Language | Dena’ina Qenaga
Dena'ina Qenaga
Language
This section of the site contains information about the structure of the Dena’ina language.
Sounds
The
sounds
page describes the Dena’ina sound system. Dena’ina contains a number of sounds which are not found in English. These include the so-called barred-l or voiceless-l (written
); the back-velar or uvular sounds produced at the back of the mouth; and the “glottalized” or “ejective” sounds produced with a slight popping noise (written
t’, ts’, tl’, ch’, k’, q’
). An example which contains all of these types of sounds is the word
łiq’a
‘fish’. An audio clip pronounced by Mrs. Gladys Evanoff is given below.
Your browser does not support the audio tag.
The first sound in the word is the barred-l,
. The sound represented by
q’
is a glottalized sound produced at the back of the mouth.
The Dena’ina writing system is described on the
writing
page. The Dena’ina alphabet includes at least one symbol not found in English (namely, the barred-l,
). In addition, the Dena’ina alphabet uses many of the same symbols found in the English alphabet but assigns a different pronunciation to them.
Dialects
Dena’ina is spoken in several different regional varieties, the main ones being Inland, Upper Inlet, Outer Inlet and Iliamna. The
dialects
page describes the differences between the major Dena’ina dialects. Different dialects often have slightly different pronunciations. For example, the word ‘water’ may be pronounced
minłni
vinłni
, or
binłni
, depending on dialect.
Grammar
The grammar of Dena’ina is described on the
grammar
page.
All languages have grammar. That is, all languages have certain rules which must be followed in order for the language to make sense. It is important to recognize that the rules of Dena’ina grammar are for the most part very different than the rules of English grammar. When we speak of “rules” of grammar we mean something very different from schoolbook grammar rules such as “don’t say ain’t” or “don’t end a sentence with a preposition”. Rather, these rules are required in order for the language to make sense.
For example, English has a rule of grammar which requires subjects to precede the verb and objects to follow. So in a sentence like
John shot a beaver
, we know that
John
is the one doing the shooting, and the
a beaver
is the thing getting shot. We can’t scramble the words and get this meaning. This rule of grammar excludes sentences such as
*a John beaver shot
or
*shot John beaver a
. Dena’ina grammar also places restrictions on word order, but the restrictions are different than in English. For example,
John
chu
nałtl'es
J.
beaver
he shot/struck it
'John shot a beaver'
English also has rules about how words are put together. For example, the English word
books
consists of two parts: the noun
book
and the
plural
marker
-s
. These parts must occur in this order and no other. That is,
*sbook
and
bosok
are not words. These rules may also require slight changes in pronunciation. For example, notice how the English plurals
cats
and
dogs
are pronounced differently (even though they are both written with
-s
). Dena’ina has similarly strict rules about word structure
One of the biggest differences between English and Dena’ina is the way in which words are put together. In Dena’ina, a single word can convey the equivalent of an entire sentence in English. Understanding word structure is an important part of understanding Dena’ina grammar. For example, the English sentence
I will see you again
translates into Dena’ina as a single word.
Word:
nuntnghel'ił
Word parts:
nu-n-t-n-gh-sh-l-'ił
Meaning of Parts:
again-you-
future
-see-
future
-I-
classifier
-see/
FUTURE
Meaning:
'I will see you again'
Language Relationships
Dena’ina is one of roughly 40 languages of the Athabascan family. Eleven of these, including Dena’ina, are spoken in Alaska. These languages are closely related to each other and share many similarities in pronunciation and grammatical structure. Athabascan languages are spoken throughout interior Alaska and Western Canada, as well as in the desert Southwest and Pacific Coast of the United States. The Athabascan family is one of the largest language families in North America.
See the
language relationships
page for more information.