Holikachuk language

This article is about the Holikachuk language. For other things called Holikachuk, see Holikachuk.

Holikachuk (own name: Doogh Qinag^[5]) is a recently extinct Athabaskan language formerly spoken at the village of Holikachuk (Hiyeghelinhdi) on the Innoko River in central Alaska. In 1962, residents of Holikachuk relocated to Grayling on the lower Yukon River. Holikachuk is intermediate between the Deg Xinag and Koyukon languages, linguistically closer to Koyukon but socially much closer to Deg Xinag, which has influenced it. Though it was recognized by scholars as a distinct language as early as the 1840s, it was only definitively identified in the 1970s.^[6] Of about 180 Holikachuk people, only about 5 spoke the language in 2007.^[7] In March 2012, the last living fluent speaker of Holikachuk died in Alaska.^[3]

Holikachuk
Doogh Qinag
Native to	United States
Region	Alaska (lower Yukon River, Innoko River)
Ethnicity	Holikachuk
Extinct	2012, with the death of Wilson Deacon[1] or 2023 with the death of Mary Deacon[2][3]
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan Northern Athabaskan Holikachuk
Writing system	Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Alaska[4]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hoi
Glottolog	holi1241
ELP	Holikachuk

James Kari compiled a short dictionary of Holikachuk in 1978, but Holikachuk remains one of the least documented Alaska Native languages.^[8]

Phonology

Consonants

^[8][9]

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
				plain	sibilant	lateral
Plosive/ Affricate	plain		tθ ⟨ddh⟩	t ⟨d⟩	ts ⟨dz⟩	tɬ ⟨dl⟩		k ⟨g⟩	q ⟨G⟩	ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩
	aspirated		tθʰ ⟨tth⟩	tʰ ⟨t⟩	tsʰ ⟨ts⟩	tɬʰ ⟨tł⟩		kʰ ⟨k⟩	qʰ ⟨q⟩
	ejective		tθʼ ⟨tthʼ⟩	tʼ ⟨tʼ⟩	tsʼ ⟨tsʼ⟩	tɬʼ ⟨tłʼ⟩		kʼ ⟨kʼ⟩	qʼ ⟨qʼ⟩
Fricative	voiceless		θ ⟨th⟩		s ⟨s⟩	ɬ ⟨ł⟩			χ ⟨x⟩	h ⟨h⟩
	voiced		ð ⟨dh⟩		z ⟨z⟩	ɮ ⟨l⟩			ʁ ⟨gh⟩
Sonorant	voiced	m ⟨m⟩		n ⟨n⟩			j ⟨y⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
	voiceless			n̥ ⟨nh⟩			j̊ ⟨yh⟩	ŋ̊ ⟨ngh⟩

Vowels

^[8][9]

	Front	Central	Back
Near-close	ɪ ⟨i⟩		ʊ ⟨u⟩
Close-mid	eː ⟨e⟩		oː ⟨oo⟩
Open-mid			ɔː ⟨o⟩
Open		aː ⟨a⟩

Orthography

Holikachuk alphabet^[10]

A a	D d	Ddh ddh	Dh dh	Dl dl	Dz dz	E e	G g
Gg gg	Gh gh	H h	I i	K k	K' k'	L l	Ł ł
M m	N n	ng	nh	O o	Oo oo	Q q	Q' q'
S s	T t	T' t'	Th th	Tl tl	Tl' tl'	Ts ts	Ts' ts'
Tth tth	Tth' tth'	U u	X x	Y y	yh	Z z	'

Lexicon

Some Holikachuk words:^[11]

• łoogg fish
• łoogg dood mininh iligh November (literally: 'month when the eels come [swim]')
• giggootth scales
• q’oon’ fish eggs
• nathdlod Indian ice cream