Deg Xinag language

Deg Xinag, Deg Hit’an
Spoken in	United States
Region	Alaska (lower Yukon River, Anvik River, Innoko River)
Native speakers	15  (date missing)
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian Na-Dené Athabaskan Northern Athabaskan Deg Xinag, Deg Hit’an
Writing system	Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ing

The Deg Xinag language is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Deg Hit’an peoples in Shageluk and Anvik and at Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River in Alaska.

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" from Yup'ik (Central Alaskan Yup'ik) Eskimo language: < Ingqiliq "Indian".

Engithidong Xugixudhoy (Their Stories of Long Ago), a collection of traditional folk tales in the Deg Xinag language 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.

Examples

^[1]

• q'unt'ogh airplane
• ggagg animal
• ggagg chux bear (lit 'big animal')
• sraqay children
• dran day
• xik'ugił'anh doctor, nurse
• łegg fish
• łek dog
• sileg my dog
• vileg her dog
• tso tl'ogh iy mammoth
• dina' k'idz doll (lit. 'little person')
• xidondiditey door
• ngan' dit'anh earthquake
• sito' my father
• vito' her father
• yix house
• tinh ice
• dangan iron, metal
• deloy mountain
• vanhgiq Indian ice cream
• choghlugguy (in Anvik) ; niq'asrt'ay (in Shageluk) fox
• vinixiłyiq in the morning
• giłiq one
• teqa two
• togg three
• denhch'e four
• niłq'osnal giłiggi viq'idz iy eleven

References

1. ^ ankn.uaf.edu: Deg Xinag Ałixi Ni’elyoy / Deg Xinag Learners' Dictionary (2007)

External links

• Deg Xinag - Language of the Deg Hit'an
• Deg Xinag (ANLC)
• 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

Bibliography

• Alaskan Native Language Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
• Ekada, Patricia J. 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.