Holikachuk (own name: Doogh Qinag[5]) is a recently extinct
Athabaskan language formerly spoken at the village of
Holikachuk (Hiyeghelinhdi) on the
Innoko River in central
Alaska. In 1962, residents of Holikachuk relocated to
Grayling on the lower
Yukon River. Holikachuk is intermediate between the
Deg Xinag and
Koyukon languages, linguistically closer to Koyukon but socially much closer to Deg Xinag. Though it was recognized by scholars as a distinct language as early as the 1840s, it was only definitively identified in the 1970s.[6] Of about 180 Holikachuk people, only about 5 spoke the language in 2007.[7] In March 2012, the last living fluent speaker of Holikachuk died in Alaska.[3]
James Kari compiled a short dictionary of Holikachuk in 1978, but Holikachuk remains one of the least documented Alaska Native languages.[8]
^
abICTMN Staff. "Alaska Native Language Loses Last Fluent Speaker." Indian Country Today Media Network. 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
[1]Archived 2012-04-22 at the
Wayback Machine
^Krauss, Michael E. 1973. Na-Dene. Linguistics in North America, ed. by T.A. Sebeok, 903-78. (Current Trends in Linguistics 10). The Hague: Mouton.
^Krauss, Michael E. 2007. Native languages of Alaska. In: The Vanishing Voices of the Pacific Rim, ed. by Osahito Miyaoko, Osamu Sakiyama, and Michael E. Krauss. Oxford: Oxford University Press
^Kari, James. 1978. Holikachuk Noun Dictionary (Preliminary). Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
ERIC ED172528