Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary

Description

Fairbanks: University of Alaska, Alaska Native Language Center, 1990. — 702 p.Ahtna is the language of the Copper River area of Southcentral Alaska. It is a member ofthe Athabaskan language family, a group of some thirty-five closely related languages ofnorthern and western North America. Today Ahtna is spoken by fewer than one hundredpersons, almost all of whom are over the age of forty. At this time there are about twelvehundred persons of Ahtna descent.The format of the dictionary is based on years of research conducted at the Alaska NativeLanguage Center on the grammar and vocabulary of Ahtna and other Athabaskan languages.Although the format might be considered experimental, it is designed to be both practical andanalytical. I hope that the dictionary can be used by Ahtna speakers and beginning students ofthe language as well as by specialists in Athabaskan language and culture. Several features ofthe format are intended to clarify the relationship between Ahtna and other Athabaskanlanguages in order to stimulate research in other Athabaskan languages and contribute to thelong-term goal of reconstructing of the culture-history of the Athabaskan peoples.