Deg Xinag (Deg Hitan) is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Deg Hitʼan peoples of the GASH region. The GASH region consists of the villages of Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and

Holy Cross Holy Cross or Saint Cross may refer to: * the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus * Christian cross, a frequently used religious symbol of Christianity * True Cross, supposed remnants of the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified * Feast ...

along the lower Yukon River in Interior Alaska. The language is severely endangered; out of an ethnic population of approximately 250 people, only 14 people still speak the language. The language was referred to as Ingalik by Osgood (1936). While this term sometimes still appears in the literature, it is today considered pejorative. The word "Ingalik" is from the Yupʼik Eskimo language: , meaning "Indian". ''(Their Stories of Long Ago)'', a collection of traditional folk tales in Deg Xinag by the elder

Belle Deacon Belle Young Gochenauer Deacon (September 23, 1904 – 1995) was an American basketmaker and language and folklore expert. As an Alaska Native elder, she held and shared knowledge of the language and traditions of the Athabascan people. She rece ...

, was published in 1987 by the

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 Native languages of Alaska. It publishes grammars, dictionaries, folklore collections and research m ...

. A literacy manual with accompanying audiotapes was published in 1993.

Dialects

There are two main dialects: ''Yukon'' and ''Kuskokwim''. The Yukon dialect (Yukon Deg Xinag, Yukon Ingalik) is the traditional language of the villages of the Lower Yukon River (Anvik, Shageluk and Holy Cross). As of 2009, there are no longer any speakers living in Anvik and Holy Cross. The other dialect (Kuskokwim Deg Xinag, Kuskokwim Ingalik) is the traditional language of the settlements of Middle Kuskokwim.Sharon Hargus 200
Vowel quality and duration in Yukon Deg Xinag
University of Washington

Phonology

Consonants

Here is the list of consonant sounds in Deg Xinag, including their pronunciation in IPA and their representations in Deg Xinag orthography in brackets: In final position, consonant sounds are voiced as .

Vowels

Vowels in Deg Xinag are .

Examples

* - airplane * - animal * - bear (lit. 'big animal') * - children * - day * - doctor, nurse * - fish * - dog * - my dog * - her dog * - mammoth * - doll (lit. 'little person') * - door * - earthquake * - my father * - her father * - house * - snow * - iron, metal * - mountain * - Indian ice cream * (in Anvik); niq'asrt'ay (in Shageluk) - fox * - in the morning * - Hello, how are you? * - one * - two * - three * - four * - elevenankn.uaf.edu: Deg Xinag Ałixi Ni’elyoy / Deg Xinag Learners' Dictionary (2007)
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References

John Wight Chapman John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in 1896, digitized by Richard Mammana 2010
Degexit'an basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

* *Hargus, Sharon. (2000). The Qualifier Prefixes in Yukon Deg Xinag (Ingalik). ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 1–21. *Hargus, Sharon. (2008)
Deg Xinag lateral affricates: Phonetic and historical perspectives
''Poster presented at annual meeting of Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, Chicago''. *Kari, James. (1978). ''Deg Xinag (Ingalik) Noun Dictionary''. Fairbanks, AK: Alaska Native Language Center. *Leonard, Beth R. (2007). '' Deg Xinag oral traditions: Reconnecting Indigenous language and education through traditional narratives'' (Doctoral dissertation). *Osgood, Cornelius. (1936). The Distribution of the Northern Athapaskan Indians. (Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 7). New Haven: Yale University. *Taff, Alice. (1997). Learning ancestral languages by telephone: Creating situations for language use ��Ingalik; Telephone Conversation ''Teaching Indigenous Languages''. Fairbanks: University of Alaska. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED415063.pdf. {{Languages of Alaska Deg Xitʼan Northern Athabaskan languages Indigenous languages of Alaska Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic Endangered Dené–Yeniseian languages Official languages of Alaska