han, seeHangaza language. | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Russian. (January 2025)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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| Hän | |
|---|---|
| Häł gołan | |
| Pronunciation | [hɑɬgoɬæn] |
| Native to | Canada, United States |
| Region | Alaska (United States),Yukon (Canada) |
| Ethnicity | Hän people |
Native speakers | 5 in Alaska, 1 in Yukon (2020)[1][2] |
| Latin (Dené alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Alaska[3] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | haa |
| Glottolog | hann1241 |
| ELP | Han |
 Han is classified as Critically Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Hän (alternatively spelled asHaen) (also known as Han-Kutchin) is aNorthern Athabaskan language spoken by theHän Hwëch'in (translated topeople who live along the river, sometimes anglicized asHankutchin). The Hän language is spoken and supported by the Hän nation across localized communities who, since time immemorial, have lived in what is today called the Upper Yukon region; The village ofEagle, Alaska, in the United States; the town ofDawson City, Yukon Territory, in Canada; as well asFairbanks[4][5] andTanacross in Alaska.
Hän is today considered to have two dialects; the Eagle Dialect, named for its use Eagle Village, and the Moosehide dialect, named forMoosehide, a traditional village of theTrʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation in theYukon.
Hän is in the Northern Athabaskan subgrouping of theNa-Dené language family. It is most closely related toGwich'in andUpper Tanana.[5] Hän is sometimes referred to as a ʼHead Waters Athabaskanʼ language, an informal grouping that includes Hän, Gwichʼin,Northern Tutchone,Southern Tutchone, and Upper Tanana.
The decline of the Hän language is due in large part to a mass migration of 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon (the ʼKlondike Gold Rush) in 1898[5] and immense precarity and violence endured by its communities that is perpetuated today through colonial occupation by Canada and the United States.
The consonants of Hän are listed below with IPA notation on the left, the Moosehide dialect orthography in⟨brackets⟩:[5]
| Labial | Inter- dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | sibilant | lateral | ||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | plain | p⟨b⟩ | tθ⟨ddh⟩ | t⟨d⟩ | ts⟨dz⟩ | tɬ⟨dl⟩ | tʃ⟨j⟩ | ʈʂ⟨dr⟩ | k⟨g⟩ | ʔ⟨ʼ⟩ |
| aspirated | (pʰ⟨p⟩) | tθʰ⟨tth⟩ | tʰ⟨t⟩ | tsʰ⟨ts⟩ | tɬʰ⟨tl⟩ | tʃʰ⟨ch⟩ | ʈʂʰ⟨tr⟩ | kʰ⟨k⟩ | ||
| ejective | tθʼ⟨tth’⟩ | tʼ⟨t’⟩ | tsʼ⟨ts’⟩ | tɬʼ⟨tl’⟩ | tʃʼ⟨ch’⟩ | ʈʂʼ⟨tr’⟩ | kʼ⟨k’⟩ | |||
| prenasalized | ᵐb⟨mb⟩ | ⁿd⟨nd⟩ | ⁿdʒ⟨nj⟩ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | θ⟨th⟩ | s⟨s⟩ | ɬ⟨ł⟩ | ʃ⟨sh⟩ | ʂ⟨sr⟩ | x⟨kh⟩ | h⟨h⟩ | ||
| voiced | ð⟨dh⟩ | z⟨z⟩ | ɮ⟨l⟩ | ʒ⟨zh⟩ | ʐ⟨zr⟩ | ɣ⟨gh⟩ | ||||
| Sonorant | voiced | m⟨m⟩ | n⟨n⟩ | l⟨l⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | ɻ⟨r⟩ | w⟨w⟩ | |||
| voiceless | n̥⟨nh⟩ | j̊⟨yh⟩ | ɻ̥⟨rh⟩ | w̥⟨wh⟩ | ||||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i⟨i⟩ | iː⟨ii⟩ | u⟨u⟩ | uː⟨uu⟩ | ||
| Close-mid | e⟨e⟩ | eː⟨ee⟩ | o⟨o⟩ | oː⟨oo⟩ | ||
| Mid | ə⟨ë⟩ | əː⟨ëë⟩ | ||||
| Open | æ⟨a⟩ | æː⟨aa⟩ | ɑ⟨ä⟩ | ɑː⟨ää⟩ | ||
| Diphthongs | æu⟨aw⟩ æi⟨ay⟩ ɑu⟨äw⟩ eu⟨ew⟩ ei⟨ey⟩ iu⟨iw⟩ oi⟨oy⟩ | |||||
Nasal vowels are marked orthographically in Hän, and all of the monophthong vowels can be either oral or nasal. Nasal vowels are written with asmall tail (akin to the Polishogonek) at the bottom of the vowel, so, for instance, nasal/ẽ/ is written as⟨ę⟩.[6]
There are fewer than a dozen first language speakers of Hän, all of whom are elderly[7] though there is a growing second-language speaker community.
TheTr'ondëk Hwëch'in (formerly known as the Dawson First Nation) in the Yukon Territory support the revitalization of Hän, and there are current efforts to revive the language locally. There is an effort to promote traditional skills and finding a balance between the way of the newcomer's which further promotes the development and revitalization of the language.[4] As of April 2024, the last fluent speaker of Hän in Yukon, a 96-year-old elder, died.[8]
Since 1991, theRobert Service School inDawson City has hosted the Hän Language program, and the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in supports adult language classes and bi-annual cultural gatherings.[5]
There are many other resources used to learn Hän, particularly online ones such as, FirstVoices and Yukon Native Learning Centre. These online learning language tools teach the tradition, culture, history, and the language of Hän.
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