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Na-Dené or Na-Dene is a Native American language family which includes the Athabascan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit. Haida , with 15 fluent speakers (M. Krauss, 1995), was once considered a member of Na-Dene, but most linguists dispute this today. The family includes:- Tlingit language: 700 speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Athapaskan-Eyak languages
- Eyak language: 1 speaker, (N. Barnes, 1996)
- Athapaskan languages
- Athapaskan languages proper
- Ahtna language : 80 speakers, (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Beaver language
- Chipewyan language
- Han language: 7 or 8 fluent speakers, (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Holikachuk language : 12 fluent speakers, (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Koyukon language : 300 speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Tanaina language : 75 or fewer speakers (M. Krauss, 1997)
- Lower Tanana language : 30 or fewer speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Upper Tanana language : 105 or fewer speakers (M. Krauss, 1995)
- Tolowa language : 5 speakers (SIL, 1977)
- Apachean languages
- Jicarilla Apache language : 812 speakers, (1990 census)
- Kiowa Apache language : 18 speakers, (1990 census)
- Lipan Apache language : 2 or 3 speakers, (1981 R.W. Young)
- Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache language : 1,800 speakers, incl. 279 Chiricahua speakers (1990 census)
- Western Apache language : 12,693 speakers (1990 census)
- Navajo language: 148,530 speakers, (1990 census)
- Athapaskan-Californian languages
- Hupa language : 8 fluent speakers, (James Brook, 1998, NY Times, April 9, p A1, A20)
- Kato (Mattole-Wailaki) language : 10 fluent speakers(?), (Chafe, 1962)
Navajo is the most widely spoken language of the Na-Dené family, spoken in Arizona, New Mexico, and other regions of the American Southwest. Dene or Dine is a widely distributed group of Native languages and peoples spoken in CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe, AlaskaOn January 3, 1959, Alaska was admitted to the United States as the 49th state. The population of the state is 626,932, as of 2000. The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut word for "great country" or "mainland. The natives called it "Alyes, and parts of OregonOregon is a state located in the western United States bordering the Pacific Ocean, California, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Its northern border lies along the Columbia River and the east along the Snake River. Two north-south mountain ranges the Coasta and northern CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located in the western United States, bordering the Pacific Ocean. The most populous and third largest state in the U. California is both physically and demographically diverse. The state's official nickname is "The Golden State", wh. Eyak is spoken in the Alaskan panhandle and today there is only one speaker left.
According to Joseph H. GreenbergJoseph Harold Greenberg ( May 28, 1915- May 7, 2001) was a prominent and controversial linguist, known for his work in both language classification and typology. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and served for many years on the faculty of Stanford Univer's highly controversial classification of the languages of Native North America, Na-Dené-Athabascan is one of the three main groups of Native languages spoken in the Americas, and represents a distinct wave of migration from Asia to the Americas. The other two are Eskimo-AleutEskimo-Aleut (also called Inuit-Aleut but both names are considered offensive by some) is a language family native to Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, and parts of Siberia. It consists of Eskimo languages (the languages of the Eskimos) and the Aleu, spoken in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic; and AmerindAmerind is one of the three families in Joseph H. Greenberg's highly controversial classification of all Native American languages (the other two being Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut). Most modern linguists agree, however, that there is not enough evidence to t, Greenberg's most controversial classification, which includes every language native to the Americas that is not Eskimo-Aleut or Na-Dené.
