Upper Kuskokwim language

The Upper Kuskokwim language (also called Kolchan or Goltsan or Dinak'i) is an Athabaskan language of the Na-Dené language family. It is spoken by the Upper Kuskokwim people in the Upper Kuskokwim River villages of Nikolai, Telida, and McGrath, Alaska. About 40 of a total of 160 Upper Kuskokwim people (Dichinanek’ Hwt’ana) still speak the language.

Upper Kuskokwim
Dinakʼi
Native to	United States
Region	Alaska (middle Yukon River, Koyukuk River)
Ethnicity	160 Upper Kuskokwim (2007)[1]
Native speakers	<5 (2020)[2]
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan Northern Athabaskan Upper Kuskokwim
Writing system	Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Alaska[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kuu
Glottolog	uppe1438
ELP	Upper Kuskokwim
Upper Kuskokwim is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

A practical orthography of the language was established by Raymond Collins, who in 1964 began linguistic work at Nikolai.

Since 1990s, the language has also been documented by a Russian linguist Andrej Kibrik.^[4][5]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar			Post- alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral
Plosive/ Affricate	plain		t ⟨d⟩	ts ⟨dz⟩	tɬ ⟨dl⟩	tʃ ⟨j⟩	ʈʂ ⟨dr⟩		k ⟨g⟩	ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩
	aspirated		tʰ ⟨t⟩	tsʰ ⟨ts⟩	tɬʰ ⟨tł⟩	tʃʰ ⟨ch⟩	ʈʂʰ ⟨tr⟩		kʰ ⟨k⟩
	ejective		tʼ ⟨tʼ⟩	tsʼ ⟨tsʼ⟩	tɬʼ ⟨tłʼ⟩	tʃʼ ⟨chʼ⟩	ʈʂʼ ⟨trʼ⟩		kʼ ⟨kʼ⟩
Fricative	voiceless			s ⟨s⟩	ɬ ⟨ł⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩	ʂ ⟨sr⟩		x ⟨h⟩
	voiced			z ⟨z⟩	ɮ ⟨l⟩		ʐ ⟨zr⟩		ɣ ⟨gh⟩
Sonorant	voiceless		n̥ ⟨ṉ⟩
	voiced	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩					j ⟨y⟩
	glottalized		nˀ ⟨n'⟩					jˀ ⟨y'⟩

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i ⟨e⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨i⟩	ʊ ⟨w⟩
Open	æ ⟨a⟩	ɒ ⟨o⟩

/ɪ/ may range to either [ɪ] or mid as [ə].^[6]

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns are divided into two classes: those which can be possessed, but do not have to be (such as clothing, animals and lake names) and those which are always possessed (such as body parts).

For the former group, some nouns that are possessed have a change in spelling and pronunciation when they are possessed. For example, the prefix "si-" indicates "my".^[6]

Possessive Noun Changes ^[6]

Upper Kuskokwim	English
tameł	fishnet
sitamela'	my fishnet
nitamela'	your fishnet
mitamela'	his/her fishnet

However, other nouns that may be possessed do not undergo any sound changes, and instead the possession is indicated either by the separate possessive word sich'i, or by the prefix si-. For example, k'esh (birch tree) becomes sich'i k'esh (my birch tree) and tin (trail) becomes sitin ('my trail').^[6]

Verbs can be changed into nouns with the suffix -e. This also causes sound changes in some verbs.^[6]

Adjectives

There are few adjectives that modify nouns in Upper Kuskokwim. Adjectives are added after nouns, e.g. nilane gwṉ ('dried meat').^[6]

Upper Kuskokwim	English
chwh	big
goya	small
gwṉ	dried
hwts'aka	narrow

Syntax

Upper Kuskokwim uses SOV word order. It is a partially inflectional and partially agglutinative language, and a pro-drop language.^[6]

1.

Dina

man

dineje

moose

izdlan.

he/she-caught

Dina dineje izdlan.

man moose he/she-caught

'The man caught a moose.'

2.

Dineje

moose

izdlan.

he/she-caught

Dineje izdlan.

moose he/she-caught

'He caught a moose.'

3.

Yizdlan.

it-he/she-caught

Yizdlan.

it-he/she-caught

'He caught it.'

Bibliography

• Alaska Native Language Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
• Collins, Raymond; Collins, Sally Jo (January 2004). Dichinanek' Hwt'ana: A History of the people of the Upper Kuskokwim who live in Nikolai and Telida, Alaska. McGrath, AK. UK964C2004.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References

1. Upper Kuskokwim language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. The Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council (January 1, 2020). 2020 Biennial Report to the Government and Legislature (PDF). alaska.gov (Report).
3. Chappell, Bill (April 21, 2014). "Alaska OKs Bill Making Native Languages Official". The Two-Way. NPR.
4. "Kibrik Papers". Archived from the original on December 10, 2013.
5. "List of resources with contributor: Kibrik, Andrej A." Alaska Native Language Archive. Archived from the original on April 23, 2015.
6. Petruska, Betty Esai; Collins, Raymond (1979). Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan Junior Dictionary. Alaska Native Language Archive. Retrieved December 18, 2023.

Links

• Upper Kuskokwim Language and Culture Preservation (website in development)
• Dinak'i | Upper Kuskokwim Dictionary iOS app