Dena'ina Word of the Week

Dena’ina has been spoken in South Central Alaska for at least the last 1000 years. Dena’ina, like all Indigenous languages of Alaska, was communicated orally until an alphabet was developed in the 1970s. Since then, many Dena’ina elders from the four Dena’ina dialects have worked closely with linguists to record the language for the future. The goal is to see their language spoken again by both Dena’ina peoples as well as people that had moved into their homeland over the past century. With Dena’ina Word of the Week, the hope is to increase exposure of the Dena’ina language to all who are curious, one word at a time.

Additionally, many resources are available to learn more, including at the Alaska Native Language Center, Qenaga.org, and YouTube, where one can find videos of Dena’ina pronunciation and dialogues to listen to and practice.

Chin’an gheli (Thank you very much)