Annotated Swadesh wordlists for the Athapaskan group (Na-Dene family).

Languages included: Hupa [pca-hup]; Mattole [pca-mvb]; Kato [pca-ktw]; Taldash Galice [pca-gce]; Tanaina, Upper Inlet [pca-tfu]; Tanaina, Outer Inlet [pca-tfo]; Tanaina, Inland [pca-tfi]; Tanaina, Iliamna [pca-tfl]; Ahtena, Central [pca-ahc]; Ahtena, Mentasta [pca-ahm]; Dogrib [pca-dgr]; Slavey, North [atp-nsl]; Tanacross [pca-tcb]; Upper Tanana [pca-tau]; Lower Tanana [pca-tal]; Carrier, Central [pca-car]; Koyukon [pca-koy]; Sarsi [pca-srs].

DATA SOURCES


General

Hoijer 1956 = Hoijer, Harry. The Chronology of the Athapaskan Languages. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Oct., 1956), pp. 219-232. // 100-item wordlists, compiled according to Swadesh's standard for fifteen Athapaskan languages. Accompanied by lexicostatistical calculations.

Golla 2011 = Golla, Victor. 2011. California Indian Languages. University of California Press. // Sociolinguistic description of aboriginal languages of California.

I. Hupa

Main sources

Golla 1970 = Golla, Victor. 1970. Hupa Grammar. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California. // Descriptive grammar of the Hupa language.

Golla 1996 = Golla, Victor (comp.). 1996. Hupa Language Dictionary. 2nd ed. Hoopa Valley Tribal Council. // English-Hupa dictionary.

Golla 1996a = Golla, Victor. 1996. Sketch of Hupa, an Athapaskan Language. In: I. Goddard (ed.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 17: Languages. Washington, pp. 364-389. // Grammar sketch of the Hupa language (revised and abbreviated version of [Golla 1970]).

Sapir & Golla 2001 = Sapir, Edward; Golla, Victor. Hupa texts, with notes and lexicon. In: V. Golla & S. O’Neill (eds.). The Collected Works of Edward Sapir. Vol. 14: Northwest California Linguistics, pp. 19-1011. // E. Sapir’s field records of the Hupa language (collected in the summer of 1927), elaborated and edited by V. Golla with the participation of S. O’Neill. The publication contains 77 annotated and translated Hupa texts, a lexicon and a grammar sketch.

Additional sources

Goddard 1904 = Goddard, Pliny Earle. Hupa Texts. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Golla 1964 = Golla, Victor. An etymological study of Hupa noun stems. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Apr., 1964), pp. 108-117.

Golla 1977 = Golla, Victor. A Note on Hupa Verb Stems. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Oct., 1977), pp. 355-358.

Golla 1984 = Hupa Stories, Anecdotes, and Conversations. Recorded, transcribed, and translated by V. Golla. Hoopa Valley Tribe.

II. Mattole

Main sources

Li 1930 = Li Fang-Kuei. 1930. Mattole, an Athabaskan language. University of Chicago Press. // Grammatical sketch of the Mattole (proper) language supplemented with a glossary.

Goddard 1929 = Goddard, Pliny Earle. 1929. The Bear River Dialect of Athapascan. In: University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 24, No. 5 (1929), pp. 291-324. // Vocabulary of the Mattole language (Bear River dialect). Phonetic transcription and semantic definitions are unreliable.

Additional sources

Grune 1994 = Grune, Dick. A Survey of the Athabaskan Language Mattole. Draft, July 7, 1994. Available at: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~dick/Summaries/Languages/Mattole.pdf // A very short grammatical description of Mattole (proper), based on [Li 1930].

III. Kato

Main sources

Goddard 1909 = Goddard, Pliny Earle. Kato texts. In: University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 65-238. // Texts in the Kato language, glossed and translated.

Goddard 1912 = Goddard, Pliny Earle. Elements of the Kato Language. In: University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1912, pp. 1-176. // A grammar sketch of the Kato language.

Additional sources

Curtis 1924 = Curtis, E. S. The North American Indian. Vol. 14: The Indians of the United States, the Dominion of Canada, and Alaska. Norwood, Massachusetts: Plimpton Press. // This volume contains short vocabularies of several indigenous languages of North America (p. 201-250), collected by William E. Myers. Phonetic transcription is unreliable.

Essene 1942 = Essene, Frank. Culture Element Distributions. 21: Round Valley. In: University of California, Anthropological Records 8 (1), pp. 1-97. // Anthropological studies on some Athapaskan tribes, supplemented with wordlists of the Kato and Lassik languages (p. 85-89). Phonetic transcription is unreliable.

IV. Taldash Galice

Main sources

Hoijer 1966 = Hoijer, Harry. Galice Athapaskan: A Grammatical Sketch. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, 32, pp. 320-327. // A very short grammar sketch of Galice (the Taldash dialect of the Galice-Applegate language).

Hoijer 1973 = Hoijer, Harry. Galice Noun and Verb Stems. In: Linguistics, 104, pp. 49-73. // Short vocabularies of nominal and verbal stems of Galice (the Taldash dialect of the Galice-Applegate language).

Landar 1977 = Landar, Herbert. Three Rogue River Athapaskan Vocabularies. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, 43, pp. 289-301. // Publication of three short wordlists: two lists of the Lower Rogue River language (Joshua-Tututni dialect) and one list of Galice (the Taldash dialect of the Galice-Applegate language).

Additional sources

Jacobs 1968 = Jacobs, Melville. An Historical Event Text from a Galice Athabaskan in Southwestern Oregon. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, 34, pp. P. 183-191.

V. Tanaina (Upper Inlet, Outer Inlet, Inland, Iliamna).

Main sources

Boraas 2010 = Boraas, Alan. An introduction to Dena'ina Grammar. The Kenai (Outer Inlet) dialect. Unpublished MS, May 22, 2010. Available at: http://chinook.kpc.alaska.edu/~ifasb/documents/denaina_grammar.pdf // A grammar sketch of the Tanaina language (Outer Inlet dialect).

Holton et al. 2004 = Holton, Gary; Kari, James; Müller, Olga. ANL 241: Introduction to Athabascan Linguistics. Dena'ina Language Insitute, 2004. Unpublished MS, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item TI003H2004 (http://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/search/resultDetail.xml?id=TI003H2004). // A grammar sketch of the Tanaina language (mostly based on the Inland dialect with sporadic references to other dialects).

Kari 1977 = Kari, James. Dena'ina Noun Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // Dictionary of the nouns of the Tanaina language. All main dialects are accounted for: Upper Inlet [U], Outer Inlet [O], Inland [I], Iliamna [Il] (if Iliamna is not marked separately, an Iliamna form is assumed to be the same as the Inland one). The absence of a specific siglum means that this form is used in all the dialects.

Kari 2007 = Kari, James. Dena'ina Topical Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // Thematic dictionary of the Tanaina language, covering all main dialects: Upper Inlet [U], Outer Inlet [O], Inland [I], Iliamna [Il] (apparently if Iliamna is not marked separately, the Iliamna form is assumed to be the same as the Inland [I] one, whereas specific Inland forms, not shared by Iliamna, are labeled as "NL", i.e., Lime Village and Nondalton - two subdialects of Inland). The absence of a specific sigla means that this form is used in all the dialects.

Tenenbaum 1978 = Tenenbaum, J. M. Morphology and semantics of the Tanaina verb. Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University. // Studies on the verbal system of the Tanaina language (Inland dialect).

Wassillie 1979 = Wassillie, Albert. Dena'ina qenaga duch'duldih. Dena'ina Athabaskan Junior Dictionary. Ed. by J. Kari. Anchorage: University of Alaska. // An English-Tanaina dictionary (Inland dialect).

Additional sources

Gleason 1960 = Gleason, H. A. Jr. A note on Tanaina subgroups. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, 26, pp. 348-351.

Kari 1975 = Kari, James. A classification of Tanaina dialects. In: Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, 17-2, pp. 49-53.

Kari 1989 = Kari, James. Some linguistic insights into Dena'ina prehistory. In: Eung-Do Cook and Keren D. Rice (eds.). Athapaskan Linguistics. Current Perspectives on a Language Family. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 533-574.

Kari 1996 = James Kari. Linguistic traces of Dena'ina strategy at the archaic periphery. In: N. Y. Davis & W. E. Davis (eds.). Adventures Through Time: Readings in the Anthropology of Cook Inlet, Alaska. Cook Inlet Historical Society, 1996. P. 50-63.

Landar 1960 = Landar, Herbert. Tanaina subgroups. In: International Journal of American Linguistics, 26, pp. 120-122.

Lovick 2005 = Lovick, O. Ch. Agentivity and Participant Marking in Dena'ina Athabascan: A Text-Based Study. Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades an der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln. Available on-line at: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/1727 // Morphosyntactical studies on the Tanaina verbs (with references to all the main dialects).

Osgood 1937 = Osgood, Cornelius. The Ethnography of the Tanaina. New Haven, Yale University Publications in Anthropology, No. 16 (1937). // This ethnographical study, based on fieldwork of 1931-1932, includes wordlists (p. 208-220, additional data on p. 113-114, 128-131, 144-147) for six Tanaina dialects and subdialects: Seldovia (Kachemak Bay), Outer Inlet (Kenai), Upper Inlet (Tyonek, Upper Inlet, Susitna), Iliamna. Osgood's linguistic data were incorporated into the cumulative dictionaries [Kari 1977; Kari 2007].

Tenenbaum 1976 = Tenenbaum, J. M. (comp.). Dena'ina sukdu'a (Tanaina Stories). 4 vol. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // 24 traditional tales in the Tanaina language (Inland dialect), transcribed, glossed and translated.

VI. Ahtena (Central, Mentasta)

Main sources

Kari 1990 = Kari, James. Ahtna Athabaskan dictionary. Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska. // Extensive dictionary of the Ahtena language, covering all dialects: Central [C], Lower [L], Western [W], Mentasta [M] (the absence of a specific siglum means that this form is used in all the dialects), and supplemented with a grammatical sketch.

Kari & Buck 1975 = Kari, James; Buck, Mildred. Ahtna noun dictionary. Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska. // Thematic dictionary of the nouns of the Ahtena language. All main dialects are accounted for: Central [C], Lower [L], Western [W], Mentasta [M]. The data were revised and included into [Kari 1990].

Smelcer 2010 = Smelcer, J. E. Ahtna noun dictionary and pronunciation guide. 2nd ed. The Ahtna Heritage Foundation. // Thematic dictionary of the nouns of the Ahtena language. All main dialects are accounted for: Central [C], Lower [L], Western [W], Mentasta [M].

Additional sources

Kari 1979 = Kari, James. Athabaskan verbs theme categories: Ahtna (= Alaska Native Language Center Research Papers 2). Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center.

Rice 2003 = Rice, Keren. On the syllabification of right-edge consonants — evidence from Ahtna (Athapaskan). In: S. Ploch (ed.). Living on the Edge. 28 Papers in Honour of Jonathan Kaye. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, pp. 427-448.

Tuttle 2010 = Tuttle, Siri G. Syllabic obstruents in Ahtna Athabaskan. In: J. Wohlgemuth & M. Cysouw (eds.). Rara & Rarissima. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 341-357.

VII. Dogrib

Main sources

Coleman 1976 = Coleman, Phyllis Young. Dogrib Phonology. Ph.D. thesis. University of Iowa. // Studies in phonology and morphology of the Dogrib language.

Marinakis et al. 2007 = Marinakis, Aliki et al. Reading and Writing in Tɫı̨chǫ Yatiì. Behchoko, Northwest Territories, Canada. // Primer of the Dogrib language.

Saxon & Siemens 1996 = Saxon, Leslie; Siemens, Mary. Tɫı̨chǫ Yatiì Enı̨htɫ’è: A Dogrib Dictionary. Rae-Edzo, N.W.T.: Dogrib Divisional Board of Education. // An educational dictionary of the Dogrib language. Cf. the revised and enlarged on-line version [Saxon & Siemens n.d.].

Saxon & Siemens n.d. = Saxon, Leslie; Siemens, Mary. Tɫı̨chǫ Yatiì Multimedia Dictionary, http://tlicho.ling.uvic.ca // Revised and enlarged version of [Saxon & Siemens 1996]. Accessed May 2013.

Siemens et al. 2007 = Siemens, Mary et al. Tɫı̨chǫ Yatiì Enı̨htɫ’è Chekoa gha. Dogrib Primary Dictionary. Revised edition. Canada. // A short children dictionary of the Dogrib language.

Additional sources

Ackroyd 1976 = Ackroyd, Lynda. Proto-Northeastern Athapaskan: stem-initial consonants and vowels. MA thesis, University of Toronto. // Sketch of historical phonetics of the Chipewyan, South Slavey, Dogrib and Hare languages.

Rice & Saxon 2002 = Rice, Keren; Saxon, Leslie. Issues of standardization and community in aboriginal language lexicography. In: W. Frawley et al. (eds.). Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas. University of California Press, pp. 125-154.

VIII. North Slavey

Rice 1976 = Rice, Keren. 1976. Hare Phonology. Ph.D. thesis. Toronto: University of Toronto.

Rice 1978 = Rice, Keren. 1978. Hare Dictionary. Ottawa: Northern Social Research Division, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. // Dictionary of the Hare dialect of Northern Slavey. A preliminary publication. The available copy lacks page numbers, so we attempt to follow the pagination provided in the “Contents” section.

Rice 1989 = Rice, Keren. 1989. A grammar of Slave. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter. // Detailed grammatical description, based on the South Slavey language but also accompanied with extensive references to North Slavey dialects.

IX. Tanacross

Arnold et al. 2009 = Arnold, Irene; Thoman, Rick; Holton, Gary. Tanacross learners' dictionary: Dihthâad Xt'een Iin Aanděg' Dínahtlǎa'. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // An English-Tanacross dictionary. The preliminary version of 2006 is available on-line at http://ankn.uaf.edu/ANL/course/view.php?id=3

Brean & Milanowski 1979 = Brean, Alice; Milanowski, Paul G. Tanacross Noun Dictionary. Revised preliminary edition, June 1979. Unpublished ms, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item TC978S1979b, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=TC978S1979b. // A short Tanacross nominal wordlist of ca. 425 items arranged by semantic categories.

Holton 2000 = Holton, Gary. The Phonology and Morphology of the Tanacross Athabaskan Language. Ph.D., University of California. // A descriptive grammar of the Tanacross language.

McRoy 1973 = McRoy, Nancy. Beginning Tanacross Dictionary. Second typescript version, August 1973. Unpublished ms, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item TC968M1973a, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=TC968M1973a. // A short Tanacross wordlist of ca. 400 items, mostly nouns, arranged by semantic categories.

Shinen 1958 = Shinen, David C. A word list of the Nabesna dialect of the Alaska Athapaskans. Unpublished ms, 1958, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item TC959S1958, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=TC959S1958. // A large Tanacross wordlist of ca. 600 nouns and 500 verbal forms, arranged by semantic categories.

X. Upper Tanana (Tetlin)

Main sources

John 1997 = John, Bessie. Nee'aaneek. Upper Tanana Glossary, Scottie Creek Dialect. Beaver Creek, Yukon: Upper Tanana Cultural Society, 1997. // Nominal glossary of the Scottie Creek dialect of the Upper Tanana language.

Milanowski 2007 = Milanowski, Paul. Northway Dictionary. Privately distributed, October 16, 2007. Available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item UT961M2007b, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=UT961M2007b. // Nominal glossary of the Northway dialect of the Upper Tanana language.

Milanowski 2009 = Milanowski, Paul. Dictionary for Learners: Tetlin dialect of Upper Tanana Athabascan (as derived and updated from the Tetlin Junior Dictionary of 1979). Privately distributed, October 13, 2009. Available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item UT961MJ2009, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=UT961MJ2009. // Glossary of the Tetlin dialect of the Upper Tanana language. We refer to electronic page numbers from 1 to 121 of the ANLA pdf-file.

Additional sources

Minoura 1994 = Minoura, Nobukatsu. A comparative phonology of the Upper Tanana Athabaskan dialects. In: Hokkaido University Publications in Linguistics 7: Languages of the North Pacific Rim. Saporo: Hokkaido University, 1994. P. 159-196.

Minoura 1997 = Minoura, Nobukatsu. A note on possessive construction in Upper Tanana Athabaskan. In: T. Hayasi & P. Bhaskararao (eds.). Studies in possessive expressions. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1997. P. 177-196.

XI. Lower Tanana (Minto)

Frank et al. 1988 = Frank, Ellen; Kari, James; Ritter, John. Lower Tanana Athabaskan Language Lessons. Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Center. // Basic Lower Tanana phrases (Minto dialect) with English translation.

Kari 1991 = Kari, James. Lower Tanana Athabaskan Listening and Writing Exercises. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // Short educational materials on the Lower Tanana language (Minto dialect).

Kari 1994 = Kari, James. Lower Tanana Athabaskan Dictionary. First preliminary draft. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Unpublished MS, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item TNMN981K1994b (http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=TNMN981K1994b). // Lower Tanana-English and English-Lower Tanana dictionary draft based on the Minto dialect plus some specific forms from the Chena dialect. Compiled from various sources, particularly the work of Michael Krauss in the 1960s.

Krauss 1974 = Krauss, Michael E. Minto-Nenana Athabaskan Noun Dictionary. Preliminary Version. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Unpublished MS, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item TNMN961K1974a (http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=TNMN961K1974a). // Thematic dictionary of the Lower Tanana language (Minto dialect). The data have been later included in [Kari 1994].

Thompson 1986 = Thompson, Chad. Denakenaga' for children. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // Educational materials on the Lower Tanana language (Minto dialect).

Tuttle 1998 = Tuttle, Siri. Metrical and Tonal Structures in Tanana Athabaskan. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Washington. // Prosodic study of the Lower Tanana language (Minto and Salcha dialect).

Tuttle 2009 = Tuttle, Siri. Minto Lower Tanana Athabascan Pocket Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // English-Lower Tanana dictionary based on the Minto dialect.

Urschel 2006 = Urschel, Janna. Lower Tanana Athabascan Verb Paradigms. MA thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks. // Morphological study of Lower Tanana verbs (Minto dialect).

XII. Central Carrier

Antoine et al. 1974 = Antoine, Francesca; Bird, Catherine; Isaac, Agnes; Prince, Nellie; Sam, Sally; Walker, Richard; Wilkinson, David B. Central Carrier Bilingual Dictionary. Fort Saint James, British Columbia: Carrier Linguistic Committee. // Central Carrier-English dictionary, ca. 3,000 entries, accompanied with the grammar sketch.

Morice 1932 = Morice, Adrien-Gabriel. The Carrier Language (Déné Family): A Grammar and Dictionary Combined. 2 vols. St. Gabriel-Mödling bei Wien, St. Gabriel, Austria: Anthropos. // Descriptive grammar of the Central Carrier language accompanied by the glossary.

Poser 1998/2013 = Poser, William J. (Bill). Nak'albun/Dzinghubun Whut'enne Bughuni: Stuart/Trembleur Lake Carrier Lexicon. 2nd ed. Vanderhoof, BC: Yinka Dene Language Institute. // An extensive Central Carrier-English and English-Central Carrier dictionary with more than 15,000 entries. This cumulative work includes previous sources checked with the modern speakers and add a lot of newly collected data. We use the unpublished revised version of 15 August 2013, kindly provided by the author.

Poser 2000 = Poser, Bill (William J.). Notes on Carrier Writing Systems: Carrier Transcription Correspondence Chart, v. 30 October 2000. Available: http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/1680/guide/8823

Poser 2011a = Poser, William J. (Bill). English-Carrier Pocket Dictionary: Stuart Lake Dialect. Fort Saint James, BC: Nak'azdli Indian Band. // English-Central Carrier glossary.

Poser 2011b = Poser, William J. (Bill). The Carrier language: a brief introduction. 2nd ed. Prince George BC: CNC Press. // Short description of the Central Carrier language.

XIII. Koyukon

Henry & Henry 1965 = Henry, David; Henry, Kay. Koyukon classificatory verbs. Anthropological Linguistics 7(4/II): 110-116.

Jetté & Jones 2000 = Jetté, Jules; Jones, Eliza. Koyukon Athabaskan Dictionary. Editor-in-chief J. Kari. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // Extensive dictionary of the Koyukon language, covering all dialects. The lexicographic project was started by the missioner Jules Jetté (Father Jetty) in the early 20th century and finished by the Central Koyukon native speaker Eliza Jones almost a century ago.

Jones 1978 = Jones, Eliza. Junior Dictionary for Central Koyukon Athabascan. Anchorage, Alaska: National Bilingual Materials Development Center, University of Alaska. // English-Koyukon educational dictionary, based on the Central dialect.

Jones & Kwaraceius 1997 = Jones, Eliza; Kwaraceius, Joe. Denaakkenaage': Koyukon Grammar. 4th preliminary edition. Fairbanks: College of Rural Alaska Galena Campus and Alaska Native Language Center. // Educational grammar materials of the Koyukon language (Central dialect).

Kroul 1975 = Kroul, Mary V. The Phonology and Morphology of the Central Outer Koyukon Athapaskan Language. PhD dissertation. Madison: University of Wisconsin. // Phonology and morphology of the Koyukon language (Central dialect).

Landar 1967 = Landar, Herbert. Ten'a Classificatory Verbs. International Journal of American linguistics 33(4): 263-268.

Thompson 1977 = Thompson, Chad L. Koyukon Verb Prefixes. MA Thesis. Fairbanks: University of Alaska. // Description of the Koyukon (Central dialect) verb prefix complex, with lists of prefixes.

XIV. Degexit'an

Chapman 1914 = Chapman, John W. 1914. Ten'a texts and tales from Anvik, Alaska. With vocabulary by Pliny Earle Goddard. Leiden: Brill. // Glossed text collection of the Degexit'an language (Yukon dialect). Very inconsistent transcription.

Hargus 2000 = Hargus, Sharon. 2000. The qualifier prefixes in Yukon Deg Xinag (Ingalik). International Journal of American Linguistics 66 (1): 1-21.

Hargus 2010 = Hargus, Sharon. 2010. Vowel quality and duration in Yukon Deg Xinag. Working papers in Athabaskan languages 2009 (Alaska Native Language Center working papers 8): 33-74. // Phonological description of the Degexit'an language (Yukon dialect).

Kari 1976 = Kari, James. 1976. Ingalik verb stems. Unpublished ms, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item IK974K1976c, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=IK974K1976c. // Handwritten glossary of the verbs of the Degexit'an language (Yukon dialect). The scanned ms consists of 70 pages, but w/o pagination (sheets with roots starting in t- are missing). We refer to electronic page numbers from 1 to 70 of the ANLA pdf-file.

Kari 1978 = Kari, James. 1978. Deg Xinag. Ingalik noun dictionary (preliminary). Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. // Topical dictionary of nouns and grammar words of the Degexit'an language (both Yukon and Kuskokwim dialects).

Leonard 2007 = Leonard, Beth R. 2007. Deg Xinag oral traditions. Reconnecting indigenous language and education through traditional narratives. PhD. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Fairbanks. // Studies of traditional narratives of the Degexit'an language.

Taff et al. 2007 = Taff, Alice, et al. 2007. Deg Xinag learners' dictionary. Anvik, Alaska: Anvik Historical Society. Available: http://ankn.uaf.edu/ANL/course/view.php?id=7 (20.06.2016). // Electronic English-Degexit'an vocabulary (Yukon dialect).

XV. Sarsi

Main sources

Cook 1984 = Cook, Eung-Do. A Sarcee grammar. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. // Descriptive grammar of the Sarsi language.

Hoijer & Joël 1963 = Hoijer, Harry, Janet Joël. Sarsi Nouns. In: Hoijer, Harry et al. (eds.). Studies in the Athapaskan Languages. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 29.) Berkeley: University of California Press: 62-75. // Short glossary of Sarsi nouns.

Li 1930b = Li, Fang-Kuei. A study of Sarcee verb-stems. International Journal of American Linguistics 6(1): 3-27. // Short glossary of Sarsi verbs.

Additional sources

Barreda 2011 = Barreda, S. The Tsuut'ina Vocalic System. Rochester Working Papers in the Language Sciences 6: 1-10.

Cook 1971 = Cook, Eung-Do. Vowels and tones in Sarcee. Language 47: 164-179.

Goddard 1915 = Goddard, Pliny Earle. Sarsi texts. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 11(3): 189-277. // A number of folk-tales in the Sarsi language accompanied with English word for word translation.

Leer 1997 = Leer, Jeff. Sarcee: Aspect Categories, Motion Themes, Motion Verbs, Stem Sets. Unpublished ms, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item CA965L1997, http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=CA965L1997.

Nanagusja 1996a = Nanagusja: A Tsuut'ina (Sarcee) Language Development Program. Teacher's Guide. Alberta (Canada): Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District. // Educational materials on the Sarsi language.

Nanagusja 1996b = Nanagusja: A Tsuut'ina (Sarcee) Language Development Program. Unit Plan Book: Units One to Ten. Alberta (Canada): Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District. // Educational materials on the Sarsi language.

Sapir 1923 = Sapir, Edward. Sarcee Myths and Tales. Unpublished MS, available online at the Alaska Native Language Archive, item CN-TsuuTina (http://www.uaf.edu/anla/item.xml?id=CN-TsuuTina). // Glossed texts in the Sarsi language.

NOTES


I. Hupa.

I.1. General.

The main sources are the dictionaries [Sapir & Golla 2001; Golla 1996] and the grammars [Golla 1970; Golla 1996a]. Papers [Golla 1964; Golla 1977] are also very useful. In some controversial cases, specific forms have been checked against the text collections [Sapir & Golla 2001; Goddard 1904; Golla 1984].

A Hupa Swadesh wordlist is offered in [Hoijer 1956: 223] (extracted from Sapir’s field notes). For those cases in which the general semantics of the items in [Hoijer 1956] matches the current standards of GLD, our list is different from Hoijer's in 7 entries, namely: 'to die', 'to fly', 'to see', 'to sit', 'small', 'water', 'yellow'.

I.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the alphabets of [Golla 1996; Sapir & Golla 2001] as follows:

[Golla 1996] [Sapir & Golla 2001] GLD
b b p
m m m
d d t
t t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
n n n
tɫʼ ƛʼ ƛʼ
l l l
ɫ ɬ ɬ
dz ʒ c
ts c cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
tsʼ
s s s
j ǯ č
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
chw čʷ čʰʷ (before a vowel) / čʷ (before a consonant or a pause)
chʼ čʼ čʼ
sh š š
ngy ɲ
g, gy
k, ky kʰʸ (before a vowel) / kʸ (before a consonant or a pause)
kʼ, kyʼ kʼʸ kʼʸ
G g k
K k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
x x x
xw
ng ŋ ŋ
ngʼ ŋʔ ŋʔ
q ɢ q
h h h
ʼ ʔ ʔ
y y y
w w w
wh W ʍ
i i i
e e e
a a a
o o o
u u
V:

Notes.

1. Hupa k {G}, {K} and {K’} are marginal sounds, attested in diminutive (and sometimes augmentative!) forms as variants of palatal kʸ, kʰʸ and kʼʸ or in loanwords and onomatopoeic formations [Golla 1970: 44, 263].

2. As described in [Golla 1970; Golla 1996a: 366], morphophonologically there are three long vowels and three short vowels in Hupa. The long set is: eː aː oː; its phonetic realization is normally the same (eː aː oː). The morphophonological short set is listed by Golla as ɨ, a o (although the notation i, a, u or i, a, o should be more appropriate from our point of view). Golla's morphophonological short ɨ realizes as an e-like sound before h, ʔ, and as an i-like sound elsewhere; this opposition e - i is reflected in the orthography and in our transcription. Morphophonological short o realizes as an o-like sound before h, ʔ, w, and as u-like sound elsewhere; this opposition o - u is not reflected in the orthography, where the character o is only used; in our transcription we follow the orthography.

3. The character u is frequently used in [Golla 1996] for short a in the position before C# or CC. E.g., =nuŋ ‘to drink’ (q.v.) for =naŋ in other sources; =xucʼ ‘to bite’ (q.v.) for =xacʼ in other sources; yaʔ-uɬ-qay ‘(white) louse’ (q.v.) for yaʔ-aɬ-qay in other sources.

II. Mattole.

II.1. General.

The Mattole language is divided into two dialects: Mattole proper and Bear River (both died out in the middle of the 20th century). See [Golla 2011: 78 f.] for general details and [Li 1930: 2-3] for some phonetic peculiarities of the Bear River dialect. Our wordlist is compiled for the Mattole proper dialect, described in [Li 1930]. The Mattole Swadesh wordlist, offered in [Hoijer 1956], is extracted from [Li 1930]. The very short grammar sketch [Grune 1994] is, likewise, based on [Li 1930].

The main source for Bear River is the glossary in [Goddard 1929], collected from several informants. Goddard’s data are insufficient for compiling the full 110-item list; therefore, we quote the available Bear River forms in the notes. It should be noted that Goddard’s Bear River glosses are not very reliable either phonetically or semantically. It is interesting that the Bear River dialect demonstrates a substantial number of Swadesh items that are different from Mattole proper (see ‘bird’, ‘nail’, ‘egg’, ‘feather’, ‘louse’, ‘meat’, ‘night’, ‘rain’, ‘to see’, ‘skin’, ‘sun’, ‘yellow’, ‘worm’), although it is very likely that in many cases we are merely dealing with Goddard’s inaccurate definitions.

The unpublished Mattole and Bear River glossaries, collected by C. Hart Merriam in 1923 and reported in [Golla 2011: 259 ff.], remain unavailable to us. The same concerns Mattole proper and Bear River data collected by J. P. Harrington and published by E. L. Mills, 1985. The Papers of John Peabody Harrington in the Smithsonian Institution, 1907-1957. Vol. 2: A Guide to the Field Notes: Native American History, Language, and Culture of Northern and Central California. White Plains, NY: Kraus International Publications, pp. 3-9.

II.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the alphabets of [Li 1930] and [Goddard 1929] as follows:

[Li 1930] [Goddard 1929] GLD
b b p
p
m m m
d t
tx̣ t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
n n n
tʼɫ ƛʼ
l l l
ɫ ɫ ɬ
ɫʼ ɬʼ
ts ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
tʼs tsʼ
s s s
tʼsy cʼʸ
dj dj č
tcx tc čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
tʼc tcʼ čʼ
c c š
tc̯ ɕʰ (before a vowel) / ɕ (before a consonant or a pause)
g g k
kx̣ k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
ɣ ɣ ɣ
ɣʷ ɣʷ
x x x
xw xw
ŋ ŋ
ŋʼ ñʼ ŋʔ
h, ʻ h, ʻ h
ʼ ʼ ʔ
y y y
w w, w w
hw, wh ʍ
a a, α a
e e, ε, ë e
i, i̱ i, ι i
o o, ʚ o
u, υ u
CC
Vˑ, VV
V V ˈV

Notes.

1. According to [Li 1930: 5-7], the aspirated series is “strongly aspirated with a velar spirantal glide”. Thus, the transcription tx kx čxʸ for tʰ kʰ čʰ is possible. On the contrary, and ɕʰ is pronounced “with a very weak, and sometimes no, aspiration”.

2. Li proposes that the main source of s is the secondary defricativization of Mattole [Li 1930: 9 f.].

3. The exact place and manner of articulation of Li’s {tc̯} is not entirely clear; we transcribe this affricate as palatal ɕʰ (the transcription čʰʸ is also possible).

4. The velar series is actually palatalized (i.e., kʸ, kʷʸ, kʰʸ, kʼʸ, ɣʸ, ɣʷʸ, xʸ, xʷʸ), although we prefer to transcribe it as plain velar for the sake of convenience (i.e., k, and so on).

5. Li’s {i̱} (a ǝ-like sound) is a variant of i in the position near a velar [Li 1930: 39 f.]. We do not distinguish between Li’s {i} and {i̱} in our transcription.


III. Kato.

III.1. General.

The Kato language became extinct in the middle or the 2nd half of the 20th century, see [Golla 2011: 81]. The main sources for Kato are the grammar sketch [Goddard 1912] and the text collection [Goddard 1909]. Short Kato wordlists in [Curtis 1924: 201-207] and [Essene 1942: 85-89] also provide some important lexical information (it should be noted that the phonetic transcription in both [Essene 1942] and [Curtis 1924] is poor and unreliable). The Kato Swadesh wordlist, offered in [Hoijer 1956: 223-224], is extracted from [Goddard 1912].

III.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the alphabet of [Goddard 1912; Goddard 1909] as follows:

[Goddard 1912; Goddard 1909] GLD
b p
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
n n
nɛ
L ƛʼ
l l
lɛ
ʟ ɬ
ʟɛ ɬʼ
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
tsʼ
s s
dj č
tc čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
tcʼ čʼ
c š
j ž
g k
gw
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
kw kʰʷ
kʼw kʼʷ
ɢ ɣ
ŋ
ɛ ŋʔ
q q
h, ʻ h
ɛ ʔ
y y
w w
a, ą a
e, ę e
i i
ǝ
ī
ō
ū

Notes.

1. Not infrequently, in the specific forms recorded by Goddard, we find the aspirated affricates cʰ čʰ instead of the expected ejective sounds, e.g., =cʼa-n ~ =cʰa-ŋ ‘to hear’ or Kato =čʰiː ‘to blow’ vs. Hupa =čʼeː (see 'wind'). It is unclear whether we are dealing with sporadic de-ejectivization of cʼ čʼ in Kato or with inaccurate transcription on Goddard's part.

IV. Taldash Galice.

IV.1. General.

The Galice-Applegate language consists of three known dialects: Dakobe (or Applegate), Taldash (or Galice), Nabiltse; all of them became extinct during the 20th century, see [Golla 2011: 72-73] (Golla prefers to treat Galice-Applegate as one of the dialects of the generic Rogue River language). Galice-Applegate is poorly documented, but data on the Taldash dialect are sufficient for compiling the GLD wordlist.

The main sources on Taldash Galice are the papers [Hoijer 1966; Hoijer 1973], which are based on data collected by Melville Jacobs and Hoijer in the 1930s and 1950s, and [Landar 1977], based on data collected in the mid-20th century from the same Galice speaker that Hoijer had worked with. The Taldash Galice 89-item wordlist in [Hoijer 1956: 223] is based on Jacobs’ materials. One Taldash Galice text from Jacobs’ collection was published as [Jacobs 1968].

The most reliable transcription of Taldash Galice is offered in [Hoijer 1973]. On the contrary, transcription in [Landar 1977] seems rather inaccurate; in particular, vowel nasality frequently remains unmarked by Landar.

A 19th century vocabulary of Taldash Galice by J. Owen Dorsey (Galice Creek [Talt uct un tude] vocabulary and grammatical notes, Yacltun or Galice Creek Jim and Peter Muggins, September 18 - October 9, 1884. NAA MS 4800:(4.1.2) (373), National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. 53 pp.), reported in [Golla 2011], is unavailable to us.

IV.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the alphabets of [Hoijer 1966; Hoijer 1973] as follows:

[Hoijer 1973] [Hoijer 1966] GLD
b b p
m m m
d d t
t t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
n n n
Ł tʼɫ ƛʼ
l l l
ɫ ɫ ɬ
j dz c
tsʼ
z z z
s s s
č
č čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
č́ tšʼ čʼ
š š š
g g k
k k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
kʰʷ
ḱʷ kʼʷ kʼʷ
h h h
ʔ ʔ ʔ
y y y
w w w
W W ʍ
a a a
e e e
i i i
o o o
VV VV

Notes.

1. According to [Landar 1977: 294], the alveodentals are actually dental: t̪ s̪ and so on, although in [Hoijer 1966: 320] they are specified as apico-alveolar.

2. It is reported in [Golla 2011: 75] that Taldash Galice possesses two additional voiced stops: b d (originating from m n in many phonetic environments), although in other sources, e.g., [Hoijer 1966; Hoijer 1973], voiced b d are not mentioned.

3. In [Landar 1977: 294], an additional specific sibilant is mentioned: “whistled” s, which we provisionally transcribe as .

4. According to [Hoijer 1966: 320], o, oː are actually realized as ʊ, ʊː in all positions except for vowel clusters.

V. Tanaina (Upper Inlet, Outer Inlet, Inland, Iliamna).

V.1. General.

The Tanaina (or Dena'ina) language consists of four main dialect groups: Upper Inlet (or Upper Cook Inlet; incl. Susitna Staion, Eklutna, Tyonek, Talkeetna, Knik subdialects), Outer Inlet (or Outer Cook Inlet or Kenai), Inland (incl. Lime Village and Nondalton subdialects), Iliamna. The fifth - extinct and poorly documented - dialect is Seldovia. See [Kari 1975; Kari 2007: xii, xxi, xxv ff.; Holton et al. 2004: 3 ff.] for details. The Upper Inlet dialect is the most innovative in terms of phonetics. There are actually some important discrepancies in the basic vocabularies between the Tanaina dialects; because of this, we have compiled separate lists for each of the four main dialects. Sporadic forms from the Seldovia dialect are quoted in the notes.

The main lexicographic sources for the Tanaina language are the dictionaries [Kari 1977; Kari 2007] (all dialects), [Wassillie 1979] (Inland dialect) and the grammars and grammar sketches [Holton et al. 2004] (mostly based on the Inland dialect with references to other dialects), [Boraas 2010] (Outer Inlet dialect), [Tenenbaum 1978] (Inland dialect), [Lovick 2005] (all dialects). Additionally, the texts collected in [Tenenbaum 1976] (Inland dialect) have been used to check some forms.

In the dictionaries [Kari 1977; Kari 2007], the absence of a dialect siglum means that this specific form is used with this meaning in all the Tanaina dialects. It is explicitly noted in [Kari 1977: 12] that if an Iliamna ("Il") form is not quoted separately, the siglum "I" means that the specific form is attested not only in Inland, but also in Iliamna. As for [Kari 2007], strictly speaking, it is unclear whether an Iliamna form is assumed to be the same as the Inland one, if Iliamna is not marked separately, or not. It is likely, however, that [Kari 2007] has the same system of notation as [Kari 1977], i.e., the siglum "I" denotes both Inland and Iliamna, whereas specific Inland forms are labeled as "NL" (i.e., Lime Village and Nondalton - two subdialects of Inland).

Tanaina wordlists, recorded in the early 1930s and published in [Osgood 1937], were incorporated into the cumulative dictionaries [Kari 1977; Kari 2007], so we do not refer specially to [Osgood 1937].

Historical and comparative issues of Tanaina are discussed in [Gleason 1960; Kari 1975; Kari 1989; Kari 1996; Landar 1960].

For some basic terms (including Swadesh items), Tanaina dialects can lack original Athapaskan roots, using specific innovative expressions instead. These cases are called "elite replacements" by James Kari (see [Kari 1989: 545; Kari 1996: 59 ff.; Kari 2007: xxi] for detail), who tends to explain them as taboo replacements.

Actually Kari's "elite replacements" can be divided into two classes. The first class consists of descriptive verbal forms which have superseded original roots, e.g., 'head' is expressed as 'tip that extends', and so on. In these cases, we are dealing with normal gradual evolution of the original lexicon during natural language development. We are not aware of any positive evidence that such replacements are taboo driven in Tanaina. The second class consists of Tanaina words that are morphologically unanalyzable and unetymologizable. E.g., 'fire' is expressed by the enigmatic form tazʔi in the bulk of Tanaina dialects, whereas the old inherited term qʰǝn 'fire' is only retained in the Upper Inlet dialect. Within the GLD 110-item wordlists, such items are: 'bone', 'fire', 'hair', and possibly 'eye', 'heart', 'water'. In these cases, it is probable that we are dealing with remnants of a substrate language, which was superseded by Tanaina centuries ago.

V.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the Tanaina alphabet as follows:

[Kari 2007; Holton et al. 2004; Tenenbaum 1978] GLD
b p
m m
v v
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
dl ƛ
tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
j č
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' čʼ
zh ž
sh š
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
ŷ, y ɣ
x x
gg q
q qʰ (before a vowel) / q (before a consonant or a pause)
q'
gh ʁ
h χ
w w
y y
' ʔ
ĥ, hh h
i i
e ǝ
a a
u u

Notes.

1. In some Russian loanwords, the foreign sounds f, r, o, e (orthographic: {é}) occur.

2. It is actually unclear whether the two back series are opposed as velar and uvular (i.e., k - q, x - χ etc.) or as palatalized velar and non-palatalized velar (i.e., kʸ - k, xʸ - x etc.). Traditional notation of Tanainanists - "front velars" vs. "back velars" - is uninformative, but in [Tenenbaum 1978: 26; Lovick 2005: 13], the front series is labeled as "velar" (k, x etc.), whereas the back series is explicitly described as "uvular" (q, χ etc.). On the other hand, according to the places of articulation figure by Siri Tuttle (quoted in [Kari 2007: xxv]), the front series looks like palatalized velar (kʸ, xʸ etc.), whereas the back series is depicted as simple velar (k, x etc.). For our transcription, we prefer the velar - uvular opposition (k - q, x - χ etc.).

3. Several regular phonetic and morphological phenomena of dialectal origin are not (or not always) explicitly reflected in the main sections of the dictionaries [Kari 1977; Kari 2007]. The most important of these are: (1) v implies v in Inland & Iliamna, but b in Upper Inlet & Outer Inlet and w in Seldovia; (2) č čʰ čʼ š (Outer Inlet, Inland, Iliamna) imply c cʰ cʼ s respectively in Upper Inlet, see below for detail; (3) final -y implies in Outer Inlet; (4) the izafet suffix -a implies -a in Upper Inlet & Inland, but -ʔa in Outer Inlet & Iliamna; see [Kari 1975; Kari 1977: 20 f.; Kari 2007: xxvi ff.].

4. In the Upper Inlet dialect, the alveolar and postalveolar series have merged, i.e., the Common Tanaina phonemes c - č, cʰ - čʰ, cʼ - čʼ, s - š are not discriminated within the corresponding pair. In [Kari 1975: 50; Kari 2007: xxvi], the resulting Upper Inlet series is specified as intermediate between alveolar and postalveolar and transcribed with the acute sign {tś, ś, ...} that imply that the only Upper Inlet sibilant series is retracted (c̠ c̠ʰ c̠ʼ s̠) vel sim. (cf. the naive transcription in [Osgood 1937] with Upper Inlet {š} and so on). On the contrary, in [Kari 1977: 16 et passim], the resulting Upper Inlet series is described as simple alveolar c cʰ cʼ s. In our transcription we follow [Kari 1977]'s simplified notation, i.e., c cʰ cʼ s. Additionally, it should be noted that in Upper Inlet, the Common Tanaina phonemes z, ž, ɣ, y have merged into y.

5. The orthographic apostrophe sign is transcribed as ʔ (except for the position after {t, c, č, k, q}, where it denotes ejectivization), thus {gh'} = ʁʔ, {n'} = etc., see [Holton et al. 2004: 2].

6. The glottal-stop (ʔ) is an automatic prothesis in the case of vocalic onset. We do not note it in our transcription.


VI. Ahtena (Central, Mentasta)

VI.1. General.

The Ahtena (or Ahtna, Copper River, Mednovskiy) language consists of four main dialects: Central, Lower, Western, Mentasta/Upper; see [Kari 1990: 20 ff.] for details. Out of these, the Mentasta dialect is lexically the most distant from the others, whereas Western is the most archaic phonetically. In fact, no lexicostatistical differences between the Central, Lower and Western dialects have been revealed within the 110-item wordlist. Consequently, we only offer two Ahtena lists: Central Ahtena and Mentasta Ahtena (the Lower and Western data are quoted in notes on the Central entries). Non-Mentasta and Mentasta dialects differ in 4 Swadesh words: ‘breast’, ‘heart’, ‘mountain’, ‘sun’. It is interesting that at least in the case of ‘heart’, ‘mountain’, ‘sun’, it is the Mentasta dialect which retains the old Proto-Ahtena terms, whereas the non-Mentasta dialects demonstrates lexical replacements.

The primary lexicographic source for the Ahtena language is the dictionary [Kari 1990] (all dialects), supplemented with a phonological and morphological sketch; dictionaries of the Ahtena nominal forms [Kari & Buck 1975] and [Smelcer 2010] have been used as additional sources. The Ahtena verbal morphology is discussed in details in [Kari 1979]. Some important phonetic and morphophonological peculiarities of Ahtena are discussed in [Rice 2003; Tuttle 2010].

VI.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the Ahtena alphabet as follows (see especially [Tuttle 2010]):

[Kari 1990; Smelcer 2010] GLD
b p
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a pause)
t'
n n
dl ƛ
tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a pause)
tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
g
c kʰʸ (before a vowel) / kʸ (before a pause)
c' kʼʸ
gg q
k qʰ (before a vowel) / q (before a pause)
k'
gh ʁ
x χ
ng ɴ
y y
yh
hw ʍ
' ʔ
h h
i i
e ǝ
a a
o o
u u
VV
ae

Notes.

1. In a few loanwords, the foreign sounds v {v}, pʰ {p} also occur [Kari 1990: 14].

2. It must be noted that, unlike other Athapaskan languages, Ahtena phonetically (as well as orthographically) discriminates between aspirated and non-aspirated consonants in the preconsonantal position. This is valid for at least t & , e.g., -tʁ- {-dgh-} vs. -tʰn- {-tn-}. Moreover, phonological /t/ becomes aspirated before p, n and uvular (as well as velar?) stops, coinciding with /tʰ/. See [Tuttle 2010: 349 ff.] for details.

3. There is only one sibilant row in the Ahtena dialects. In [Kari 1990: 13, 19], it is described as intermediate between alveolar (c, s etc.) and postalveolar (č, š etc.) for most Ahtena speakers (i.e., the sounds are interpreted as retracted c̠ c̠ʰ c̠ʼ z̠ s̠). According to [Tuttle 2010: 343], however, the sibilants freely alternate between alveolar (c, s etc.) and postalveolar (č, š, etc.) places of articulation. For the sake of convenience, we transcribe the Ahtena sibilants as alveolar, i.e., c cʰ cʼ s z.

4. As specified in [Tuttle 2010: 344], back consonants are opposed as palatal vs. uvular rows. For the sake of convenience, we transcribe the palatal obstruents as palatalized velars, i.e., kʸ kʰʸ kʼʸ (as opposed to uvular q qʰ qʼ). The extremely rare palatal fricative is transcribed as , i.e., devoiced y.

5. The sound ɴ synchronically originates from the cluster , see [Kari 1990: 15].

6. There is a number of phonetic and morphological phenomena of dialectal origin in Ahtena. The main discrepancy between the dialects is the fate of the Proto-Ahtena ejectives (tʼ ƛʼ cʼ kʼʸ qʼ) in root-final position (regardless of whether the root is modified with a suffix or not). The reflexation scheme is rather complicated [Kari 1990: 23 ff.; Kari & Buck 1975: xv ff.], and the regular dialectal variants are not always written out in the dictionaries.

7. Other dialectal peculiarities are: ty > kʸ, tʁ > q, tʰχ > qʰ, nʁ > ɴ, tʰnʁ > qʰɴ in the Lower dialect; vocalization (i.e. > V) of the verbal prefixes ʁ- and z- in Central, Lower and Western; special behaviour of the personal prefixes kʼʸ- ‘indefinite’, cʼ- ‘1st pl.’, qʰ- ‘3rd pl.’; p-n > m-n in Mentasta; nasalization Vn(ʔ) > Ṽ(ʔ) in final position; drop or harmony of the final -e(ʔ) & -i(ʔ) in Mentasta. See [Kari 1990: 23 ff.; Kari & Buck 1975: xv ff.] for details. It must be noted that not all dialectal variants are explicitly written out in the main sections of the Ahtena dictionaries, so it is not always possible to reconstruct a specific dialectal form, proceeding from the headwords in the dictionaries.

8. In Mentasta, the special spelling {...nn} / {...nnʼ} is used for the final -n(ʔ), which is retained and does not develop into the nasalization of the preceding vowel, defying the regular rule of the dropping of final *-n(ʔ) in Mentasta (normally such Mentasta forms with retained -n(ʔ) originate from Proto-Ahtena *-ne(ʔ) / *-ni(ʔ) with regular vowel reduction in Mentasta). See [Kari 1990: 29; Kari & Buck 1975: xix] for details.

VII. Dogrib

VII.1. General.

The Dogrib (or Tɫįcho) language consists of several close dialects, apparently with minimal lexical differences between them [Saxon & Siemens 1996: xvii]. The main phonetic discrepancy between the dialects is the fate of the alveolar and postalveolar series, on which see below. The primary lexicographic source for the Dogrib language is the educational dictionary [Saxon & Siemens 1996] together with its revised and enlarged on-line version [Saxon & Siemens n.d.]. Normally we refer to the paper volume [Saxon & Siemens 1996], and only when necessary to [Saxon & Siemens n.d.]. The short children's dictionary [Siemens et al. 2007] as well as the etymological wordlists in [Ackroyd 1976] appear to also be useful in some cases. The only Dogrib grammars are the Ph.D. thesis [Coleman 1976] and the primer [Marinakis et al. 2007].

VII.2. Transliteration.

We transliterate the Dogrib alphabet as follows:

[Saxon & Siemens 1996; Marinakis et al. 2007] GLD
b p
mb ᵐp
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
nd ⁿt
n n
dl ƛ
ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tɫ' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
j č
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' čʼ
zh ž
sh š
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
gh ɣ
x x
gw
kw kʰʷ (before a vowel) / kʷ (before a consonant or a pause)
kw' kʼʷ
y y
w w
hw ʍ
r r
ʔ ʔ
h h
i, ı i
e e
a a
o o
VV
V̨V̨ Ṽː
V, VV V, Vː
V, VV V, Vː

Notes.

1. Normally r occurs either in the verbal prefix -re- (< *-te-) or in loanwords (cf. [Coleman 1976: 9, 17]); r is frequently omitted by some speakers [Marinakis et al. 2007: 14].

2. Prenasalized ᵐp ⁿt are typical for the elder generation, whereas the majority of current speakers simplifies them to p t (it should be noted that except for some loanwords, p is a new sound for Dogrib; this is not right for t, which is a full-fledged phoneme in conservative Dogrib) [Rice & Saxon 2002: 127 f.; Coleman 1976: 16].

3. Younger speakers merge the alveolar (c cʰ cʼ s z) and postalveolar (č čʰ čʼ š ž) series as c cʰ cʼ s z (this neutralization also has geographical distribution) [Rice & Saxon 2002: 128 f.].

4. Tone is defined for each syllable in the word. Two tones are opposed: high V (not marked in the traditional orthography) and low V (orthographically V).

VIII. North Slavey

VIII.1. General.

North Slavey consists of three dialects: Hare, Bearlake, Mountain. Sometimes these three together with the closely related language South Slavey are treated as dialects of a single Slave language [Rice 1989: 1, 10-11]. Our North Slavey list is based on the Hare dialect which is the only one sufficiently documented for our purposes.

The primary lexicographic source for the Hare dialect is the preliminary dictionary [Rice 1978] plus the 100-item wordlist in [Hoijer 1956: 222], extracted from Petitot’s dictionary (1876). Grammatical information has been taken from the detailed description [Rice 1989], based on the South Slavey language accompanied with extensive excursus to three North Slavey dialects. For a separate phonological description of Hare, see [Rice 1976].

VIII.2. Transliteration.
We transliterate the Hare alphabet of [Rice 1978; Rice 1989] as follows:

[Rice 1978; Rice 1989] GLD
b p
f f
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
dl ƛ
tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts'
z z
s s
j č
ch' čʼ
zh ž
sh š
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
gh ɣ
x x
gw
y y
w w
w’
r r
' ʔ
h h
i i
e e
a a
o o
u u
ie, ee ie
V V̀ (low)
V́ (high)

1. The ejective series (tʼ cʼ etc.) can optionally be realized as simple voiced segments (d ʒ etc.) in the intervocalic position [Rice 1989: 31].

2. Unlike other dialects, modern Hare practically lacks the aspirated affricates cʰ čʰ ƛʰ; these are reported to have existed as late as the early 20th c., but recently they shifted to s š ɬ respectively, although they are still occasionally retained in a few forms [Rice 1976: 17-18; Rice 1989: 35].

3. Lateral affricates (ƛ ƛʼ) frequently have a velar onset.

4. ž can be retained in the speech of elder generation, but normally coincides with y among younger speakers [Rice 1976: 18; Rice 1989: 32].

5. Hare is actually preglottalized.

6. The glottal stop (ʔ) is an automatic prothesis in the case of vocalic onset.

7. For the tonal opposition high / low and tonal assimilation, see [Rice 1989: 51].

IX. Tanacross

VIII.1. General.
The primary lexicographic source for the Tanacross language is the dictionary [Arnold et al. 2009] and the grammar [Holton 2000]; the unpublished wordlists [Brean & Milanowski 1979; McRoy 1973; Shinen 1958] have been used as additional sources.

VIII.2. Transliteration.
We transliterate the alphabet of [Arnold et al. 2009] as follows (cf. [Holton 2000: 312 ff.]):

[Arnold et al. 2009] GLD
b b
m m
mb ᵐb
d t (before a vowel) / d (before a consonant or a pause)
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
nn
nh
nd ⁿd / biphonemic nt
ddh tᶿ (before a vowel) / dᶞ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth tᶿʰ (before a vowel) / tᶿ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth' tᶿʼ
dh ð
th θ̬
th θ
dl ƛ (before a vowel) / ᴌ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ̬
ɫ ɬ
dz c (before a vowel) / ʒ (before a consonant or a pause)
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s
s s
j č (before a vowel) / ǯ (before a consonant or a pause)
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' čʼ
sh š̬
sh š
g k (before a vowel) / g (before a consonant or a pause)
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
gh ɣ
x
x x
y y
yy
yh
' ʔ
h h
i i
e e
a a
o o
u u
V V (low)
V V (high)
V̂ (falling)
V̌ (rising)
V (extra-high)
VV

Notes.

1. The velar series is phonetically described as being intermediate between velar and uvular places of articulation, i.e., [k̠, x̠] and so on [Holton 2000: 24].

2. The final suffixal vowels (-V and -Vʔ) tend to be dropped. Some modern speakers still pronounce a very short ǝ-like sound for the historical final vowels [Holton 2000: 26], but we follow Holton’s transcription and do not mark this vocalic segment.

3. The ejective series (tʼ, ƛʼ etc.) is restricted to pre-vocalic position (to be precise, to the root-initial position), where three series of stops and affricates t / tʰ / tʼ {d t t’} are opposed [Holton 2000: 23, 29]. In the pre-consonantal position or before a pause, only two series of stops and affricates are opposed: voiced and voiceless, e.g., d / t {d t} etc. [Holton 2000: 23, 25, 29]. One should pay attention to the confused traditional orthography as described in the above table. The main case where the voiced stop/affricate occurs in pre-consonant position is the prefixal 1st sg. subject exponent -eg-, which is a very specific contractive development of the old subject morpheme and the “classifier” -l- [Holton 2000: 199]. In the final position, however, voiced stops/affricates as well as voiced fricatives are frequent. In the positions -VT, -VT-V(ʔ) (where the final -V(ʔ) is a suffix, e.g., possessive -Vʔ or negative -V [Holton 2000: 26 ff., 270 f.]) the historical binary opposition between non-ejective stops and affricates and the ejective ones t / tʼ was eliminated in favor of the non-ejective series t. At the next stage, this root-final T in the intervocalic position -VT-V(ʔ) gets voiced: t > d. Furthermore, -V(ʔ) was reduced to a very short vocalic segment and eventually dropped; this produced such word-final oppositions as -t / -d, -ƛ / -ᴌ and so on. Such a voicing (which is not a fully phonetically conditioned process, since not each intervocalic voiceless stop/affricate gets voiced) is an interesting feature of Tanacross historical phonetics. In principle, the historical phonetics of Tanacross is seriously "morphologized", and morphemic boundaries between the root and the affixes share a specific status. Besides the aforementioned voicing of stops and affricates in root-final position, the following phenomena can be mentioned: 1) voiced fricatives ð l z ɣ get semi-voiced θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ x̬ in root-initial position as discussed below; 2) the combination of the obstruent prefix with root-initial ʔ- yields a consonant cluster that differs from normal ejectives, e.g., the “classifier” =t= plus a root of the shape =ʔV produce t-ʔ, not as follows from [Arnold et al. 2009: 11, 15] and transcription of various verbal forms in [Holton 2000: passim]; 3) the high tone harmony VCV > VCV affects prefixal syllables, whereas root syllables do not harmonize in the same position [Holton 2000: 83 ff.].

4. It should be noted that in [Holton 2000], plain stops/affricates in the prevocalic position are frequently transcribed as voiced, not voiceless, e.g., [dɛndîːg] ‘moose’ [Holton 2000: 28], [ɢʶaːy] ‘small’ [Holton 2000: 31] instead of the expected [tɛntîːg], [qᵡaːy]. Such a voiced transcription contradicts the explicit statement that the prevocalic orthographic {d, g etc.} denote the plain voiceless series t, k etc. [Holton 2000: 23] and the regular transcriptions such as [tiðintah] ‘you are sitting down’ [Holton 2000: 102].

5. The final vowel drop also caused the emergence of a phonological opposition between the voiceless and voiced fricatives θ / ð, s / z, etc., and the sonorants n̥ / n, y̥ / y in the final position.

6. The so-called semi-voiced fricatives actually possess different articulations, see [Holton 2000: 96 ff.] for detail. Semi-voiced ɬ̬ phonetically represents voiceless onset plus voiced coda, i.e., ɬl. Other semi-voiced, θ̬ s̬ š̬ x̬, may also begin voiceless and transition to voiced (sz etc.), but more frequently these have either erratic voice or even no voice at all. According to [Holton 2000], the main distinctive feature of θ̬ s̬ š̬ x̬ is lower amplitude frication noise, i.e., in most cases θ̬ s̬ š̬ x̬ must be treated as weak voiceless θ͉ s͉ š͉ x͉ as opposed to neutral voiceless θ s š x. I.e., the three-way opposition of the fricatives is to be analyzed as: voiced ð / voiceless lax θ͉ (= θ̬) / voiceless tense or neutral θ.

7. The semi-voiced fricatives θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ x̬ (but not š̬) are conditioned allophones of the voiced fricatives, according to [Holton 2000: 313]. From the formal point of view, however, θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ x̬ should not be treated as allophonic variants of ð l z ɣ, but rather as full-fledged synchronic phonemes. As follows from [Holton 2000: 23, 43-45; Arnold et al. 2009: 24], the semi-voiced fricatives θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ x̬ occur as a root-initial segment following the majority of suffixes, e.g., the nominal possessives š-, tè-, etc., the verbal “classifiers” -t-, -l- and so on. The semi-voiced fricatives alternate with the voiceless series θ ɬ s x which normally occur after suffixal -h- [Holton 2000: 43].

8. š̬ is a full-fledged phoneme (phonologically can be treated as ž), whereas its voiceless counterpart š is excluded from the synchronic alternation of the voiceless and voiced fricatives [Holton 2000: 40, 45 ff.].

9. m ~ ᵐb ~ b are free variants depending on the speaker [Holton 2000: 51; Arnold et al. 2009: 12].

10. ⁿd is an allophonic variant of n, which occurs as a root-initial segment, if there is no another nasal in the root [Holton 2000: 56]. Some speakers tend to denasalize ⁿd > d [Holton 2000: 57; Arnold et al. 2009: 12].

11. For long and , which occurs as -nːʔ, -yːʔ in the possessed forms < *...n-éʔ, *...y-éʔ, see [Holton 2000: 59, 61].

12. In the traditional orthography, hyphen is used to mark a combination with the glottal-stop. Thus, {k-'} means (occurs at the morpheme boundaries) as opposed to standard glottalized {k'} [Arnold et al. 2009: 11, 15].

13. In the initial position before a consonant, n l s š x become syllabic n̩ l̩ s̩ š̩ x̩ [Holton 2000: 39, 55, 91].

14. Initial vowels are normally modified by the prothesis ʔ- (not noted orthographically), but not always. At least in the case of u, initial plain u- is orthographical {wu-}, whereas orthographical {u-} expresses regular ʔu- [Holton 2000: 33; Arnold et al. 2009: 6].

15. o & do not have nasalized counterparts.

16. We assume that [Arnold et al. 2009] is the most reliable source as regards tonal transcription of individual forms.

17. The extra-high tone V̋ is restricted to the root vowels of negated verbal forms in the final phrasal position [Holton 2000: 81 ff., 271]. Thus it is natural to describe the extra-high tone V̋ as phrasal prosody.

X. Upper Tanana (Tetlin)

IX.1. General.
The Upper Tanana language consists of five mutually intelligible dialects: Canadian, Scottie Creek, Northway, Tetlin, Nabesna [Minoura 1994]. Northway and Tetlin seem especially close to each other. Available lexicographic data are sufficient for the compilation of one list for the Tetlin dialect [Milanowski 2009]. We are thankful to Paul Milanowski and the Tetlin elder Ida Joe who have provided us with several lexical items missing from [Milanowski 2009] (these are quoted as “Milanowski, p.c.”, January 2015).

Lexical data, mostly nominal forms, from the Northway [Milanowski 2007] and Scottie Creek [John 1997] dialects are quoted in the notes.

For the revealed discrepancies between Tetlin-Northway and Scottie Creek see ‘bark’, ‘to eat’, ‘feather’, ‘green’, ‘seed’, and perhaps ‘ashes’.

IX.2. Transliteration.
The following transliterational chart covers our principal sources (see [Minoura 1994: 163, 165]):

[Milanowski 2009] [John 1997] GLD
b m b (in the initial position) / ᵐb (elsewhere)
m m m
d d t (before a vowel) / d (before a consonant or a pause)
t t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t' t'
n n n / nᵈ (see notes below)
nn nn
nh nh
nd nd nᵈ / biphonemic nt
ddh ddh tᶿ (before a vowel) / dᶞ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth tth tᶿʰ (before a vowel) / tᶿ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth' tth' tᶿʼ
dh dh ð
th th θ̬
th th θ
dl dl ƛ (before a vowel) / ᴌ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl' tl' ƛʼ
l l l
ɫ ɫ ɬ̬
ɫ ɫ, lh ɬ
dz dz c (before a vowel) / ʒ (before a consonant or a pause)
ts ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts' ts'
s s
s s s
j j č (before a vowel) / ǯ (before a consonant or a pause)
ch ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' ch' čʼ
sh sh š̬
sh sh š
shy sh š̬ʸ
g g k (before a vowel) / ɣ (before a consonant) / g (before a pause)
k k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k' k'
x x
x x x
w w
y y y
yy
yh yh
' ' ʔ
h h h / ɦ (in the areal prefix ɦu-)
i i i
e e e
a a a
o o o
u u u
ä ɤ
ü ü ɯ
V V (low)
V V (high / neutral)
V̂ (falling)
V̌ (rising)
VV VV

Notes

1. The ejective series (tʼ, ƛʼ etc.) is restricted to pre-vocalic position (root-initial, to be more precise), where three series of stops and affricates t / tʰ / tʼ {d t t’} are opposed. In the pre-consonantal position or before a pause, only two series of stops and affricates are opposed: voiced and voiceless, e.g., d / t {d t} etc. [Minoura 1994: 168]. Historically, the situation is similar to that of the Tanacross language q.v.

2. The final suffixal vowels ( and -ǝʔ) tend to be dropped, although some modern speakers still pronounce a ǝ-like sound in the place of the historical final vowels [Minoura 1994: 171]. Synchronously, the reduced vowel ǝ should be treated as a morphophonological unit [Minoura 1994: 186-188].

3. The final vowel deletion also caused the emergence of a phonological opposition between voiceless and voiced sonorants n / n̥, y / y̥ in the final position.

4. A specific feature of Upper Tanana is the development of final root consonants followed by the ǝ-suffix (e.g., the negative or relativizing verbal suffix or the possessive nominal suffix -ǝʔ): tǝ > dn {dn}, kǝ > ɣŋ {gn}, lǝ > ᴌ {l, ll}, nǝ > nː {nn} [Minoura 1994: 171-172, 180-182]. It may be observed from [Minoura 1994: 182-184] that the same development of the morphonological sequence can also occur in prefixes.

5. The so-called semi-voiced or lax fricatives (θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ š̬ š̬ʸ x̬) phonetically represent voiceless onset plus voiced coda, i.e., θð ɬl etc. [Minoura 1994: 166]. Apparently the three-way opposition of the fricatives is to be analyzed as: voiced ð / voiceless lax θ͉ (= θ̬) / voiceless tense or neutral θ.

6. Historically, the semi-voiced fricatives (θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ š̬ x̬, but not š̬ʸ) are conditioned allophones of the voiced fricatives. Synchronously, the semi-voiced fricatives (θ̬ ɬ̬ s̬ š̬ x̬) occur as a root-initial segment, whereas their voiced counterparts (ð l y) occur in prefixes and as root-initial segments in some compounds [Minoura 1994: 165]. It should be noted that the available Upper Tanana sources are not very consistent in their transcription of semi-voiced fricatives.

7. Lax š̬ʸ is a full-fledged phoneme (phonologically can be treated as ž) which is excluded from the synchronic alternation of the voiceless and voiced fricatives [Minoura 1994: 192-193].

8. According to [Minoura 1994: 167, 180], nasal n m are attested before , Vn, C, #. Before V(C), where V and C are non-nasal, the complex variants nᵈ ᵐb (~ b) are pronounced instead. As for the ᵐb ~ b fluctuation, it is stated in [Milanowski 2009: 4] that the character {b} is pronounced b word-initially and ᵐb elsewhere.

9. At least some velar consonants are shifted back toward the uvular zone, i.e., ḵ x̱ etc. [Minoura 1994: 166; Milanowski 2009: 5]. Additionally, the stops k kʰ can be pronounced as affricates kx kxʰ [Minoura 1994: 166].

10. Initial vowels are normally modified by prothetic ʔ- (not noted orthographically), but not always [Minoura 1994: 166, 168]. The exceptions are the possessive prefixes u- and i- which lack ʔ- (possessive u- can be orthographically represented as {wu-}).

11. In addition to the monophthongs listed above, there are several diphthongs in Upper Tanana [Minoura 1994: 163].

12. Pitch accent, i.e. tonal opposition is retained in the Canadian, Scottie Creek and Northway dialects, eroded in Nabesna and lost in Tetlin [Minoura 1994: 178]. The low tone is marked, whereas the high one is unmarked or neutral. For tonal assimilation, see [Minoura 1994: 178].

XI. Lower Tanana (Minto)

X.1. General.
The Lower Tanana language consists of three closely related dialects: Minto (Minto-Nenana), Salcha (Salcha-Goodpaster), Chena [Urschel 2006: 4]. Out of these, Salcha and Chena are recently extinct, but Minto is still spoken. Available lexicographic data are sufficient for the compilation of one list for the Minto dialect.

The primary lexicographic source for the Minto dialect is the dictionary [Kari 1994; Tuttle 2009]; the verbal grammar [Urschel 2006] has been used as well. Scarce lexical data from the Salcha and Chena dialects are quoted in the notes. No reliable lexicostatistical discrepancies between the dialects have been revealed.

X.2. Transliteration.
The following transliterational chart covers our principal sources (see [Urschel 2006: 20-21]):

[Kari 1994; Tuttle 2009; Urschel 2006] GLD
b b
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
nh
ddh tᶿ
tth tᶿʰ (before a vowel) / tᶿ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth' tᶿʼ
dh ð
th θ
dl ƛ
tɫ, tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
dr
tr ʰ (before a vowel) /  (before a consonant or a pause)
tr' ʼ
zr ʐ
sr ʂ
j č
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' čʼ
sh š
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
gh ɣ
x, kh x
y y
yh
' ʔ
h h
i i
e ǝ
a a
o ʌ
u u
w ʊ
ǝ̃
ą, á
ų, ú

1. The ejective series of stops and affricates (tʼ, ƛʼ etc.) seems to be restricted to the pre-vocalic position, where three series of stops and affricates t / tʰ / tʼ {d t t'} are opposed (but not only to root-initial position, cf. ɬukʼa 'fish', cʰǝƛʼ-ã 'small').

2. According to [Urschel 2006: 16], the vowels i ʌ u are long ("full"), whereas a ǝ ʊ are short ("reduced").

3. Nasal vowels (ǝ̃ ã ũ) are rare. Additionally, as follows from the transcription in [Kari 1994], they tend to lose their nasalization.

4. The tonal opposition high V (unmarked) / low V (marked) is residually retained by some older speakers, but synchronically is lost [Urschel 2006: 17-18].

XII. Central Carrier

XI.1. General.

Central Carrier is sometimes referred to simply as the Carrier language (as opposed to the Southern Carrier language); or the Central Carrier and Southern Carrier languages are treated as dialects of a single Carrier language (in this case, Central Carrier can be called the Stuart Lake dialect or Stuart-Trembleur dialect of Carrier).

Central Carrier is spoken by several Indian bands: Nak'azdli, Tl'azt'en, Yekooche [Poser 2011b: 43], with minimal linguistic discrepancies between them.

The primary lexicographic sources for Central Carrier are the cumulative dictionary [Poser 1998/2013] and the English-Central Carrier glossary [Poser 2011a] plus previous lexicographic works [Antoine et al. 1974; Morice 1932]; grammatical information has been taken from [Poser 2011b; Antoine et al. 1974; Morice 1932].

XI.2. Transliteration.

The following transliterational chart covers the Carrier Linguistic Committee writing system, see [Poser 2011b: 11-12] (further see [Poser 2002] for Morice's and Prince's orthographies and [Poser 2011b: 15] for the Carrier syllabics):

[Poser 1998/2013] GLD
b p
p pʰ / p (before a consonant or a pause)
m m
mb mp
f f
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
nd nt
dl ƛ
tɫ, tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl' ƛʼ
l l
lh ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
dz
ts c̪ʰ (before a vowel) / c̪ (before a consonant or a pause)
ts' c̪ʼ
z
s
j č
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' čʼ
sh š
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
gh ɣ
kh x
ng ŋ
gw
kw kʰʷ (before a vowel) / kʷ (before a consonant or a pause)
kw' kʼʷ
ghw ɣʷ
wh
y y
w w
r r
' ʔ
h h
i i
e e
a a
o o
oo u
u ʌ
ai ai

1. pʰ f r occur only in French and English loans [Poser 2011b: 13].

2. c̪ c̪ʰ c̪ʼ z̪ s̪ are lamino-dental sounds, opposed to apico-alveolar c cʰ cʼ z s [Poser 2011b: 14].

3. There is a phonological opposition between the initial vowels V- and the glottal stop onset ʔV- [Poser 2011b: 14].

4. According to Bill Poser (p.c.), Central Carrier has a sort of pitch accent system with low functional load. In [Antoine et al. 1974], the vowels are modified with the acute sign (á, í etc.) in some morphemes, probably denoting the high tone.

XIII. Koyukon

XII.1. General.

The Koyukon (or Denaakk'e, Ten'a) language consists of three main dialects: Lower (Kaltag and Nulato sites), Central (Koyukuk, Huslia, Galena, Ruby and some other sites) and Upper (Tanana, Bearpaw and some other sites); these three are mutually intelligible, although they demonstrate some phonological, grammar and lexical discrepancies, see [Jetté & Jones 2000: liii ff.; Jones 1978: 3 ff.] for detail.

Our wordlist is based on the Central dialect, which functions as a "norm" for the Koyukon community; relevant dialectal forms are quoted in the notes. For reliable or potential lexicostatistic discrepancies between the dialects see 'bird', 'to bite', 'blood', 'cold', 'knee', 'new', 'small', 'tooth'. The Upper dialect is prone to lexical borrowing from the neighboring Lower Tanana language.

The primary lexicographic sources for Koyukon are the cumulative dictionary [Jetté & Jones 2000] (covers main dialects) and the educational English-Koyukon dictionary [Jones 1978] (based on the Central dialect); grammatical information has been taken from [Kroul 1975; Jones & Kwaraceius 1997; Thompson 1977].

XII.2. Transliteration.

The following transliterational chart covers our principal sources (see also the comparative table in [Kroul 1975: 20-21]):

[Jones 1978; Jetté & Jones 2000] GLD
b p
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
nh
dl ƛ
tɫ, tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tɫ', tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
gg q
kk qʰ (before a vowel) / q (before a consonant or a pause)
kk'
gh ʁ
h χ
y y
yh
' ʔ
ĥ, h h
ee
aa
oo
o
e ([Jones 1978]: i, a) ǝ
u u
ʉ ([Jones 1978]: u) o

1. h is not always distinguished from χ in traditional orthography; both may be written as {h}.

2. In the Upper dialect (except for root-final position in the Bearpaw subdialect), k kʰ kʼ > č čʰ čʼ {j ch ch'} and > š {sh}, whereas the uvular series retains its post-velar articulation. In the Bearpaw subdialect, k kʰ kʼ > q qʰ qʼ in root-final position. See [Jetté & Jones 2000: lix] for details.

3. The glottal stop (ʔ) is an automatic prothesis in case of vocalic onset. We do not note it in our transcription.

4. The vowel system of Koyukon is described as four "long or full vowels" {ee, aa, oo, o} and three "short or reduced vowels" {e, u, ʉ} [Jetté & Jones 2000: lxvi, lxx]. We transliterate them as the long set iː aː uː oː and the short set ǝ u o respectively. According to [Kroul 1975: 19], short u is actually realized either as ʊ or as ʌ or somewhere in between the two.

5. In the Lower dialect, final -V# and -Vʔ# have been deleted.

6. Outermost Koyukon varieties (the Lower dialect and the Toklat-Bearpaw subdialect of Upper Koyukon) retain the tonal opposition / (the lower tone is statistically marked), which has been lost in the central area [Jetté & Jones 2000: lvi, lx, lxxi]. However, available sources rarely offer ǟɲʸ tonal transcription.

XIV. Degexit'an

XIII.1. General.

Degexit'an (a.k.a. Deg Xinag, Deg Xit'an, Ingalik, Ingalit, Anvik) is a language of Western Alaska which consists of two dialects: Yukon and Kuskokwim, both nearly extinct. The Kuskokwim dialect is poorly described; our list is based on the Yukon dialect.

The primary lexicographic sources for Yukon Degexit'an are the noun glossary [Kari 1978], the verbal glossary [Kari 1976] and the learners' dictionary [Taff et al. 2007]. The text collection and glossary in [Chapman 1914] have also been extensively used (the majority of Chapman's texts was reelicited and retranscribed in the 1970s by James Kari, see Alaska Native Language Archive http://www.uaf.edu/anla/ for Kari's scanned manuscripts, identifiers IK974K1975b, IK974K1976f, IK887CK1981). The missing items are: 'that', 'this'.

In several cases, there are discrepancies between the archaic (or sub-dialectal) data of [Chapman 1914] and the modern Yukon sources [Taff et al. 2007; Kari 1978]: we prefer to fill the slot with Chapman's words for 'breast', 'to drink', 'root', and with two synonyms for 'near'.

The only revealed lexicostatistic discrepancy between the Yukon and Kuskokwim dialects could be the word for 'stone'. It should, however, be noted that the Kuskokwim dialect was not systematically recorded.

XIII.2. Transliteration.
The following transliterational chart covers our principal sources (see [Hargus 2010] and other descriptions):

[Kari 1978; Taff et al. 2007] GLD
b p
p pʰ (before a vowel) / p (before a consonant or a pause)
m m
mh
d t (before a vowel) / d (before a consonant or a pause)
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
nh
ddh tᶿ (before a vowel) / dᶞ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth tᶿʰ (before a vowel) / tᶿ (before a consonant or a pause)
tth' tᶿʼ
dh ð
th θ
dl ƛ (before a vowel) / ᴌ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c (before a vowel) / ʒ (before a consonant or a pause)
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
dr  (before a vowel) / ᶚ (before a consonant or a pause)
tr ʰ (before a vowel) /  (before a consonant or a pause)
tr' ʼ
zr ʐ
sr ʂ
j č (before a vowel) / ǯ (before a consonant or a pause)
ch čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
ch' čʼ
sh š
g k (before a vowel) / g (before a consonant or a pause)
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
ng ŋ
ngh ŋ̥
ngʼ ŋʔ
gg, G q (before a vowel) / ɢ (before a consonant or a pause)
q qʰ (before a vowel) / q (before a consonant or a pause)
q'
gh ʁ
x χ
y y
yh
v v
' ʔ
h h
e
a
o
u ʊ
i ǝ

1. p pʰ are only attested in loanwords.

2. The situation with the four stop series (d t tʰ tʼ) is the same as in Koyukon q.v. The ejective series (tʼ, ƛʼ etc.) is restricted to the position before a vowel (to be precise, to the root-initial position), where three series of the stops and affricates t / tʰ / tʼ {d t t'} are opposed. In the position before a consonant or a pause, two series of the stops and affricates are opposed: voiced and voiceless, e.g., d / t {d t} etc. [Hargus 2010: 34-35]. Note the tangled traditional orthography as described in the above table. It is interesting that the final vowel which was deleted in the modern language, causing the emergence of a voiced consonant (-Vtʰ-V(ʔ) > -Vd), is still retained in Chapman's transcription [Chapman 1914].

3. ʊ can be phonologically treated as short o.

4. Marginal nasal vowels are transcribed for the negative particle ẽːhẽːʔẽː 'no' in [Taff et al. 2007].

XV. Sarsi

XIV.1. General.

Sarsi (or Sarcee, Tsuut'ina) is a nearly extinct language which lacks a full-fledged lexicographic description, although available publications allow us to compile the Swadesh wordlist with only minor lacunae (missing items include 'heart', 'root', 'seed', 'salt', 'snake', 'worm', 'year'). The primary sources are the short noun glossary [Hoijer & Joël 1963] and the short verb glossary [Li 1930b] plus the 100-item wordlist in [Hoijer 1956: 222-223], based on Edward Sapir's unpublished field notes. Sarsi texts and phrases offered in [Goddard 1915; Sapir 1923; Nanagusja 1996a; Nanagusja 1996b] have also been useful for our purposes. Grammatical information as well as some lexical items has been taken from the descriptive grammar [Cook 1984] plus some specific grammar papers such as [Leer 1997].

XIV.2. Transliteration.
The following transliterational chart covers our principal sources:

[Cook 1984; Hoijer & Joël 1963] GLD
b p
m m
d t
t tʰ (before a vowel) / t (before a consonant or a pause)
t'
n n
dl ƛ
tɫ, tl ƛʰ (before a vowel) / ƛ (before a consonant or a pause)
tɫ', tl' ƛʼ
l l
ɫ ɬ
dz c
ts cʰ (before a vowel) / c (before a consonant or a pause)
ts'
z z
s s
dj, dž č
tc, tš čʰ (before a vowel) / č (before a consonant or a pause)
tc', tš' čʼ
j, ž ž
c, š š
g k
k kʰ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'
ɣ ɣ
x x
gw
kw kʰʷ (before a vowel) / k (before a consonant or a pause)
k'w kʼʷ
y y
w w
ʔ ʔ
h h
i i
a a
u ([Hoijer 1956]: o) u
o, α ɒ
VV
V̄, V

Notes:

1. p is a marginal phoneme. kʷ, kʰʷ can be treated as the combination k, kʰ + u, although kʼʷ seems to be an actual phoneme [Cook 1984: 7-8].

2. ɣi > yi, although some authors can write down such forms with etymological ɣ.

3. The glottal stop (ʔ) is an automatic prothesis in the case of vocalic onset. We do not note it in our transcription.

4. u is realized in the range between u and o; i - in the range between i and e; ɒ can lose its roundness > ɑ (note that ɒ is frequently confused with a in the available sources).

5. In addition to the standard opposition between short (V) and long () vowels, there exist extra-long vowels which represent the result of recent contractions and can be phonemically treated as vocalic clusters VV [Hoijer & Joël 1963: 65; Cook 1971: 13]. The majority of long vowels are the result of automatic lengthening before voiced consonants in the final position (e.g., ...az# > ...aːz#), but in the innovative speech the opposition V / became phonemic due to devoicing (...aːz# > ...aːs#) [Cook 1984: 13, 18-19]. It must be noted that morphophonemic contractions can yield either extra-long or long vowels (apparently this reflects two waves of contraction processes). The available sources are not consistent in the matter of length notation.

6. The Sarsi tonal opposition is traditionally described with three level tones: high / middle / low [Hoijer & Joël 1963: 65; Cook 1971; Cook 1984: 11-12], although it is likely that the real phonological opposition is binary: high / low , whereas middle is the result of fluctuation of either the high or low tones [Cook 1984: 11; Barreda 2011]. We have observed substantial inconsistencies in tone notation for individual morphemes in the available sources. Besides the aforementioned level tones, there are contour tones appearing on contracted long or extra-long vowels. In [Hoijer & Joël 1963: 65], at least 6 distinct contour tones are reported, but we arbitrarily reduce them to two tones, rising and falling , in our transcription.

Database compiled and annotated by:
Hupa: A. Kassian, April 2011 / revised November 2011 (some transliterational details improved) / revised November 2012 (general revision with the data from [Sapir & Golla 2001] and [Golla 1996a] added) / revised October 2015 (minor transliterational corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Mattole: A. Kassian, October 2012 / revised October 2015 (minor transliterational corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Kato: A. Kassian, November 2012 / revised October 2015 (minor transliterational corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Taldash Galice: A. Kassian, December 2012 / revised October 2015 (minor transliterational corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Tanaina (Upper Inlet, Outer Inlet, Inland, Iliamna): A. Kassian, March 2013 / revised April 2013 (minor corrections) / revised September 2013 (minor corrections) / revised October 2015 (some etymological corrections) / revised November 2015 (minor corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections) / revised January 2016 (minor corrections) / revised July 2016 (minor corrections).
Ahtena (Central, Mentasta): A. Kassian, April 2013 / revised September 2013 (minor corrections) / revised October 2015 (some etymological corrections) / revised November 2015 (minor corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Dogrib: A. Kassian, May 2013 / revised September 2013 (some etymological corrections) / revised October 2015 (minor corrections).
North Slavey (Hare): A. Kassian, January 2018.
Tanacross: A. Kassian, September 2013 / revised January 2015 (minor corrections) / revised October 2015 (minor corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Upper Tanana (Tetlin): A. Kassian, January 2015 / revised October 2015 (minor corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Lower Tanana (Minto): A. Kassian, October 2015 / revised November 2015 (minor corrections) / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Central Carrier: A. Kassian, November 2015 / revised December 2015 (minor corrections).
Koyukon (Central): A. Kassian, December 2015 / revised January 2016 (minor corrections) / revised July 2016 (minor corrections).
Degexit'an: A. Kassian, July 2016.
Sarsi: A. Kassian, January 2016.