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GUIDE TO THE DEG XINAG LANGUAGE COLLECTION (1835-2005)
Alaska Native Language Archives
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK 99775
INFORMATION FOR RESEARCHERS
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
COLLECTION ORGANIZATION
COLLECTION SUMMARY:
Title: Deg Xinag Language Collection.
Extent: 8 manuscript boxes, 0.5 feet of books, and 1 3x5 card file, covering 3.5 linear feet.
Repository Location: Alaska Native Language Archive, 406 Brooks Building, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Please consult with the Alaska Native Language Center for information regarding the specific location of materials within the archive.
Forms of Material: The collection includes both original and photocopied manuscript and typescript documents comprised of academic research papers; fieldnotes, particularly pertaining to Deg Xinag place names, phonology, and verb forms; wordlists; ethnographic, religious, and traditional texts; and educational materials.
Languages: Collection languages are primarily Deg Xinag and English, although one or two of the early materials are in Russian or German. Some documents offers Deg Xinag words in comparison to other Athabaskan languages in Alaska.
Abstract: All materials in the Deg Xinag collection are either written in or about the Deg Xinag language. The earliest documents date from the mid to late 1800s and contain ethnographic accounts and some information on personal and place names. A significant part of the collection includes materials from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s and consists of traditional and religious texts, church records, fieldnotes and published reports of linguistic and ethnographic fieldwork. From the 1960s to the present, significant contributions have been made by staff at ANLC, including especially Michael Krauss and James Kari. Most of the materials relate to lexical studies, although there are a number of works on the phonology, grammar, and dialects, and traditional and religious texts are well represented; there are relatively few educational materials. Some of the collection consists of photocopied material representing original material held by other repositories, and certain reproduction and use restriction apply.
INFORMATION FOR RESEARCHERS:
Access: Collection access is permitted during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, and further by appointment throughout the year.
Preferred Citation: Please list author, date, and title of publication, whether item is a photocopy or original, location of original document if different than ANLC, then note folder title, Deg Xinag Language Collection, Alaska Native Language Center Archive, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Restrictions: Visitors to the collection may copy non-restricted items, though lack of clerical support prohibits ANLC from processing photocopy requests online or by mail at this time. In addition, many items in the collection are restricted in their use by their authors or by the repositories from which we obtained our copies, and may not be further copied here without permission of the original repositories.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:
Acquisition Information: Dr. Michael Krauss of the Alaska Native Language Center began collecting materials now in the Deg Xinag collection when he arrived at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1960. Krauss made great effort to assemble a near-comprehensive collection of primary and secondary source material, in the form of wordlists, fieldnotes, manuscript texts, journal articles, and previously published articles on the language. The staff of the Alaska Native Language Center have also contributed primary material to the collection through their fieldnotes and academic research papers.
Processing History: The first major organization of the Deg Xinag Collection occurred in the late 1970s and led to the publication of an annotated catalogue based on folder titles. This system has been retained, and recent work (2002-2006) has concentrated on document preservation, the development of an electronic database, and the creation of a finding aid.
Acknowledgements: Some of the photocopies obtained by Krauss were made from originals held in other repositories, including the Alaska and Polar Regions Collection, Elmer Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska.
Funding: The National Endowment for the Humanities (grant # PA-50139-03) funded collection processing and finding aid development.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Language Information: Deg Xinag (also known as Deg Hit’an, formerly known as Ingalik) is the Athabascan language spoken in Shageluk, Anvik, and Holy Cross, below Grayling on the lower Yukon River; there was also a separate dialect spoken by people living along the Kuskokwim at Stony River. Of a total population of about 275 people, about 40 speak the language.
Scope and Content Note: The scope of the Deg Xinag language collection is quite broad in that it strives to include all material written or published in or about the Deg Xinag Language. Dr. Michael Krauss made an effort to collect all things Deg Xinag, and has developed a nearly comprehensive collection.
The earliest documents date from the mid to late 1800s and contain ethnographic accounts and some information on personal and place names (5 items). The first significant documentation of Deg Xinag is the work of John W. Chapman (represented by about 15 items in the collection), from 1887 to 1948, and includes the first texts collected in the language, with interlinear translations, wordlists, translations of the Gospels and other religious materials, ethnographic information, the first dictionary, and personal and place names, as well as some correspondence with Jules Jetté. Chapman and Jetté, both men of the Church, were important documenters for a number of Athabascan languages. In addition to Chapman’s work, there are a number of other religious texts from this period (ca. 13 items), including a number of sermons and translations by Joseph Perron. Most of these materials are photocopies of originals (both manuscripts and published works) held in various other repositories.
There are also ca. 10 items from 1900-1960 of ethnographic materials by well-known researchers, such as Sapir, Osgood, de Laguna, Hoijer, and Zimmerman, which also include wordlists, placenames, and some notes on the language. The bulk of the linguistic documentation, however, dates from the 1960s to the present, with significant contributions made by staff at the Alaska Native Language Center. Michael Krauss (7 items) produced studies of Deg Xinag phonology and the lexicon, and collected some traditional stories. The largest part of the collection (ca 20 items) reflects the fieldwork of James Kari, covering the period from 1974 to 2005, on the lexicon, placenames, some studies of verb stems and aspect, and texts.
There are relatively few educational materials (ca. 6 items), which relate largely to efforts to develop an orthography and literacy in the 1970s. James Kari, Jeff Leer, and Michael Krauss were all involved in this work, and Kari’s materials from literacy workshops are also included in the collection.
COLLECTION ORGANIZATION:
The Deg Xinag Language Collection adheres to the organizational schema developed and applied to each language within the Alaska Native Language Archives by Michael Krauss and Mary Jane McGary in the late 1970s. It involves a system of call numbers (folder numbers) aimed at arranging items chronologically by author. The files are generally organized by author, and thereunder by date of ‘publication’ or ‘work’. In files with multiple authors, the first or earliest author is used. ‘Authorship’ should be interpreted loosely to include not only author in the traditional sense, but also collector, translator, transcriber, speaker, editor, compiler, or informant; these roles are generally indicated. The call number system codes the language series, author, and date. A brief explanation of the call number system follows:
The call number first notes the language, Deg Xinag, with the two-letter code “IK” (reflecting the older name, Ingalik). The second element of the call number is a three-digit number consisting of the last three digits of the year of the author’s first known work on or in the Deg Xinag language. When an item has more than one author, the date is that of the first-named author.
The third element of the call number is the first letter of the author’s surname, or several letters in the case of co-authors. For example, K refers to Krauss; LK refers to Leer and Krauss. In cases where authors have the same initial letter, the date they started working differentiates them: 961K refers to Krauss; 974K refers to Kari.
The fourth element of the call number gives the date of the item. The given date on the published item is used as the item date. When an item includes several editions, translations, or reprinting of a single item, the date of the specific edition in the archive is listed. In some cases, and academic year date appears on educational publications, such as 78/79; here the first year has been used as an item date. In the dating of unpublished materials, if a date appears on the item, it is used as the publication date, except in rare cases where we have concrete knowledge that the date is in error. Undated items have been assigned dates based on our knowledge of the authors work. Some of theses dates are quite approximate and this is usually noted in the description. If multiple items were published in the same year, they are distinguished by letters of the alphabet following the date, e.g. “1973a”, “1973b”.
Some examples:
IK961K1975a reads as the first of several items produced in 1975 by Krauss, who began working on the Deg Xinag language in 1961. IK974LK1974 reads as an item produced in 1974 by Leer and Krauss; Leer began working on Deg Xinag in 1974.
List of Authors and Contributors
Subject List
Container List
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