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Language Lineage

Northern Athabaskan

About thirty languages of the subarctic, from Dena'ina to Dene Sųłiné. They form a geographical continuum rather than a proven subgroup.

c. 1st millennium CE – presentInterior Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern British Columbia and the Prairie Provinces
On this page
  1. A Continuum
  2. One Sound, Many Outcomes
  3. Where it's spoken
  4. Turning points

01

A Continuum

The Northern Athabaskan languages stretch from Cook Inlet in Alaska to Hudson Bay, spoken by hunting and fishing peoples who call themselves Dene, Dine or similar names meaning 'people'. Each language grades into its neighbours, and the borders between them are often better described by features than by clear lines, so the group is geographical rather than a proven genetic subgroup.

In the 19th century missionaries adapted the Cree syllabics of James Evans to Dene Sųłiné, Slavey and other languages, and some communities still use them. The Northwest Territories now gives official status to several Dene languages, alongside English, French and Inuit languages.

02

One Sound, Many Outcomes

The Northern languages are close enough to be compared word by word, and differ enough in their sounds to make a classic study in sound change. The best-known case is the fate of the Proto-Athabaskan affricate *ts and its series. It remains ts in many languages, but becomes tth (a sound like t followed by the th of English thin) in Dene Sųłiné and kw in Tłı̨chǫ. In the Slavey dialects the same consonant appears as kw in Bearlake, f in Hare and p in Mountain Slavey. The word for 'stone' is tthe in Dene Sųłiné and kwe in Tłı̨chǫ, and it is the same word as Navajo tsé.

Other changes cut across the region in different directions. Tłı̨chǫ turned many n sounds into d, so that 'eye' is -daà where Hupa and Navajo have -na:' and -náá'. The glottal constriction of Proto-Athabaskan became high tone in some languages, low tone in others and nothing at all in Koyukon and several other Alaskan languages.

Because each change has its own boundaries, a map of any one of them cuts the Northern area differently, and none marks off a clean subgroup. This is the main reason why linguists treat Northern Athabaskan as a continuum rather than a branch with a single origin.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Canadac. 13,000
  2. United Statesa few hundred

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Writingmid-19th century

    Syllabics for the Dene

    Catholic and Anglican missionaries adapt James Evans's Cree syllabics to Dene Sųłiné, Slavey and other Northern Athabaskan languages for hymns, prayers and letters. The Cree-Innu branch records the original script.

    Sources (1)
    • Krauss, Michael E. & Victor K. Golla. 1981. Northern Athapaskan languages. In Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 6: Subarctic, ed. June Helm. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
  2. Revitalization1984 – 1990

    Official in the Northwest Territories

    The Northwest Territories' Official Languages Act recognises Dene languages, and amendments in 1990 make Chipewyan (Dene Sųłiné), Gwich'in, North and South Slavey and Tłı̨chǫ official languages of the territory.

    Sources (1)
    • Northwest Territories. Official Languages Act, R.S.N.W.T. 1988, c. O-1, as amended.
  3. Extinction20th century

    Residential schools and shift

    Residential and boarding schools in Canada and Alaska separate children from their languages, and most Northern Athabaskan languages fall to a few hundred or fewer fluent speakers. Tanacross, Hän, Tagish and others are near extinction.

    Sources (1)
    • Moseley, Christopher, ed. 2010. Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, 3rd ed. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.