| Upper Kuskokwim | |
|---|---|
| Dinakʼi | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Alaska (middleYukon River,Koyukuk River) |
| Ethnicity | 160Upper Kuskokwim (2007)[1] |
Native speakers | <5 (2020)[2] |
Dené–Yeniseian?
| |
| 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 theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
TheUpper Kuskokwim language (also calledKolchan orGoltsan orDinak'i) is anAthabaskan language of theNa-Dené language family. It is spoken by theUpper Kuskokwim people in the UpperKuskokwim River villages ofNikolai,Telida, andMcGrath,Alaska. About 40 of a total of 160 Upper Kuskokwim people (Dichinanek’ Hwt’ana) still speak the language.
A practicalorthography 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 linguistAndrej Kibrik.[4][5]
| 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'⟩ | ||||||||
| 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]
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]
| 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 wordsich'i, or by the prefixsi-. For example,k'esh (birch tree) becomessich'i k'esh (my birch tree) andtin (trail) becomessitin ('my trail').[6]
Verbs can be changed into nouns with the suffix-e. This also causes sound changes in some verbs.[6]
There are few adjectives that modify nouns in Upper Kuskokwim. Adjectives are added after nouns, e.g.nilanegwṉ ('dried meat').[6]
| Upper Kuskokwim | English |
|---|---|
| chwh | big |
| goya | small |
| gwṉ | dried |
| hwts'aka | narrow |
Upper Kuskokwim usesSOV word order. It is a partiallyinflectional and partiallyagglutinative language, and apro-drop language.[6]
Dina
man
dineje
moose
izdlan.
he/she-caught
Dina dineje izdlan.
man moose he/she-caught
'The man caught a moose.'
Dineje
moose
izdlan.
he/she-caught
Dineje izdlan.
moose he/she-caught
'He caught a moose.'
Yizdlan.
it-he/she-caught
Yizdlan.
it-he/she-caught
'He caught it.'
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Indigenous | |
|---|---|
| Sign languages | |
| Non-Indigenous | |
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