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109-466: The word Tanacross (from " Tanana Crossing") has been used to refer both to a village in eastern Alaska and to an ethnolinguistic group. The modern village of Tanacross is accessible by a short access road from the Alaska Highway , and some speakers now reside in the regional center of Tok , located approximately ten miles east of the village on the highway. In addition several speakers now reside in

218-477: A Dené–Yeniseian family was published and well received by a number of linguists. The homeland of the Athabaskan languages is northwestern Canada and southern/eastern Alaska. After initial colonization, archaeologists generally divide Interior Alaska's prehistory into three broad archaeological themes: Paleo-Arctic tradition (12,000–6,000 years ago) is a term now generally used by archaeologists to refer to

327-636: A 91-mile (146 km) tributary of the Tanana River, is considered to be a natural break in the Tanana Athabaskan language area, separating upriver speakers of the Tanacross and Upper Tanana languages from the Lower (and Middle) Tanana speakers living farther downriver. The Tanana Athabaskans have a system of matrilineal kinship. The Athabaskans loosely recognized membership in a larger bilateral group called

436-462: A birch bark basket. The white spruce ( Picea glauca ) and black spruce ( Picea mariana ) are the dominant trees, with their maximum tree line being held at around 4,000 feet. Only stunted willows and alders are found above this level. Several ferns , such as the ostrich , wood , beech and oak fern , grow in the lowlands. Beginning in late spring and continuing throughout the summer and early fall months, both adults and children gathered

545-567: A central winter camp with several seasonal hunting and fishing camps, and they moved cyclically, depending on the season and availability of resources. Their neighbors are other Athabaskan-speaking peoples: in Alaska, Koyukon (north and northwest), Gwich'in (north and northeast), Hän (northeast), Dena'ina (a little part of the southwest), and Ahtna (south); in Canada Hän (northeast) and Northern and Southern Tutchone (east). The language of

654-444: A class taught by Leer at ANLC. Ron Scollon transcribed and translated a collection of texts from speaker Gaither Paul using a revised orthography which indicates tone . Kari has compiled a preliminary stem list based on information collected from several speakers in the 1980s, but tone is not marked. Alice Brean has compiled lexical and paradigmatic information. Minoura has compiled a short word list and information on tone. In spite of

763-444: A food source. They boil the berries with sugar and flour to thicken; eat the raw berries, either plain or mixing them with sugar, grease, or the combination of the two; fry them in grease with sugar or dried fish eggs; or make them into pies, jam, and jelly. They also preserve the berries alone or in grease and store them in a birchbark basket in an underground cache or freeze them. They also use them in their traditional medicine, eating

872-588: A handful of speakers. Of the roughly 24 Northern Athabaskan languages, eleven are spoken in Alaska , three of which straddle the border with Canada . Given the available data, it is difficult to discern linguistic subgroups within Northern Athabaskan. This is certainly true for the languages of the Tanana River drainages, which form a continuum extending from Lower Tanana in the west (downriver) to Upper Tanana in

981-483: A lack of employment opportunities or perceived conflicts in the demands of wage employment and subsistence harvesting activities. The primary use of wild resources is domestic. Wild resource use in many Athabaskan villages is overwhelmingly for domestic consumption since commercial fishing in Alaska is absent. Commercial fishing and trapping patterns are controlled primarily by external factors. The state's limited entry system, operational by 1974 (after ANCSA ), limits

1090-522: A language rather than dialect boundary, the name Tanacross was applied to the Tanacross linguistic region, appearing for example in Krauss’ 1973 survey of the Athabaskan languages. The preferred self-designation for the language is simply “Indian”, though “Native Language” is sometimes used in more formal contexts. The term “Athabaskan” is disliked. The indigenous word neò/aòneg, usually translated as ‘our language’,

1199-578: A popular activity in modern Athabaskan communities because of the meat's economic value and a food preference for large game. Moose hunting in the fall was either an individual pursuit or a group activity. Moose meat was eaten fresh or preserved. The Mansfeld-Kechumstuk band of Tanacross employed several methods to hunt Dall sheep (in Alaskan English simply sheep , Lower Tanana deba , Tanacross demee , Upper Tanana dibee ) in late summer and early fall in local mountainous areas or as far south as

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1308-430: A potlatch. The potlatch usually lasted for a week. The most elaborate of Athabaskan potlatches was the funeral potlatch (or memorial potlatch, mortuary potlatch). The funeral potlatch marks the separation of the deceased from the world and is the last public expression of grief. Memorial potlatches are held by family members of a deceased person one year after the death. It is a mourning opportunity as well as one to honor

1417-401: A restricted sense referring to the language of Tanacross village proper. Krauss originally included Tanacross with Lower Tanana , but after a more extensive linguistic survey of the region in the 1960s, he began using the term “Transitional Tanana”, recognizing the distinction between Tanacross and the remainder of Tanana ( Krauss , p.c.). As the significance of this distinction grew to justify

1526-614: A safe place. Should the dogs get them, the hunter will take no more fur. Women of childbearing age did not eat bears (Grizzly or Alaskan brown bear and black bear ). Young boys could not eat fat around an animal's eye until adulthood. No animals except dogs could be brought up as pets. The Interior Athabaskans, for the most part, were contacted and missionized by Roman Catholic (for Koyukon Athabaskans), Russian Orthodox (for Dena'ina, Ahtna, Deg Hit'an, Holikachuk, Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans), and Anglican missionaries (for Gwich'in, Hän, Tanana Athabaskans). Christian missionaries of

1635-708: A variety of plants and vegetative materials. Fruit and berries (Lower Tanana jega, deneyh, nekotl , Tanacross jêg, ntl'ét, nit-sįį' , Upper Tanana jjign, nt'lat, niitsil ), edible roots (esp. Indian potato or wild carrot Hedysarum alpinum Lower Tanana troth ), and assorted plants (esp. wild rhubarb Polygonum alaskanum ) were eaten fresh, preserved for later consumption, or used for medicinal purposes. Birch bark of paper birch (Lower Tanana k'iyh , Tanacross and Upper Tanana k'įį ) and spruce roots (Tanacross xeyh ) were needed to make baskets, cooking vessels, tools, cradleboards , and canoes. The Upper Tanana use lingonberries ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea ) as

1744-506: Is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of an individual language , or a language family . The study of language names is known as linguonymy (glossonymy, glottonymy), or linguonymics (glossonymics, glottonymics). As a distinctive linguistic discipline, linguonymic studies are closely related to some other onomastic disciplines, particularly those that are focused on the study of ethnonyms (names of ethnic groups) and choronyms (names of regions and countries). In that context,

1853-474: Is a mosaic of open and closed spruce forests covering the low gradient outwash slope between the Alaska Range and the flats and ridges north of the Tanana River. The economy of Tanana Athabaskans is a mixed cash-subsistence system, like other modern foraging economies in Alaska. The subsistence economy is the main non-monetary economy system. Cash is often a rare commodity in foraging economies because of

1962-551: Is also sometimes heard, though this is likely a neologism. Tanacross is part of a large language/dialect complex, and the Tanacross linguistic region is bordered by several other closely related Athabaskan languages. To the northwest is Han , spoken in Eagle and across the Canada–US border in Dawson and Moosehide. To the east is the language known by the geographic term Upper Tanana , spoken in

2071-562: Is spoken by the Healy Lake-Joseph Village bands at Healy Lake ( Mendees Cheeg ) and Dot Lake ( Kelt’aaddh Menn’ ) to the west, and formerly at Joseph Village, and is linguistically distinguished by the retention of schwa suffixes . As with all of the Athabaskan languages of Alaska, Tanacross is extremely endangered . Although most children have passive understanding of simple commands and phrases, most fluent speakers of Tanacross are at least fifty years old. Only among

2180-473: Is the caribou (subspecies Rangifer tarandus granti , Lower Tanana bedzeyh , Tanacross wudzih , Upper Tanana udzih ). It was the most important food animal in the Upper Tanana before the coming of the non-natives and the resultant disintegration of the original nomadic patterns. Now, the economic life of the Upper Tanana centers around it. Not only does the animal constitute the source of food for

2289-516: Is the only Alaska Athabaskan language to exhibit high tone as a reflex of Proto-Athabaskan constriction. There are six phonemic vowels: The vowels i , e , a , and u may be distinguished for length, indicated in the practical orthography by doubling the vowel. The reduced vowel ä is indicated via the letter ⟨e⟩ . Thus, the practical orthography does not distinguish short e from ə . Vowels may be marked for high (á), rising (ǎ), falling (â) or extra-high (á́) tone . Low tone

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2398-475: Is unmarked. The consonants of the Tanacross practical orthography are shown below. This practical orthography follows standard Athabaskan conventions, in particular, stops and affricates are grouped together phonologically. Also, voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates consonants are indicated using, for the most part, the IPA symbols for voiced consonants, while voiceless aspirated consonants are indicated using

2507-599: The Alaska Native Language Archive . Since 2000 Irene Solomon has worked as a language specialist at the Alaska Native Language Center and has collaborated on a number of projects with linguist Gary Holton , including a phrase book, a learners' dictionary, and a multimedia description of the sound system. Tanana Athabaskans The Tanana Athabaskans , Tanana Athabascans, or Tanana Athapaskans are an Alaskan Athabaskan people from

2616-525: The Apachean group in the desert southwest of the continental United States. The seven Apachean languages include Navajo , the largest North American language in terms of number of speakers. Apachean is a very tightly related and well-defined branch. The Pacific Coast group is much less closely related than Apachean and is perhaps more of a geographic subgroup containing perhaps six languages. Of these only Tolowa and Hupa are still spoken today, and these only by

2725-910: The Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the Tanana River (in Tanana languages Tth'itu' , literally 'straight water,' in Koyukon language Tene No' , literally 'trail water') drainage basin in east-central Alaska Interior , United States and a little part ( White River First Nation ) lived in Yukon , Canada. Tanana River Athabaskan peoples are called in Lower Tanana and Koyukon language Ten Hʉt'ænæ (literally 'trail people'), in Gwich'in language Tanan Gwich'in (literally 'people of Tanana River'). In Alaska, where they are

2834-476: The Bering Land Bridge and northeastern Asia (West Beringia/ Siberia ) to North America. The earliest cultural remains in interior Alaska, as on the coast, are chipped stone blade complexes about 10,000 years old, with close relationships to Siberian materials. In February 2008, a proposal connecting Asiatic Yeniseian languages of central Siberia to American Na-Dené languages (Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit) into

2943-558: The Clovis Complex . Many Nenana Complex archaeological sites are located in the Tanana Valley : Broken Mammoth , Chugwater , Donnelly Ridge, Healy Lake , Mead, and Swan Point . The Denali complex, dated roughly to 10,500 to 8,000 years ago, was originally defined by F. H West. Some Denali Complex archaeological sites: Mt. Hayes, Swan Point, and Gerstle River. Both Nenana and Denali technology persist in central Alaska throughout

3052-534: The Cossacks themselves were a light troop, but they were preceded by a still lighter flying advance guard called the promyshleniki , a kind of Russian coureurs des bois . ] for North American fur trade and maritime fur trade ), of the period Russian America (1733–1867), began settling Interior Alaska starting in the 1810s, establishing a trading post at Nulato on the Yukon River (of Koyukon homeland) and one (in

3161-623: The Episcopal Church established churches and missions in the area of Tanana Athabaskan beginning in the early 1900s. In 1905, the Episcopal Church, which had missionaries in Alaska, built the St. Mark's Episcopal mission and Tortella ( Toghotili , nowadays Nenana) School a short distance upriver. The boarding school taught about 28 children of various ages at a time. Hudson Stuck , the Archdeacon of

3270-805: The Fortymile and Tok rivers to the east, and the Yukon Uplands to the north. In the late nineteenth century trading posts were established at Tanana Crossing , a ford along the Eagle Trail , directly across the Tanana River from the present-day village of Tanacross. A telegraph station followed in 1902, and an Episcopal mission in 1909. Both the Mansfield-Kechumstuk and Healy Lake-Joseph Village bands eventually settled in Tanana Crossing, eventually shortened to Tanacross (McKennan 1959). The village

3379-537: The Holocene . The relationship between the proposed Nenana and Denali complexes is, as of yet, unresolved. The boreal forest in Interior Alaska ( Interior Alaska-Yukon lowland taiga of Tanana region and Copper Plateau taiga of Ahtna region) was established 8,000 years ago. Two ice-age infants discovered at an ancient residential campsite ( Upward Sun River site was first discovered in 2006) in Interior Alaska near

Tanacross language - Misplaced Pages Continue

3488-691: The Mentasta Mountains . Dall sheep were a desired source of food and material for clothing and tools. Migratory waterfowl ( ducks , geese , and swans ) and upland game birds ( ptarmigans and grouse ) were a valued source of fresh meat. Grouse ( spruce grouse , sharp-tailed grouse , ruffed grouse Lower Tanana deyh , Tanacross deyh, ch'ehtêeg, tsą́ą' ts'uug , Upper Tanana daih, ch'ahtagn, tsąą'ts'uu ) and ptarmigan ( willow ptarmigan and rock ptarmigan Lower Tanana k'orrh'eba, ddhełk'ola , Tanacross k'étmah, ddheł k'aal , Upper Tanana k'atbah ) were taken opportunistically throughout

3597-437: The Tanana Valley lowlands. Traditional Athabaskan land use includes fall hunting of moose , caribou , Dall sheep , and small terrestrial animals, as well as trapping . The Athabaskans did not have any formal tribal organization. Tanana Athabaskans were strictly territorial and used hunting and gathering practices in their semi-nomadic way of life and dispersed habitation patterns. Each small band of 20–40 people normally had

3706-819: The Upper Kuskokwim people is more closely related to the Lower Tanana language, but not neighbor. The homeland of the Tanana Athabaskan people can be generally divided into four distinct sections. 1) the Yukon Tanana upland draining to the Tanana River, 2) the Northway-Tanacross Lowlands, 3) the Eastern Alaskan range draining into the Tanana River, and 4) the Northern foothills. The Goodpaster River ,

3815-427: The groups of speakers of any particular language. Some of those attempts were made as a result of misunderstanding, by referencing to official UNESCO documents, that used those terms in their proper meaning, as designations for language names, thus revealing the lack of bases for the proposed alternative uses. Other attempts were made without any referencing, or addressing the issue of the proper meanings and uses of

3924-480: The regional band (or dialect group ), but the more important social unit was the local band (or family group or family/hunting units ). In the winter, the regional band might split up into smaller units, called local bands, each one made up of perhaps four nuclear families. The regional band might meet again at a predetermined place and time in mid-winter for a gathering ceremony called a potlatch and then split up again for beaver and muskrat trapping . At

4033-464: The 1819 Copper Fort ) at Taral (Russian Тарал, native Ahtna name Taghaelden ) on the Copper River (of Ahtna homeland). British traders established Fort Yukon (of Gwich'in homeland) in 1847. Trade goods from these posts may have passed to Lower and Upper Tanana Athabaskans through intra-Native trade networks. Direct contact between Tanana Athabaskans and white traders increased after the 1860s. With

4142-522: The 1970s living in Tanacross village . Ethnographies of the eastern Alaska Athabaskan region, though not specific to Tanacross, can be found in McKennan (1959) and Andrews (1975). De Laguna & McClellan's (1960) field notes also contain extensive ethnographic information. The earliest written record by far of the Tanacross language is the “Copper River Kolchan” vocabulary recorded in Wrangell (1839). This list

4251-597: The Crossing dialect is much more similar to that of the Copper River than is their own.” (23) Until very recently Lower Tanana was spoken at Salcha ( Saagescheeg ), just west of the Tanacross language area near the mouth of the Salcha River . As might be expected, Salcha shares many features with Healy Lake, the westernmost dialect of Tanacross, though the two are readily distinguished as separate languages (in particular by

4360-529: The Han language. However, Tanacross is distinguished most dramatically from neighboring languages by the development of Proto-Athabaskan (PA) constricted vowels into high tone. In contrast, Lower Tanana , Hän and Upper Tanana developed low tone, while Ahtna either did not develop or lost tone. The Tanacross tone system remains active in the phonology and morphology of the language. Tanacross shares close linguistic, geographical and social ties with Upper Tanana to

4469-729: The IPA symbols for voiceless consonants. Note that in coda position the unaspirated/aspirated distinction reverts to a voiceless/voiced distinction, providing further motivation for the choice of symbols in the practical orthography. One of the distinguishing features of Tanacross is the presence of so-called semi-voiced fricatives , a unique type of segment which appear to begin voiceless and transition to fully voiced. Acoustically, semi-voiced fricatives are characterized by lower intensity of high-frequency frication. Semi-voiced fricatives occur in stem-initial position in lieu of fully voiced fricatives. Even though they are essentially allophonic variants of

Tanacross language - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-689: The Lower Tanana Athabaskan population of Nenana ( Toghotili ). The homeland of Tanana Athabaskans is the Dfc climate type subarctic boreal forest of the Nearctic realm called Interior Alaska-Yukon lowland taiga . Their lands are located in different two ecoregions : Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who moved seasonally throughout the year within a reasonably well-defined territory to harvest fish, bird, mammal, berry and other renewable resources. The Tanana territories generally

4687-654: The Mentasta Ahtna of the Mentasta area. Mentasta is the most divergent dialect of Ahtna and shares many linguistic features with Tanacross and Upper Tanana. Due to extensive multilingualism within the Tanana Uplands area, any study of Tanacross must account for the larger socio-linguistic framework within which Tanacross is embedded. In addition to the strictly linguistic resources to be discussed below, Isaac (1988) and Simeone (1995) provide important cultural background on

4796-604: The Middle Tanana Valley. The Upper Tanana area has a rich storytelling tradition. Old-time stories are known in many Northern Athabaskan languages under several different labels. They are set in mythical times when animals and humans could still communicate. Traditionally, stories were told in the evenings in winter in a group setting and were told to educate the young. The arts of the Tanana Athabaskans are classified as Alaska Native art . Birch bark baskets are

4905-617: The Northern Archaic Tradition and the appearance of side-notched projectile points. Douglas D. Anderson originally defined the Northern Archaic Tradition to specifically address notched point-bearing stratigraphic horizons that did not contain microblades at the Onion Portage site ( Onion Portage Archeological District of Kobuk Malimiut tribes of Inupiat people region) in northern Alaska. Notched point assemblages occur in many sites in Interior Alaska, including over one dozen on

5014-602: The Salcha-Goodpaster dialect of Lower Tanana to be a distinct language known as Middle Tanana. Linguist James Kari has been a strong advocate for Middle Tanana, referring to the former language of the Salcha-Goodpaster bands along the middle Tanana River ) The Tanacross (Tanana Crossing; first documented by Ferdinand von Wrangel in 1839 as Copper River Kolchan) regional bands: (language: Tanacross ) The Upper Tanana regional bands: (language: Upper Tanana ) Archaeological sites in Alaska (East Beringia) are where some of

5123-457: The Tanacross community. The former is an oral history told by Chief Andrew Isaac, the last traditional chief of Tanacross. Though much of the text has been translated into English, the translation maintains much of the speech style of the original Tanacross language. The text contains many references to Tanacross flora and fauna, as well as cultural items. Simeone's book is an ethnographic sketch written by an Episcopal lay worker who spent much of

5232-448: The Tanana Athabaskan history. The Nucha'la'woy'ya (or anglicized Nuchalawoya lit. 'where the two rivers meet' ) or Noochuloghoyet (lit «the point of the big river peninsula» and historically: Nukluroyit, Nuclavyette, Nukluklayet, Nukiukahyet, Nuklukait,, Nuklaciyat, Nuklukyat, Noukelakayet, Tuklukyet (modern-day Tanana ) was a traditional trading settlement for Koyukon and Tanana Athabaskans long before European contact. With

5341-667: The Tanana River east of Fairbanks are the oldest human remains ever found in the North American Arctic and Subarctic, and among the oldest discovered on the entire continent, according to researchers with the University of Alaska Fairbanks . Discovered in 2013, the remains of the two infants date from 11,500 years ago, near the end of the last ice age . The Northern Archaic tradition flourished 6,000–1,000 years ago. Site density increased again after about 6,000 years ago in Interior Alaska. This population increase coincides roughly with

5450-416: The Tanana River in the twentieth century. The rapids referred to by McKennan serve as a barrier to salmon migration and remove a major incentive for river settlement (de Laguna & McClellan 1960). In contrast, land travel in this region is relatively easy, and extensive networks of trails connect the villages of the Tanacross region. Many of these trails are still used for hunting access. And at least until

5559-544: The Tanana Valley as early as 2,500 years ago. Through ethnography , oral history , and a broad array of cultural items, much has been learned about Athabaskan culture and history in the region. Artifacts associated with the Athabaskan culture are exceptionally diverse and include bone and antler projectile points, fishhooks, beads, buttons, birch bark trays, and bone gaming pieces. In the Upper Tanana region, native copper (from trading with Ahtna people or "Copper Indians")

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5668-506: The U.S. purchase of Alaska in 1867, control of trading stations and the fur trade passed to Americans . Through the 1880s, American traders established several additional posts on the Yukon and Tanana rivers, including locations at Nuklukayet (modern-day Tanana of Koyukon people homeland), Belle Isle (modern-day Eagle of Hän people homeland), and Fort Yukon. The Tanana River area has a documented Euroamerican history of less than 130 years, like

5777-489: The U.S. Army's Fort Wainwright lands. Several sites, including the excavated Banjo Lake site in Donnelly Training Area, have also produced middle Holocene dates from hearth charcoal. The 6,300- to 6,700-year-old dates from Banjo Lake were also associated with a microblade component. The Athabaskan tradition flourished 1,300–800 years ago. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Athabaskan culture may have appeared in

5886-719: The United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The Tanana Chiefs Conference is a traditional tribal consortium of all Central Alaskan Athabaskans (or Interior Athabaskans ), with the exception of the Southern Alaskan Athabaskans (or Southern Athabaskans: Dena'ina and Ahtna ). On the broad cultural profile factors of regional environment, land use and occupancy, and social organization, Southern Athabaskans (Dena'ina and Ahtna) life more closely resembled

5995-557: The Yukon River and other interior regions in the mid-19th century, they also observed that a few Athabascan groups, including the Koyukon, Deg Hit'an, and Holikachuk, used dog sleds. The Athabascans had probably learned the technique from their Iñupiat or Yup'ik Eskimo neighbors. The Gwich'in, Tanana, Ahtna, and others pulled their sleds and toboggans by hand, using dogs solely for hunting and as pack animals. Dogs sometimes were used to drive

6104-524: The Yukon, regularly visited the settlement, part of the 250,000 square-acre territory of the Interior he administered. Native Athabaskan children from other communities, such as Minto , also attended school in Nenana. The Athabaskan potlatch (Tanacross xtíitl , Upper Tanana -hotįįł ) or the gathering-up ceremony is a mid-winter ceremonial activity of traditional potlatch among Athabaskan peoples. This

6213-442: The [Tanana] Crossing and Upper Tanana natives should be lumped together, for between the Crossing and Healy River occur a whole series of rapids which today make navigation exceedingly dangerous and in earlier days practically prevented it.” (23) McKennan mistakenly assumes that the Tanana River was a major transportation corridor, when in fact the various Tanacross bands have never had a true riverine culture, having only settled on

6322-413: The beginning of Euro-American contact in Interior Alaska in the early 19th century, trade influences and influxes of new populations began to change life in the region. Land use patterns shifted from traditional indigenous uses to activities based on Euro-American economic and political systems. As Euro-American traders (merchants), miners , missionaries , and explorers moved into the Tanana Valley ,

6431-550: The berries or using the juice of the berries for colds, coughs, and sore throats. The Tanana kinship is based on what is formally known as an Iroquois kinship and reflects the matrilineal clan system and the importance of cross-cousin marriage. Individuals in the Tanana society are born into their mother's clan. Their society was and still is composed of eight or nine matrilineal clans that are arranged in exogamous moieties named Raven (or Crow) and Sea Gull (or Wolf). Marriage

6540-594: The combined populations of Dot Lake and Healy Lake at 117, Kari (p.c.) estimates fewer than four speakers at Healy Lake and perhaps two or three at Dot Lake. In spite of its small size (population 140) and proximity to predominantly non-native community of Tok , Tanacross village maintains its own school, where Tanacross literacy is sometimes taught. In addition, most households in the village contain at least one fluent Tanacross speaker. Recently there has been an increase in interest in language revitalization , particularly among middle aged adults. A Tanacross Language Workshop

6649-538: The construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942, foot and sled travel between Healy Lake , Mansfield and Kechumstuk was extremely common (Ellen Demit, p.c.). Osgood (1936) uses the term Tanana for the entire region of the Tanana River drainage below the Tok River to the confluence of the Tanana and Yukon rivers. Shinen (1958), who recorded a word list from Mary Charlie and Oscar Isaac in Tanacross village, refers to

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6758-469: The deceased. Other potlatches were held to demonstrate the wealth, prosperity, or luck of a person: the more potlatches, the greater the wealth. Fresh moose meat is essential to the Athabaskan funeral potlatch. Today, the most well-known potlatch is Nuchalawoyya Potlatch of the Native Village of Tanana. Archaeological evidence of potlatching is found at the 1000-year-old Pickupsticks site near Shaw Creek in

6867-475: The doctrine of new religious beliefs contributed to an erosion of traditional ecological knowledge and other traditional practices. After the Alaska Purchase in 1867, most of the Koyukon were converted by either Catholic or Protestant denominations. And by 1900, virtually all Alaskan Athabaskans were Christians, at least by name if not entirely by practice. An influenza epidemic in 1920 claimed one-fourth of

6976-462: The earliest evidence has been found of Paleo-Indians . Alaska Interior or Interior Alaska has been continuously inhabited for the last 14,000 ~ 12,000 years, and evidence of this continuum of human (ancestors of the Athabaskans) activity is preserved within and around Fort Wainwright 's training lands. Interior Alaska's icefree status during the last glacial period provided a corridor connecting

7085-469: The earliest settled people known from all over Alaska. In Interior Alaska, Paleo-Arctic tradition historically included two cultural divisions called the Nenana and Denali complexes. The Nenana complex was defined by W. R. Powers and John F. Hoffecker. The Nenana complex began approximately 11,000 years ago. It is widely regarded as part of the Palaeoindian tradition and a likely Beringian progenitor of

7194-420: The early 1970s Nancy McRoy compiled some textual materials with speaker Mary Charlie and a short wordlist containing about 400 items, mostly nouns, as well as some basic literacy materials. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jeff Leer compiled further notes on grammatical paradigms and phonological features , including the three-way fricative voicing contrast. Marilyn Paul (1978) presents some notes compiled from

7303-454: The earth itself. For example, if an Upper Tanana man kills a wolf, he should never touch it until he formally apologizes and explains that his family needs it. The taboos (Tanacross injih , Upper Tanana įhjih ) are animistic and forbidden. In addition to adhering to a code of behavior, people observed a variety of taboos designed to prevent misfortune or bad luck. Many of these taboos were associated with hunting or some other aspect of

7412-463: The east (upriver). Tanacross itself was not defined as a distinct language until the late 1960s (Krauss 1973a). The dialectology of this area has not been completely unraveled, but it is clear that Tanacross of course shares many features with neighboring languages and dialects, especially the Mentasta dialect of Ahtna, the (now extinct) Salcha dialect of Lower Tanana, the Tetlin dialect of Upper Tanana, and

7521-495: The east. In fact, the close social ties which have bound Tanacross with other groups in the upper Tanana drainage area argue for the definition of a Tanana Uplands language and culture area. This area would include all groups which have regularly participated in potlatch ceremonies with Tanacross, including the Upper Tanana of Tetlin , Northway and Beaver Creek ; the Han of the vicinity of Eagle, Alaska and Dawson City , Yukon ; and

7630-426: The end of the 19th century there were twelve regional bands living in the Tanana Athabaskan homeland: six downriver bands (four Lower Tanana and two Middle Tanana) and six upriver bands (two Tanacross and four Upper Tanana). The Lower Tanana regional bands: (language: proper dialect of Lower Tanana ) The Middle Tanana regional bands: (language: extinct (1993) separate dialect of Lower Tanana . Some authors consider

7739-511: The field is related to ethnolinguistic and sociolinguistic studies. Various questions related to the study of formation and use of language names are also relevant for several other disciplines within social sciences and humanities . The term linguonym was introduced in 1973, and again in 1977, and further attempts to define the field were made in 1979. Three synonymic terms (linguonym, glossonym, glottonym) gradually came into use, primarily among linguists and other scholars, but

7848-465: The field of linguonymic studies is still considered to be in its formative stages. Language names can be classified by several criteria. According to origin, they can be divided into two groups: In recent years, some authors have proposed the term " logonym " as an alternative designation for the onomastic class that includes the names of languages, thus avoiding the use of already accepted terms (linguonym, glossonym, glottonym). Critics replied that

7957-414: The food-gathering process, thus underscoring the importance of these activities for the survival of the group. Ravens , cranes , wolverines , foxes, otters , and dogs must never be eaten. The heads of caribou , moose , and Dall sheep may not be fed to the dogs; to do so would bring the hunter poor luck. Neither the bones nor the carcasses of fur-bearing animals may be fed to dogs and must be cached in

8066-599: The four main Ahtna dialects and shares many lexical and phonological features with Tanacross rather than with the other Ahtna dialects. McKennan remarks: “The Tanana Crossing people have always been in much closer contact with the Indians of Copper River, the valley of the Tok [River] leading to the easy Mentasta Pass and thence down Slana River to the Copper. The Upper Tanana natives maintain that

8175-467: The language as the “Nabesna dialect”, and Shinen's term was repeated in Hoijer (1963). Nabesna was actually Osgood's preferred term for Upper Tanana, so Shinen appears to have followed McKennan in lumping Tanacross and Upper Tanana together but adopted Osgood's linguonym . Shinen's list is clearly of Tanacross, not Upper Tanana origin. De Laguna & McClellan (1960) use the term Tanacross language, but only in

8284-538: The late spring and continued until mid-July. It was a major harvest activity and whitefish, a perennially reliable food source, was especially important. All band members except the very young children assisted in harvesting and processing the catch. The spring fish harvest provided a welcome dietary change after a long winter of eating mostly dried fish and meat. Fish not eaten fresh were processed and dried on drying racks for later consumption. Both fresh and dried fish were cooked in water boiled by placing heated stones into

8393-557: The limited body of evidence allows for several generalizations. Athabascan settlement patterns depended greatly on the availability of subsistence resources, and Interior bands lived a nomadic lifestyle. Ernest S. Burch (1980) defined a four-period scheme reflecting the major historical events and their impact on the Alaska Natives (Alaskan Eskimos and Athabaskan peoples): Russian fur traders (and promyshlenniki [According to American historian and ethnologist Hubert Howe Bancroft ,

8502-462: The linguistic geography of the Tanacross region. The first extensive ethnographic research in the area was conducted by McKennan in 1929-30, who excludes Tanacross from his map of what he labels as the Upper Tanana region (1959: 16). However, McKennan later appears to lump Tanacross and Upper Tanana together under the label Upper Tanana, noting: “In considering the Tanana River as a whole, however,

8611-460: The location of game when hunting was scarce. According to cultural anthropologist Richard K. Nelson (who lived for extended periods in Alaskan Athabaskan villages), Athabaskan traditions teach that everything in nature is fundamentally spiritual and must be treated with respect. This includes not only avoiding waste but also following an elaborate code of morality toward plants, animals, and

8720-508: The moose into the fence and snares. Historically, the Tanana Athabaskan people did not consider themselves as living in " tribes ." It is a relatively recent term connected with political recognition by the U.S. government. Alaska Native tribal entities for Tanana Athabaskans are recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs : The Alaska Native Regional Corporations of Tanana Athabaskans were established in 1971 when

8829-593: The most common type of basketry made by Athabaskan women. Today, birch bark is used primarily for baskets made for sale and for bark baby carriers. The Alaskan Athabaskan Indian ice cream (Lower Tanana nonathdlodi , Tanacross nanehdlaad ) is dessert-like dry meat mixed with moose fat and is different from the Canadian Indian ice cream of First Nations in British Columbia . One recipe for Indian ice cream consisted of dried and pulverized tenderloin that

8938-411: The natives and their dogs, but it also supplies the material for their clothing, shelters, and boats, as well as netting for their snowshoes and babiche and sinew for their snares, cords, and lashings. The caribou hunt occurred in the early summer and mid-summer. Caribou hunting during the fall migration involved the use of fence, corral , and snare complexes and was a seasonal activity critical to

9047-463: The nearest commercial center of Fairbanks , located two hundred miles downstream from Tanacross village and accessible by all-weather highway. Tanacross is the ancestral language of the Mansfield-Kechumstuk and Healy Lake -Joseph Village bands of Tanana Athabaskan people, whose ancestral territory encompassed an area bounded by the Goodpaster River to the west, the Alaska Range to the south,

9156-646: The number of available fishing permits for commercial salmon (esp. the Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus species for salmon cannery ) fishing. In Nenana, about one-third of households have a permit. Most (70%) sample households with a permit used. Those with a permit who did not fish commercially did fish for subsistence. Hunting was associated with seasonal movements along trails and frozen rivers, particularly as bands moved between rivers and uplands. The primary hunting animals for Tanana Athabaskans are big animals (caribou, moose, and wild sheep). The most valuable hunting animal

9265-441: The oldest speakers is Tanacross the language of daily communication. Based on the age of the youngest speakers, Krauss (1997) estimates 65 speakers out of a total population of 220. In spite of the relatively small number of speakers, the percentage of speakers out of the total population is quite high for an Alaska Athabaskan language . Outside Tanacross village proper the percentage is much lower. Although 1990 census figures place

9374-426: The oldest, there are three or four groups identified by the languages they speak. These are the Tanana proper or Lower Tanana ( Kokht'ana ) and/or Middle Tanana, Tanacross or Tanana Crossing ( Koxt'een ), and Upper Tanana ( Kohtʼiin ). The Tanana Athabaskan culture is a hunter-gatherer culture with a matrilineal system. Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic and lived in semi-permanent settlements in

9483-554: The other southern Native societies. In the North, the life of the Interior Athabaskans more closely resembled other northern Native societies. Lower Tanana language: Tanacross language: Upper Tanana language: Linguonym Linguonym (from Latin : lingua / language, and Greek : ὄνομα / name), also known as glossonym (from Ancient Greek : γλῶσσα / language) or glottonym (from Attic Greek : γλῶττα / language),

9592-801: The preparation of nonathdlodi , or "Indian ice cream." Historically and traditionally, Alaskan Athabaskans use pedestrian transportation; they travel on foot (in winter using birchbark snowshoes ). Caribou were also pursued individually on snowshoes during winter by hunters using bows and arrows. Athabascan women regularly carry their children with the help of a baby belt. Dogs (Lower Tanana łiga , Tanacross łii ) are used in many Athabaskan villages mostly for hunting and as pack animals. Dog sleds (Lower Tanana xwtl , Tanacross xědl ) are an ancient and widespread means of transportation for Eskimo peoples (western central Alaskan Yup'ik people and northern and northwestern Alaskan Inupiat people ). When non-Native fur traders and explorers first traveled

9701-765: The presence of high marked tone in Healy Lake). With the passing of the Salcha dialect, the nearest Lower Tanana villages are located more than one hundred miles downstream at Nenana and Minto , and the linguistic boundary between Tanacross and Lower Tanana is now even more distinct. The Tanacross linguistic region is geographically small by Alaska Athabaskan standards and hence contains little dialectal variation. A small number of phonological features distinguish two major dialects. The Mansfield ( Dihthâad )-Kechumstuk ( Saages Cheeg ) (MK) dialect of Tanacross ( Dihthaad Xt'een Aandeg' - ″The Mansfield People's Language″, referring to

9810-514: The production of literacy materials with accompanying cassette tapes. Solomon & Ritter (1997) provides crucial data for the description of tone phenomena. Phonology and morphology are described in Holton's 2000 University of California Santa Barbara dissertation. Semi-voiced fricatives are described by Holton (2001). The interaction of tone and intonation is described in Holton (2005). Additional sound recordings and field notes are available at YNLC and

9919-471: The proposed term ( logonym ) has several meanings, spanning different fields of study. As of 2015 the term had not gained wide acceptance. Searching for appropriate onomastic terms for some other classes of proper names , several researchers have tried to use term linguonym (glossonym, glottonym) as a designation not for the names of languages, but for a specific class of anthroponyms (proper names of humans, individual and collective) that are given to

10028-405: The survival of the Tanana people. Today, most caribou meat is typically used fresh or frozen for later use. The moose (subspecies Alces alces gigas , Lower Tanana denigi , Tanacross dendîig , Upper Tanana diniign ) is the other most important food animal for Tanana Athabaskans. The most common resource harvesting activity among Lower Tanana Athabaskan bands, Moose hunting is always

10137-507: The terms. In the same time, the question of defining an appropriate anthroponomastic term for the specific class of proper names that are given to groups of speakers of any particular language (names such as: Anglophones / speakers of English, or Francophones / speakers of French), remained opened and focused on several available solutions that would combine classical terms for speakers or speaking (based on Latin verb loquor, loqui, locutus ) with standard suffix -onym , thus producing

10246-497: The traditional life ways of local Athabaskan groups were disrupted. Access to trade goods and the development of the fur trade not only affected traditional material culture but also began to dramatically affect subsistence activities and settlement patterns. Similarly, the arrival of missionaries in the Alaskan Interior profoundly influenced traditional social organization. The introduction of mission schools for Native children and

10355-483: The traditional village of Mansfield ( Dihthâad ), north of Tanacross) was formerly spoken at Mansfield Lake ( dihTa$ òd/ ) and Kechumstuk, until those bands combined and later moved to Tanacross village. This is the dialect spoken in Tanacross village and the dialect upon which this study is based. Unless indicated otherwise reference to Tanacross language should be assumed to mean the MK dialect. A second dialect of Tanacross

10464-628: The various sources of lexical documentation, Krauss (p.c.) estimates than only twenty percent of the extant body of lexical information has been documented by linguists. During the early 1990s John Ritter of the Yukon Native Language Center (YNLC) began a comprehensive study of Tanacross phonology in the early 1990s and developed a practical orthography. Tanacross speakers Irene Solomon Arnold and Jerry Isaac have participated in literacy workshops in Tok , Whitehorse and Dawson City , resulting in

10573-465: The villages of Tetlin, Northway, Scottie Creek, Beaver Creek, and (formerly) Chisana. Tanacross and Upper Tanana share a high degree of mutual intelligibility, though the tonal patterns (with the exception of the Tetlin dialect, which is apparently toneless) are reversed. To the south near the headwaters of the Copper River in Mentasta is the Ahtna language . The Mentasta dialect of Ahtna is the most divergent of

10682-613: The voiced fricatives, semi-voiced fricatives are indicated in the practical orthography via an underscore beneath the corresponding voiceless segment. Tanacross is a member of the Athabaskan family of languages , a well-established genetic grouping whose members occupy three discontinuous areas of North America: the Northern group in northwestern Canada and Alaska, the Pacific Coast in northern California, Oregon, and southern Washington, and

10791-1185: The year with bow and arrows or with snares and fence-snare arrangements. Ducks and geese were easily captured when molting . Men in birchbark canoes quietly approached waterfowl in bays and coves and shot them with bows and arrows. Women and children then caught the birds and collected eggs from their nests. Fishing (creek and river) was done near the village sites. The fish, which are domestic and most common, were stored in large subsurface caches. The main economical fish (Tanacross łuug , Upper Tanana łuugn, łuuk ) species are mostly whitefish ( humpback whitefish , round whitefish Tanacross xełtįį' ) and Pacific salmon ( king (chinook) Upper Tanana gath , Tanacross łuug chox , red (sockeye) Upper Tanana łuugn delt'al , Tanacross łuug delt'el ). Other fish species are pike (Upper Tanana ch'ulju̱u̱dn , Tanacross uljaaddh ), grayling (Lower Tanana srajela , Upper Tanana seejiil , Tanacross seejel ), lingcod (Upper Tanana and Tanacross ts'aan ) and sucker (Upper Tanana taats'adn , Tanacross tats'aht'ôl ). Fishing at Mansfield Lake and Fish Creek for whitefish, pike, and grayling began in

10900-513: Was available and used in addition to the traditional material types to manufacture tools such as knives, projectile points, awls, ornaments, and axes. A late prehistoric Athabaskan occupation is recognized at several sites in and around U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Wainwright's training lands. The Athabaskan Tradition includes late prehistoric and proto-historic cultures generally believed to be the ancestors of Athabascan tribes who currently inhabit Interior Alaska. Excavated Athabaskan sites are rare, but

11009-421: Was blended with moose grease in a birch bark container until the mixture was light and fluffy. In addition, Alaskan Athabaskan communities also create songs for performances at potlatches, such as dance songs, potlatch songs, and mourning songs. Within stories and embedded in fragments of folklore, old shamanic songs are also partially remembered; they are called "ice‐cream songs" because they used to be sung during

11118-649: Was conducted in 1990, and several training sessions were held at the Yukon Native Language Centre in Whitehorse throughout the 1990s. These training sessions resulted in Native Language teaching certification for at least one speaker. Tanacross language classes are planned at the University of Alaska regional center in Tok. Tanacross is one of four Athabaskan tone languages spoken in Alaska. The others are Gwichʼin , Han , and Upper Tanana . Tanacross

11227-464: Was immediately apparent to him. Thus, if human beings did something that displeased the animal's spirit, the animal itself would remain aloof from the people, and the people might starve. There were very definite rules that people had to follow when dealing with animals based on this belief in animal spirits. Aboriginally and in early historic times, the shaman , called a medicine man or medicine woman (Tanacross deshen Upper Tanana dishin )

11336-415: Was manifested in a half-man, half-animal being. Spirits were influential in the activities of the living and in guiding the dead to their final resting place. Athabaskan shamans guarded people against the effects of bad spirits. The shaman also diagnosed various illnesses and restored the health of those harmed by bad spirits. The shaman could also provide the valuable service of scapulimancy , which predicted

11445-426: Was one event at which people from different local and even regional bands met. The several regional bands attending a potlatch might have spoken slightly different dialects, which were nonetheless close enough to each other to be mutually intelligible. The importance of potlatches in establishing friendly ties with outside groups has already been discussed: marriages and trade partnerships often grew out of association at

11554-674: Was probably collected at Nuchek in Prince William Sound , but its character is unmistakably Tanacross. Another short (three typescript pages) word list was collected by J.T. Geoghegan (Geoghegan & Geoghegan 1904). David Shinen compiled a somewhat longer Tanacross word list from Mary Charlie and Oscar Isaac in Tanacross village, and a portion of this list was later published under the heading “Nabesna” in Hoijer (1963). More substantive documentation of Tanacross began with exploratory fieldwork by Krauss, who first called it “transitional Tanana”. In

11663-443: Was relocated across the river to its present location in the early 1970s, and most present-day Tanacross speakers live in or near the village of Tanacross. The name Tanacross has only recently been applied to the language and still has limited currency outside academic circles. Many other linguonyms have been used. Wrangell's 1839 wordlist refers to the language as the “Copper River Kolchan”, though Wrangell certainly had no notion of

11772-457: Was supposed to occur between a man and a woman from opposite clans. Historically and traditionally, Tanana and all other Alaskan Athabaskans practice animism and shamanism . The animistic belief system common to all Alaskan Athabaskan groups might be briefly characterized as follows: All creatures and some inanimate objects had spirits, which were active and powerful components of those creatures. The spirits enabled an animal to know more than

11881-451: Was the central figure of Athabaskan religious life. The shaman within this culture was the middle man/woman between spirits and the native peoples. Magico-religious practices included omens, charms, amulets, songs, taboos, and beliefs about the supernatural. Beliefs and practices were associated with certain animals, and many centered on hunting. Animal spirits appear to have predominated Tanana spiritual life. They believed that an evil spirit

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