla Apache language: 812 speakers, (1990 census)
      • Plains Apache language: 18 speakers, (1990 census)
      • Lipan Apache language: 2 or 3 speakers, (1981 R.W. Young)
      • Mescalero Apache language: 1,521 speakers (1990 census)
      • Chiricahua Apache language: 279 Chiricahua speakers (1990 census)
      • Western Apache language: 12,693 speakers (1990 census)
      • Navajo language: 148,530 speakers, (1990 census)
    • Athabaskan-Californian languages
      • Hupa language: 8 fluent speakers, (James Brook, 1998, NY Times, April 9, p A1, A20)
      • Kato (Mattole-Wailaki) language: 10 fluent speakers(?), (Chafe, 1962)

Navajo is the most widely spoken language of the Na-Dené family, spoken in Arizona, New Mexico, and other regions of the American Southwest. Dene or Dine is a widely distributed group of Native languages and peoples spoken in Canada, Alaska, and parts of Oregon and northern California. Eyak is spoken in the Alaskan panhandle and today there is only one speaker left.

According to Joseph H. Greenberg's highly controversial classification of the languages of Native North America, Na-Dené-Athabaskan is one of the three main groups of Native languages spoken in the Americas, and represents a distinct wave of migration from Asia to the Americas. The other two are Eskimo-Aleut, spoken in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic; and Amerind, Greenberg's most controversial classification, which includes every language native to the Americas that is not Eskimo-Aleut or Na-Dené.

According to the linguistic theory of Sergei Starostin, Na-Dene is a member of the Dene-Caucasian superfamily, along with the North Caucasian languages and Sino-Tibetan languages.

External links

• Ethnologue.com: Ethnologue Report for Na-Dené Language Family Trees - Na-Dene (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1702)
• Alaska Native Language Center (http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/)