Lower Tanana Athabaskan Dictionary

Alternate Language Names

Tanana, Minto, Dandey in, Dineh su, Tananatana, Middle Tanana.

Region

Alaska, United States.

Who

James Kari (Compiler and Editor).

Others Involved

Evelyn Alexander, Laura Anderson, Isabel Charlie, Linda Charlie, Moses Charlie, Teddy Charlie, Johnny David, Ellen Frank, Paul George, Elsie John, Peter John, Howard Luke, Sarah Silas, Elsie Titus, Matthew Titus, Robert Titus, Wilson Titus (Speakers); The Alaska Native Language Center (Sponsor).

Publishing Information

The version available on the Alaska Native Language Archive is the preliminary draft from 1994. It was compiled with the Alaska Native Language Center. In 1994 this dictionary was available for the cost of photocopying to local readers, and was not for sale to the public.

This version is a draft and may include errors.

How People are Cited

Speakers who contributed to this dictionary draft are listed at the end of the Preface to the First Draft section.

How Information is Cited

The source of information for this dictionary is cited in the Preface to the First Draft section.

Where is Information Coming from

This dictionary includes information from speakers as well as previous resources.

This draft includes nearly all documented Lower Tanana vocabulary at the time of writing (1994). It includes notes on the language from the early 1960s by Michael Krauss, notes from 1990–1994 by James Kari, and data from over thirty stories by Teddy Charlie, Moses Charlie, and Peter John.

Tools and Framework used

This dictionary is available as a digital book.

The Alaska Native Language Archive page notes that bound copies are available for purchase from ANLC. It is unclear if this is still true in 2023.

Access

This dictionary is open access as a digital book on the Alaska Native Language Archive.

Included Languages and Directionality

Lower Tanana to English, followed by an English to Lower Tanana index.

Dialects Included

This dictionary identifies that there are three dialects of Lower Tanana: Minto, Nenana, and a dialect of the Chena River drainage–which is was longer spoken. The dialects which are included in this dictionary are not clearly identified, although it is likely Minto and Nenana.

Type of Dictionary

This is a bilingual, bi-directional dictionary.

How are Entries Organised

Entries are organized alphabetically by Lower Tanana morphemes in the first half, and alphabetically by English in the second half.

The first part of the dictionary is Lower Tanana to English and is organized alphabetically by Lower Tanana. The entries included are morphemes (either roots of affixes) and consists of 32 alphabetical sections. This section included Lower Tanana morphemes as the headword, along with either an English translation or grammatical part of speech information. It also include examples of the morpheme in use,

The second half of the dictionary includes an English to Lower Tanana index, and is organized alphabetically by English. These entries consist of an English headword, a lower Tanana translation, and other English words with equivalent meaning to the Lower Tanana entry.

Other Features

Other Notes

This dictionary includes words which were not yet identified in Lower Tanana, but had been identified in other Alaskan languages such as Koyukon. These entries are marked with -LT. A square symbol is used to identify entries which need further checking.

The Lower Tanana to English half of the dictionary begins with a section on Zero and Vowel Initial Morphemes, and includes seven different zero marked morphemes.