Deg Xinag

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Deg Xit'an (phonetically correct spelling) or Deg Hit'an ("natives", "locals", "residents of an area") (also: Deg Xinag , Deg Hitan , Degexit'an ), are an Indian tribal group along the Anvik River , the Innoko River , the Lower Yukon River and the Middle Kuskokwim River in Interior Alaska . Linguistically and culturally, they belong to the Alaska Athabasques or Alaska Dene . Often they were also incorrectly referred to as Kaiyuhkhotana (but this is a subgroup of the Koyukon ).

The Deg Xit'an feel that the name Ingalik (also: Ingalit , Inkaliten , Inkality ), which is mostly used in older sources and in specialist literature , is an offense and is rejected by them as offensive. This is not surprising, as it is derived from the language of the Yup'ik Eskimo , who collectively referred to all athabasques and later all Indians with Ingqiliq ("those who have lice eggs") .

language

Deg Xinag
spoken in: United States
Region: Alaska
Total number: less than 40
Linguistic classification : Na-Dené
  Athapaskan Eyak
   Athapaskan
    North of
      Deg Xinag
Language codes
ISO 639 -1 / -2 -
SIL ing

Their language, Deg Xinag (also known as Deg Hit'an , Kaiyuhkhotana , Ingalik ) ("language of the locals") is one of the Northern Athabaskan languages , but it is one of the languages ​​threatened with extinction .

There are two dialects:

  • Yukon dialect (Yukon Deg Xinag, Yukon Ingalik) is traditionally spoken in the villages (Anvik, Shageluk and Holy Cross) along the Lower Yukon River, but since 2009 there have been no speakers living in Anvik and Holy Cross.
  • Kuskokwim dialect (Kuskokwim Deg Xinag, Kuskokwim Ingalik) is traditionally spoken in the settlements along the Middle Kuskokwim River.

history

Since the Deg Xit'an were also referred to as Anvik-Shageluk Ingalik, Kuskokwim Ingalik or Yukon Ingalik after their settlements or rivers in older literature , there was also confusion with neighboring Athabaskan peoples. The Upper Kuskokwim ( Digenegh xit'an - "people along the wood-lined river, that is, the Kuskokwim River"), who lived northeast on the upper reaches of the Kuskokwim River, were often incorrectly called McGrath Ingalik and thus regarded as a group of Deg Xitan; however, these are linguistically and culturally closer to the Tanana / Lower Tanana of the Tanana Athabasques than the Deg Xit'an (Ingalik). On the other hand, the north-west living Holikachuk (Doogh Hit'an) were often wrongly combined with the Koyukon ( Nedz xit'an - "people living upstream"), although they are linguistically and culturally closest to the Deg Hit'an.

Together with the Holikachuk and Koyukon, who are particularly linguistically and culturally close to them, they used dog sleds as a means of transport , presumably they had this technique from the Iñupiat or Yupik Eskimo ( Dodz xit'an - "people living downstream" or Novogh xit'an - "coasts -Volk “), from which they adopted many other cultural techniques . The dog sleds were unknown to the other Athabaskan peoples, so on their long hikes they only used the dogs for hunting, to protect their camps and as pack animals . The Deg Xit'an use well-known trade routes - such as B. the well-known Iditarod Trail - to visit neighboring tribes (e.g. Dena'ina , Holikachuk, Upper Kuskokwim as well as Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimo), to cultivate friendships through trade or to end wars or to establish new alliances through marriage consolidate.

Today's Tribes / Native Alaska Villages

The Deg Hit'an now live in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area , whose population density is the lowest in the entire USA, and are now organized into three so-called federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities or Alaska Villages . Similar to the Canadian Inuit and First Nations , who are recognized as separate peoples, the indigenous peoples of Alaska are treated differently in some legal areas than the federally recognized tribes of the Indians in the rest of the USA . They are also members of the Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) , a regional association of all Alaska Athabascans (with the exception of the Ahtna and Dena'ina).

  • Anvik Village ( Gitr'ingithchagg - "Long skinny river mouth"), is located west of the Yukon River at the mouth of the Anvik River, 55 km north of Holy Cross, according to 2012 Alaska Department of Labor Estimate: 85 residents who operate subsistence farming, Maintain their own gardens and many of the local families leave Anvik in the summer to fish in specially built fish camps.
  • Shageluk Native Village ( Łeggi Jitno ), is located on the east bank of the Innoko River (a tributary of the Yukon River), about 32 km east of Anvik and 55 km northeast of Holy Cross, according to 2012 Alaska Department of Labor Estimate: 69 residents, the live mostly from subsistence farming.
  • Holy Cross Village ( Deloy Chet - "Up against the mountain") is located on the right bank of Ghost Creek Slough by the Yukon River, 40 miles northwest of Aniak and 666 miles southwest of Fairbanks , according to 2012 Alaska Department of Labor Estimate: 181 residents including Yupik Eskimo , most of them practice subsistence farming and fishing.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alaska Native Knowledge Network - Alaska Native Languages ​​- Deg Xinag Learners' Dictionary
  2. ↑ Iditarod Area School District ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iditarodsd.org
  3. ^ Tanana Chiefs Conference - Communities in Our Region