Ahtna language

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Pre-contact distribution of Ahtna

Ahtna or Ahtena is the Na-Dené language of the Ahtna ethnic group of the Copper River area of Alaska. The language is also known as Copper River or Mednovskiy. There are 80 speakers out of a population of 500, and the language is facing extinction but many younger people are learning it to try to keep it from extinction.

The Ahtna language consists of four different dialects, three of the four are still spoken today. Ahtna closely related to Dena'ina.

The similar name "Atnah" occurs in the journals of Simon Fraser and other early European diarists in what is now British Columbia as a reference to the Tsilhqot'in people, another Northern Athapaskan group.

Dialects and Bands

There are four main dialect divisions and eight bands (tribal unions):^[1]

• Lower Ahtna (own name Atnahwt’aene)
  • Chitina/Taral Band
  • Tonsina/Klutina Band
• Central Ahtna or Middle Ahtna (own name Atnahwt’aene)
  • Gulkona/Gakona Band
• Western Ahtna (own name Tsaay Hwt’aene)
  • Tyone/Mendeltna Band
  • Cantwell/Denali Band
• Upper Ahtna (own name Tatl’ahwt’aene)
  • Sanford River/Chistochina Band
  • Slana/Batzulnetas Band
  • Mentasta Band

Vocabulary comparison

The comparison of some animal names in the three Athabaskan languages:^[2]

References

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