Na-Dene

E51913

Native American language family indigenous North American language family language family

Na-Dene is a major Native North American language family that includes Athabaskan languages, Tlingit, and sometimes Eyak, noted for its complex phonology and verb morphology.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (9)

Surface form	Occurrences
Na-Dene languages	8
Na-Dene language family	5
Athabaskan languages	2
Athabaskan (Dene) languages	1
Athabaskan language family	1
Athapascan	1
Na-Dené	1
Na‑Dene languages	1
Proto-Na-Dene	1

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Native American language family ⓘ indigenous North American language family ⓘ language family ⓘ
continent	North America ⓘ
hasAlternativeName	Na-Dene ⓘ surface form: Na-Dene language family Na-Dene ⓘ surface form: Na-Dené
hasBranch	Northern Athabaskan languages ⓘ surface form: Northern Athabaskan Pacific Coast Athabaskan ⓘ Southern Athabaskan ⓘ
hasClassificationStatus	widely accepted as a distinct family ⓘ
hasDebatedRelationshipWith	Dené–Yeniseian hypothesis ⓘ
hasDocumentationStatus	varies by language ⓘ
hasFeature	classifiers in verb morphology ⓘ complex aspectual systems ⓘ laryngeal contrasts ⓘ obstruent series contrasts ⓘ polysynthetic verb structure ⓘ prefixing verb morphology ⓘ rich consonant inventories ⓘ tone in some daughter languages ⓘ
hasLanguage	Eyak ⓘ Tlingit ⓘ
hasProposedMacroFamily	Dené–Caucasian (controversial) ⓘ
hasProtoLanguage	Na-Dene self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Proto-Na-Dene
hasSubfamily	Northern Athabaskan languages ⓘ surface form: Athabaskan Na-Dene self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Athapascan
hasSubgroupingDebates	status of Eyak and Tlingit within the family ⓘ
includesEndangeredLanguages	true ⓘ
includesExtinctLanguage	Eyak ⓘ
includesLanguagesSpokenIn	Alaska ⓘ southwestern United States ⓘ surface form: American Southwest Northern Mexico ⓘ Oklahoma ⓘ Pacific Northwest ⓘ Western Canada ⓘ
includesLanguageWithLargeSpeakerPopulation	Dene Suline (Chipewyan) ⓘ Navajo language ⓘ surface form: Navajo
isImportantFor	models of language dispersal in North America ⓘ study of North American prehistory ⓘ
isKnownFor	complex phonology ⓘ complex verb morphology ⓘ
isMajorFamilyOf	Native North American languages ⓘ
isNotGenerallyClassifiedAs	Algic ⓘ Siouan languages ⓘ surface form: Siouan Uto-Aztecan ⓘ
isSubjectOf	comparative linguistics research ⓘ historical linguistics research ⓘ reconstruction of proto-phonology ⓘ

Referenced by (22)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

linguist Jeff Leer → fieldOfWork → Na-Dene ⓘ

subject surface form: Jeff Leer

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

Na-Dene → hasAlternativeName → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dené

Na-Dene → hasAlternativeName → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene language family

Indigenous peoples of North America → hasLanguageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

Na-Dene → hasProtoLanguage → Na-Dene self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Proto-Na-Dene

Na-Dene → hasSubfamily → Na-Dene self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Athapascan

Indigenous languages of Canada → hasType → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Athabaskan (Dene) languages

Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples → languageFamilies → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

Alaska Natives → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

Gwich’in → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Athabaskan languages

Loucheux → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

Native Americans → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Athabaskan languages

Navajo language → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na‑Dene languages

Northern Athabaskan languages → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene language family

Tlingit → languageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

Yukon Native Language Centre → languageFamilyFocus → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

X̱aad Kíl → notPartOf → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene language family

Koyukon → partOf → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene language family

Northern Athabaskan languages → partOf → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Athabaskan language family

Navajo people → primaryLanguageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene language family

Dinjii Zhu’ Ginjik → speaksLanguageFamily → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages

Northern Athabaskan languages → subclassOf → Na-Dene ⓘ

this entity surface form: Na-Dene languages