James Kari
Encyclopedia
James Kari is a linguist and Professor Emeritus
with the Alaska Native Language Center
at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
(UAF), specializing in Athabascan languages of Alaska
. In the past thirty-five years he has done extensive linguistic work in many Athabascan languages including Ahtna
, Dena'ina, Koyukon
, Deg Hit'an, Holikachuk
, Lower Tanana
, Middle Tanana, and Upper Tanana. He was on the faculty of UAF from 1973 to until his retirement in 1997, but continues to work on numerous Alaska Native language projects. He is the author or editor of over 200 publications, including more than 2500 pages of bilingual texts in six Athabascan languages. He has compiled or documented more than 11,000 place names in fourteen Alaska or Canadian Athabascan languages. He worked with Dena'ina writer and ethnographer Peter Kalifornsky
on a 1991 compilation of his important creative writings. In 2008 he was the organizer of the Dene–Yeniseian Symposium in Alaska, and he was co-editor of the volume The Dene–Yeniseian Connection published in 2010. In 2009 Alaskan Governor Sean Parnell selected Kari to receive the Governor's Award for the Humanities.
Books
Co-editor or co-author of:
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
with the Alaska Native Language Center
Alaska Native Language Center
The Alaska Native Language Center, established in 1972 in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a research center focusing on the research and documentation of the Alaska's Native languages. It publishes grammars, dictionaries, folklore collections and research materials, as well as hosting an extensive archive of...
at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Alaska Fairbanks
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as Alaska or UAF....
(UAF), specializing in Athabascan languages of 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 the past thirty-five years he has done extensive linguistic work in many Athabascan languages including Ahtna
Ahtna language
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...
, Dena'ina, 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....
, Deg Hit'an, Holikachuk
Holikachuk
Holikachuk are an Athabaskan people native to western Alaska. Their native territory includes the area surrounding the middle and upper Innoko River. Later in 1963 they moved to Grayling on the Yukon River.The Holikachuk call themselves Doogh Hit’an...
, Lower Tanana
Tanana
Tanana may refer to:* Tanana, Alaska* Tanana River* Tanana languages* Lower Tanana* Upper Tanana* Tanana * Frank Tanana baseball player...
, Middle Tanana, and Upper Tanana. He was on the faculty of UAF from 1973 to until his retirement in 1997, but continues to work on numerous Alaska Native language projects. He is the author or editor of over 200 publications, including more than 2500 pages of bilingual texts in six Athabascan languages. He has compiled or documented more than 11,000 place names in fourteen Alaska or Canadian Athabascan languages. He worked with Dena'ina writer and ethnographer Peter Kalifornsky
Peter Kalifornsky
Peter Kalifornsky , was a self-taught writer and ethnographer of Kenai, Alaska, who wrote traditional stories, poems, and language lessons in the Outer Inlet dialect of Dena'ina, a language of the Athabaskan language group...
on a 1991 compilation of his important creative writings. In 2008 he was the organizer of the Dene–Yeniseian Symposium in Alaska, and he was co-editor of the volume The Dene–Yeniseian Connection published in 2010. In 2009 Alaskan Governor Sean Parnell selected Kari to receive the Governor's Award for the Humanities.
Education
- Ph.D., University of New Mexico (Curriculum & Instruction and Linguistics), 1973; Doctoral dissertation: Navajo Verb Prefix Phonology
- M.A.T., Reed College (Literature), 1969
- U. S. Peace Corps, Teacher of English as a Foreign Language, Bafra Lisesi, Bafra, Turkey, 1966–68
- B.A., University of California at Los Angeles (English), 1966
Selected works
Articles- Kari, James. 1989 Some Principles of Alaskan Athabaskan Toponymic Knowledge. In General and Amerindian Ethnolinguistics, In Remembrance of Stanley Newman, ed. by M. R. Key and H. Hoenigswald. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, pp. 129–151. (ANLA: TI972K1989)
- Kari, James. 1989. Affix Positions and Zones in the Athabaskan Verb Complex: Ahtna and Navajo. International Journal of American Linguistics 55:424 455
- Kari, James. 1991. On the language effort and language work in Alaska Athabaskan. The Council, Dec. 1991, p. 8. (ANLA: CA973K1991)
- Kari, James. 1992. Some Concepts in Ahtna Athabaskan Word Formation. In Morphology Now, ed. by Mark Aronoff; SUNY Series in Linguistics, SUNY Press, pp. 107–133. (ANLA: AT973K1992)
- Kari, James. 1996. Linguistic Traces of Dena'ina Strategy at the Archaic Periphery. In Adventures Through Time: Readings in the Anthropology of Cook Inlet, ed. by Nancy Daws. Anchorage: Cook Inlet Historical Society. (ANLA: TI972K1996)
- Kari, James. 1996. A Preliminary View of Hydronymic Districts in Northern Athabaskan Prehistory. Names 44:253-271.
- Kari, James. 2005. Language Work in Alaskan Athabaskan and its Relationship to Alaskan Anthropology. Alaska Journal of Anthropology 3(1):105-119. (ANLA: CA973K2005)
- Kari, James. 2010. The concept of geolinguistic conservatism in Na-Dene prehistory . In The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. Vol. 5, new series. pp. 194–222.
Books
- Kari, James. 1976. Navajo Verb Prefix Phonology. New York: Garland Publishing Company. 328 pp.
- Kari, James. 1979. Athabaskan Verb Theme Categories: Ahtna. Alaska Native Language Center Research Paper No. 2, 230pp.
- Kari, James. 1986. Tatl'ahwt'aenn Nenn', The Headwaters People's Country, Narratives of the Upper Ahtna Athabaskans. Told by Katie John et al. Fairbanks: ANLC. 221 pp.
- Kari, James. 1990. Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary. Fairbanks: ANLC. 712 pp.
- Kari, James. 1996.Ttheek'ädn Ut'iin Yaaniida' Oonign' , Old Time Stories of the Scottie Creek People. Told in Upper Tanana Athabaskan, by Mary Tyone. ANLC.
- Kari, James. (editor-in-chief). 2000. Koyukon Athabaskan Dictionary by Jules Jetté and Eliza Jones. ANLC. 1118 pp.
- Kari, James. 2005. Upper Inlet Dena'ina Language Lessons, by Sava Stephan. Alaska Native Heritage Center.
- Kari, James. 2007. Dena’ina Topical Dictionary. ANLC. 367 pp. [Reviewed in IJAL vol. 75:110-113 by Keren Rice.]
- Kari, James. 2008. (editor) Shtutda’ina Da’a Sheł Qudeł, My Forefathers are Still Walking with Me, Verbal Essays on Tsaynen and Qizhjeh Traditions. By Andrew Balluta. Anchorage: National Park Service.
- Kari, James. 2010. Ahtna Travel Narratives, a Demonstration of Shared Geographic Knowledge among Alaska Athabascans. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
Co-editor or co-author of:
- Kari, James, and Priscilla Russell Kari. 1982. Dena’ina Ełnena: Tanaina Country. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
- Kalifornsky, Peter. 1991 K'tl'egh'i Sukdu, A Dena'ina Legacy: The Collected Writings of Peter KalifornskyPeter KalifornskyPeter Kalifornsky , was a self-taught writer and ethnographer of Kenai, Alaska, who wrote traditional stories, poems, and language lessons in the Outer Inlet dialect of Dena'ina, a language of the Athabaskan language group...
edited by James Kari and Alan Boraas. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. [520 pp. Reprinted in 2001 with a new introduction by the editors.] - Kari, James and James A. Fall. 2003. Shem Pete's Alaska: The Territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina. Second edition. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
- Kari, James. (linguistic editor). 2003. Bird Traditions of the Lime Village Area Dena'ina, Upper Stony River Ethno-Ornithology. by Russell, Priscilla N. and George C. West. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Knowledge Network.
- Kari, James. (linguistic editor). 2007. Dnaghelt’ana Qut’ana K’eli Ahdelyax, They Sing the Songs of Many Peoples, The 1954 Nondalton recordings of John Coray. by Craig Coray. Anchorage: Kijik Corporation.
- Kari, James and Ben A. Potter (editors). 2010. The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. Vol. 5, new series. 369 pp. ISBN 978-0-615-43296-0.