| Deg Xinag | |
| Also Known As: | Deg Hitan |
| States: | United States |
| Region: | Alaska (lower Yukon River, Anvik River, Innoko River) |
| Ethnicity: | 280 Deg Hitʼan (2007) |
| Speakers: | 2 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Ref: | [1] |
| Familycolor: | Dené-Yeniseian |
| Fam2: | Na-Dené |
| Fam3: | Athabaskan |
| Fam4: | Northern Athabaskan |
| Iso3: | ing |
| Glotto: | dege1248 |
| Glottorefname: | Degexit'an |
| Script: | Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet) |
| Nation: | [2] |
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 along the lower Yukon River in Interior Alaska. The language is severely endangered;[3] out of an ethnic population of approximately 250 people, only 2 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: Ingqiliq|italic=true, meaning "Indian".
Engithidong Xugixudhoy|italic=true (Their Stories of Long Ago), a collection of traditional folk tales in Deg Xinag by the elder Belle Deacon, was published in 1987 by the Alaska Native Language Center.[4] A literacy manual with accompanying audiotapes was published in 1993.
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).[5] 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.[6]
Here is the list of consonant sounds in Deg Xinag, including their pronunciation in IPA and their representations in Deg Xinag orthography in brackets:[7]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | lateral | ||||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | plain | pronounced as /ink/ (b) | pronounced as /ink/ (ddh) | pronounced as /ink/ (d) | pronounced as /ink/ (dz) | pronounced as /ink/ (dl) | pronounced as /ink/ (j) | pronounced as /ink/ (dr) | pronounced as /ink/ (g) | pronounced as /ink/ (G) | pronounced as /ink/ (ʼ) | |
| aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ (p) | pronounced as /ink/ (tth) | pronounced as /ink/ (t) | pronounced as /ink/ (ts) | pronounced as /ink/ (tł) | pronounced as /ink/ (ch) | pronounced as /ink/ (tr) | pronounced as /ink/ (k) | pronounced as /ink/ (q) | |||
| ejective | pronounced as /ink/ (tthʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (tʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (tsʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (tłʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (chʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (trʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (kʼ) | pronounced as /ink/ (qʼ) | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ (th) | pronounced as /ink/ (s) | pronounced as /ink/ (ł) | pronounced as /ink/ (sh) | pronounced as /ink/ (sr) | pronounced as /ink/ (x) | pronounced as /ink/ (h) | ||||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ (v) | pronounced as /ink/ (dh) | pronounced as /ink/ (z) | pronounced as /ink/ (zr) | pronounced as /ink/ (yh) | pronounced as /ink/ (gh) | ||||||
| Sonorant | voiced | pronounced as /ink/ (m) | pronounced as /ink/ (n) | pronounced as /ink/ (l) | pronounced as /ink/ (y) | pronounced as /ink/ (ng) | ||||||
| voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ (mh) | pronounced as /ink/ (nh) | pronounced as /ink/ (ngh) | |||||||||
| glottalized | pronounced as /ink/ (m') | pronounced as /ink/ (n') | pronounced as /ink/ (y') | pronounced as /ink/ (ng') | ||||||||
In final position, consonant sounds pronounced as //t, tθ, ts, tɬ, ʈʂ, tʃ, k, q// are voiced as pronounced as /[d, dð, dz, dɮ, ɖʐ, dʒ, ɡ, ɢ]/.
Vowels in Deg Xinag are pronounced as /[a e ə o ʊ]/.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ |