Mythologies of the Na-Dené Tribe

Na-Dene (/ˌnɑːdɪˈneɪ/ NAH-dih-NAY; also Nadene, Na-Dené, Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit, Tlina–Dene) is a family of Native American languages that includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. Haida was formerly included but is now generally considered a language isolate. By far the most widely spoken Na-Dene language today is Navajo, also the most spoken indigenous language north of Mexico. Some linguists have proposed that the Na-Dene family is related to the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia, creating a Dene–Yeniseian family. However, this proposal has not been accepted by some linguists. Edward Sapir originally constructed the term Na-Dene to refer to a combined family of Athabaskan, Tlingit, and Haida (the existence of the Eyak language was not known to him at the time). In his "The Na-Dene languages: A preliminary report", he describes how he arrived at the term. The name that I have chosen for the stock, Na-dene, may be justified by reference to no. 51 of the comparative vocabulary. Dene, in various dialectic forms, is a wide-spread Athabaskan term for "person, people"; the element *-ne (*-n, *-η) which forms part of it is an old stem for "person, people" which, as suffix or prefix, is frequently used in Athabaskan in that sense. It is cognate with H. [= Haida] na "to dwell; house" and Tl. [= Tlingit] na "people". The compound term Na-dene thus designates by means of native stems the speakers of the three languages concerned, besides continuing the use of the old term Dene for the Athabaskan branch of the stock.

Na-Dené languages, major grouping (phylum or superstock) of North American Indian languages, consisting of three language families—Athabascan (or Athapascan), Haida, and Tlingit—with a total of 22 languages. Of these languages 20 belong to the Athabascan family; they are spoken in the Northwest Territory, the Yukon, and adjacent parts of Canada, west to Cook Inlet in Alaska; in two isolated areas of the Pacific coast (southwestern Oregon and northern California); and in the southwestern United States (mostly in New Mexico and Arizona). Tlingit and Haida are each single languages making up separate families; they are spoken, respectively, in southeastern Alaska and British Columbia. The major language of the Na-Dené group is Navajo, spoken by large Indian populations in Arizona and New Mexico. It is one of the few North American Indian languages whose speakers are increasing in number. Other large languages of the phylum are Western Apache, spoken in western Arizona, and the Chipewyan dialects of the Northwest Territories in Canada. Characteristic of many American Indian languages is a polysynthetic word structure, in which words are made up of many so-called bound elements (which cannot stand by themselves but only in conjunction with other elements). A single polysynthetic word may incorporate the information it would take an entire sentence to say in English. The Na-Dené languages are somewhat polysynthetic, although not as much so as the Algonquian or Eskimo languages; words are often built up from a number of loosely bound elements. More typical of the Na-Dené languages, however, is the use of tones to distinguish otherwise identical words. Navajo uses two pitches in this way—high, represented by an acute accent (´), and low, represented by a grave accent (ˋ). Thus, in Navajo, yààzííd means “you pour it down,” and yààzììd means “I have poured it down.” Other characteristics of the Na-Dené languages are a clear distinction between active and static verbs, a greater emphasis on verb aspect and voice than on tense, and frequent derivation of verbs from nouns.

Dene comprise a far-reaching cultural and linguistic family, stretching from the Canadian North and Alaska to the American southwest. In Canada, Dene, which means “the people” in their language, comprise a variety of First Nations, some of which include the Denesuline (Chipewyan), Tlicho (Dogrib) and Dinjii Zhuh (Gwich’in). Dene are also known as Athabascan, Athabaskan, Athapascan or Athapaskan peoples. In the 2021 census, 45,895 people identified as having ancestry of Dene origins, which includes Dene, Dane-zaa, Dakelh, Tsilhqot’in, Denesuline, Dene Tha’, Gwich’in, Kaska Dena, Sahtu, Tahltan, Tlicho, Tlingit, Tse’khene (Sekani), Tsuut’ina (Sarcee), Tutchone and Wet’suwet’en. In that census, there were 18,360 people who identified as Dene without specifying further. Dene have historically inhabited central and northwestern Canada in an area known as Denendeh, meaning “the Creator’s Spirit flows through this Land” or “Land of the People.” This region includes the Mackenzie River Valley and the Barren Grounds in the Northwest Territories. Dene men hunted caribou — the mainstay of their economy — as well as other game, such as rabbit, deer and moose, in areas around Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake and along the Mackenzie River. Fishing supplemented their diet, especially among Dene peoples who lived close to the coast. Women would often be responsible for cooking meals, gathering food and taking care of children. They made clothes out of natural resources, such as furs and hides from animals. Sewing tools also came from animals, including bone needles and sinew for thread. Depending on their geographic location, Dene families lived in tipis, pit houses or lodges. (See alsoArchitectural History: Indigenous Peoples.) They generally travelled often for hunting purposes, either on foot or in canoes, except during the winter when some Dene travelled using snowshoes and toboggans.

The Na-Dené (also called Athabascan or Athapascan) language family includes 47 distantly related languages that are spoken over a large area spanning from northwestern Canada and Alaska south to the Rio Grande. With 180,000 speakers, it is the second largest language family in North America in terms of number of languages and the number of speakers after the Uto-Aztecan language family. The name Athabaskan comes from the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada. The Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis proposes a genetic relationship between the Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit (or Dene) languages of North America and the Yeniseian languages of Central Siberia. Recent research links the Ket, an endangered Yenisenian language spoken along the Yenisei River in western Siberia by less than 1,000 people, and the Na-Dené anguages that encompasses the Athabascan tribes in Alaska, the Tlingit and Eyak people. The only other established link between Siberian and North American language families is the case of Yupik, a variety of Eskimo-Aleut spoken across the Bering Strait. The Na-Dené language family is made up of three branches: Athabaskan-Eyak which comprises 43 languages, Haida, and Tlingit (Ethnologue). The latter two branches have one language each.The two single languages are Haida (40 speakers) and Tlingit (700 speakers). The genetic relationship of Tlingit, Eyak and Athabaskan is widely accepted, while the inclusion of Haida is a subject of continued controversy.