| speakers = 40
| extinct = 2012, with the death of Wilson Deacon
| ref = e18
| familycolor = Dené-Yeniseian
| fam2 = Na-Dené
| fam3 = Athabaskan
| fam4 = Northern Athabaskan
| iso3 = ing
| glotto = dege1248
| glottorefname = Degexit'an
| script = Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet)
| nation = {{flag|Alaska}}[1]
}}The Deg Hitʼan language, Deg Xinag, also known as Ingalik, is a moribund Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Deg Hitʼan peoples in the villages of Shageluk, Anvik, and Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River in Alaska. Out of an ethnic population of approximately 250 people, only 14 people still speak the language.[2]
The language was referred to as Ingalik by Osgood (1936). While this term sometimes still appears in the literature, it is today considered pejorative. The word "Ingalik" is from the Yupʼik Eskimo language: {{lang|ing|Ingqiliq|italic=true}}, meaning "Indian".
{{lang|ing|Engithidong Xugixudhoy|italic=true}} (Their Stories of Long Ago), a collection of traditional folk tales in Deg Xinag by the elder Belle Deacon, was published in 1987 by the Alaska Native Language Center. A literacy manual with accompanying audiotapes was published in 1993. Dialects
There are two main dialects: Yukon and Kuskokwim. The Yukon dialect (Yukon Deg Xinag, Yukon Ingalik) is the traditional language of the villages of the Lower Yukon River (Anvik, Shageluk and Holy Cross). As of 2009, there are no longer any speakers living in Anvik and Holy Cross. The other dialect (Kuskokwim Deg Xinag, Kuskokwim Ingalik) is the traditional language of the settlements of Middle Kuskokwim.[3]
Phonology
Consonants
Here is the list of consonant sounds in Deg Xinag orthography, accompanied by their pronunciation noted in brackets in IPA[4]:
Consonants in Deg Xinag | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-
alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
|---|
| central | lateral |
|---|
| Plosive | plain | b {{IPA>[p]}} | d {{IPA>[t]}} | g {{IPA>[k]}} | G {{IPA>[q]}} | ʼ {{IPA>[ʔ]}} |
|---|
| aspirated | p {{IPA>[pʰ]}} | t {{IPA>[tʰ]}} | k {{IPA>[kʰ]}} | q {{IPA>[qʰ]}} |
|---|
| ejective | tʼ {{IPA>[tʼ]}} | kʼ {{IPA>[kʼ]}} | qʼ {{IPA>[qʼ]}} |
|---|
| Affricate | plain | ddh {{IPA>[tθ]}} | dz {{IPA>[ts]}} | dl {{IPA>[tɬ]}} | j {{IPA>[tʃ]}} | dr {{IPA>[ʈʂ]}} |
|---|
| aspirated | tth {{IPA>[tθʰ]}} | ts {{IPA>[tsʰ]}} | tł {{IPA>[tɬʰ]}} | ch {{IPA>[tʃʰ]}} | tr {{IPA>[ʈʂʰ]}} |
|---|
| ejective | tthʼ {{IPA>[tθʼ]}} | tsʼ {{IPA>[tsʼ]}} | tłʼ {{IPA>[tɬʼ]}} | chʼ {{IPA>[tʃʼ]}} | trʼ {{IPA>[ʈʂʼ]}} |
|---|
| Fricative | voiceless | th {{IPA>[θ]}} | s {{IPA>[s]}} | ł {{IPA>[ɬ]}} | sh {{IPA>[ʃ]}} | sr {{IPA>[ʂ]}} | x {{IPA>[χ]}} | h {{IPA>[h]}} |
|---|
| voiced | v {{IPA>[v]}} | dh {{IPA>[ð]}} | z {{IPA>[z]}} | zr {{IPA>[ʐ]}} | yh {{IPA>[ʝ]}} | gh {{IPA>[ʁ]}} |
|---|
| Nasal | voiced | m {{IPA>[m]}} | n {{IPA>[n]}} | ng {{IPA>[ŋ]}} |
|---|
| voiceless | mh {{IPA>[m̥]}} | nh {{IPA>[n̥]}} | ngh {{IPA>[ŋ̊]}} |
|---|
| glottalized | m' {{IPA>[mˀ]}} | n' {{IPA>[nˀ]}} | ng' {{IPA>[ŋˀ]}} |
|---|
| Approximant | voiced | l {{IPA>[l]}} | y {{IPA>[j]}} |
|---|
| glottalized | y' {{IPA>[jˀ]}} |
|---|
In final position, consonant sounds {{IPA|/t, tθ, ts, tɬ, ʈʂ, tʃ, k, q/}} are voiced as {{IPA|[d, dð, dz, dl, ɖʐ, dʒ, ɡ, ɢ]}}.
Vowels
Vowels in Deg Xinag are {{IPA|[a e ə o ʊ]}}.
Examples
- {{lang|ing|qʼuntʼogh}} airplane
- {{lang|ing|ggagg}} animal
- {{lang|ing|ggagg chux}} bear (lit. 'big animal')
- {{lang|ing|sraqay}} children
- {{lang|ing|dran}} day
- {{lang|ing|xikʼugiłʼanh}} doctor, nurse
- {{lang|ing|łegg}} fish
- {{lang|ing|łek}} dog
- {{lang|ing|sileg}} my dog
- {{lang|ing|vileg}} her dog
- {{lang|ing|tso tlʼogh iy}} mammoth
- {{lang|ing|dinaʼ kʼidz}} doll (lit. 'little person')
- {{lang|ing|xidondiditey}} door
- {{lang|ing|nganʼ ditʼanh}} earthquake
- {{lang|ing|sitoʼ}} my father
- {{lang|ing|vitoʼ}} her father
- {{lang|ing|yix}} house
- {{lang|ing|tinh}} ice
- {{lang|ing|dangan}} iron, metal
- {{lang|ing|deloy}} mountain
- {{lang|ing|vanhgiq}} Indian ice cream
- {{lang|ing|choghlugguy}} (in Anvik) ; niq'asrt'ay (in Shageluk) fox
- {{lang|ing|vinixiłyiq}} in the morning
- {{lang|ing|giłiq}} one
- {{lang|ing|teqa}} two
- {{lang|ing|togg}} three
- {{lang|ing|denhchʼe}} four
- {{lang|ing|niłqʼosnal giłiggi viqʼidz iy}} eleven[5]
References
1. ^https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/04/21/305688602/alaska-oks-bill-making-native-languages-official
2. ^Krauss, Michael E (2007) "Native languages of Alaska". In: The Vanishing Voices of the Pacific Rim, ed. by Osahito Miyaoko, Osamu Sakiyama, and Michael E. Krauss. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Table 21.1, page 408)
3. ^Sharon Hargus 2009.Vowel quality and duration in Yukon Deg Xinag, University of Washington
4. ^{{Cite book|title=Vowel quality and duration in Yukon Deg Xinag|last=Hargus|first=Sharon|publisher=|year=2009|isbn=|location=University of Washington|pages=}}
5. ^ankn.uaf.edu: Deg Xinag Ałixi Ni’elyoy / Deg Xinag Learners' Dictionary (2007)
External links
- Deg Xinag - Language of the Deg Hit'an
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509104008/http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/langs/dx.html Deg Xinag] (ANLC)
- Deg Xinag Resources at the Alaska Native Language Archive (ANLA)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070219040407/http://www.adn.com/life/story/1994446p-2096145c.html Rescuing a language: College course unites far-flung students and elders in an effort to save Deg Xinag]
- Word-Lists of the Athabaskan, Yup'ik and Alutiiq Languages by Lt. Laurence Zagoskin, 1847 (containing Deg Xinag on pages 3–8)
- The Order for Morning Prayer, translated by John Wight Chapman in 1896, digitized by Richard Mammana 2010
- Degexit'an basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
- Deg Xinag language, alphabet and pronunciation
Bibliography
- Alaskan Native Language Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
- {{cite journal |author=Ekada, Patricia J |title=Athabascan Culture-From the Lower Yukon Area}}
- Osgood, Cornelius. 1936. The Distribution of the Northern Athapaskan Indians. (Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 7). New Haven: Yale University.
{{Athabaskan languages}}{{Languages of Alaska}} 4 : Northern Athabaskan languages|Indigenous languages of Alaska|Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic|Endangered Dené–Yeniseian languages