 area through a string of smaller rivers and creeks. Upper Tanana is mainly spoken in Tetlin and Northway.
Upper Tanana is categorised into five separate dialects. The first dialect is spoken by the Tetlin band, which has up to 20 known speakers. The other four dialect are spoken by the smaller bands that are located more upriver. The first is Nabesna with two known speakers, the second dialect is Northway with 20 known speakers, the third dialect is Scottie Creek which no longer has any known speakers, and the last is Beaver Creek dialect has one known speaker, but there is a high potential for a few more.
No countries have Upper Tanana as their official language. The state of Alaska recognized Upper Tanana, along with 19 other native Alaskan languages, as one of the official languages of the state in 2014.
The Upper Tanana writing system consists of 13 vowels, 34 consonants, and five tones.
|Close||i iː||u uː|
|Mid||e eː||ɘ ɘː||ʌ||o oː|
The Upper Tanana has a range of five separate tones.
Examples of words translated from English to Upper Tanana.
- Yukon Native Language Centre - Upper Tanana
- Alaska Native Language Center
- Upper Tanana basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
- Haynes, Terry L., and William E. Simeone. Upper Tanana Ethnographic Overview and Assessment, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Juneau, AK: Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence, 2007. Print.
- Heinrich, Albert. 1957. Sib and Social Structure on the Upper Tanana. Science in Alaska: Proceedings of the 8th Alaskan Science Conference, 10-22. Anchorage: American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- John, Bessie. 1997. Nee'aaneek: Upper Tanana Glossary, Scottie Creek Dialect. Beaver Creek, Yukon: Upper Tanana Cultural Society.
- McKennan, Robert A. 1959. The Upper Tanana Indians. (Yale University Publications in Anthropology 55). New Haven: Yale University Department of Anthropology.
- Milanowski, Paul G. & John, Alfred. 1979. Nee'aaneegn'. Upper Tanana (Tetlin) Junior Dictionary. Anchorage: National Bilingual Materials Development Center.
- Minoura, Nobukatsu. 1994. A Comparative Phonology of the Upper Tanana Athabaskan Dialects. Languages of the North Pacific Rim, ed. by Miyaoka, Osahito. pp. 159–96. (Hokkaido University Publications in Linguistics 7.). Sapporo: Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Letters, Hokkaido University.
- Minoura, Nobukatsu. 1997. A Note on Possessive Construction in Upper Tanana Athabaskan. Studies in Possessive Expressions, ed. by Hayasi, Tooru & Bhaskararao, Peri. pp. 177–96. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
- Sam, Avis. 1999. Upper Tanana Athabaskan Language Lessons. Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre
- Shinkwin, Anne D., Aigner Jean S. & Andrews, Elizabeth. 1980. Land Use Patterns in the Upper Tanana Valley, Alaska. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 19(2).43-53.
- Tuttle, Siri G.; Lovick, Olga; Núñez-Ortiz, Isabel. 2011. Vowels of Upper Tanana Athabascan. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 283-312
- Tyone, Mary. 1996. Ttheek'adn Ut'iin Yaaniida' Oonign' (Old Time Stories of the Scottie Creek People). Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
- Neeʼaandeegnʼ: Upper Tanana dictionary. Anchorage: Alaska Native Education Board. 1975. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
- Neeʼaaneegnʼ: Upper Tanana (Tetlin) junior dictionary. Anchorage: National Bilingual Materials Development Center, University of Alaska. 1979. Retrieved 2012-12-09.