Holikachuk is a highly endangered Athabaskan

Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...

 language formerly spoken at the village of Holikachuk (Hiyeghelinhdi) on the Innoko River

Innoko River

The Innoko River is a river in western Alaska. It flows north from its origin south of Cloudy Mountain in the Kuskoswim Mountains and then flows southwest to its end at the Yukon River, across from Holy Cross, Alaska....

 in central Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. In 1962 residents of Holikachuk relocated to Grayling

Grayling, Alaska

Grayling is a city in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 194. Since 1977, the Athabaskan village has seen a surge of interest on odd-numbered years, when it is the site of a checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race...

 on the lower Yukon River

Yukon River

The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...

. Holikachuk is intermediate between the Deg Xinag and Koyukon

Koyukon language

Koyukon is an Athabaskan language spoken along the Koyukuk and middle Yukon River in western interior Alaska. It has about 300 speakers - generally older adults bilingual in English - from an ethnic population of 2,300....

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. Of about 180 Holikachuk people, only about 5 spoke the language in 2007.

James Kari compiled a short dictionary of Holikachuk in 1978, but Holikachuk remains one of the least documented Alaska Native languages.

Examples

• łoogg fish
• łoogg dood mininh iligh November (literally: 'month when the eels come [swim]')
• giggootth scales
• q’oon’ fish eggs
• nathdlod Indian ice-cream'

External links

• Holikachuk Athabascan. Alaska Native Language Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.