Deg Hit'an
Innoko River of Deg Hit'an homeland in summer
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (250 (speakers of language only)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 USA ( Alaska) |
|
| Languages | |
| English, Deg Xinag | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Yup'ik, Koyukon, Dena'ina |
Deg Hit'an (also Deg Xit'an, Deg Hitan, Degexit'an, Kaiyuhkhotana) is a group of Yupikized Athabaskan peoples in Alaska. Their native language is called Deg Xinag. They reside in Alaska along the Anvik River in Anvik, along the Innoko River in Shageluk, and at Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River.
The Deg Hit'an are members of the federally recognized Alaska Native tribes of Anvik Village, Shageluk Native Village, and Holy Cross Village. The Iditarod Trail's antecedents were the native trails of the Dena'ina and Deg Hit'an Athabaskan Indians and the Inupiaq Eskimos.
Their neighbors are other Athabaskan-speaking and Yupik Eskimo peoples: Yup'ik (west and south), Holikachuk (north), Upper Kuskokwim (north and east), and Dena'ina (south).
The autonym for this group of Athabaskan is for people Deg Xit'an (local people) and for language Deg Xinag (local language). Sometimes the Deg Xit'an or Deg Hit'an use for the language in English. Deg Hit'an rather than Deg Xit'an is a somewhat unfortunate spelling choice. Xit'an is the orthographic representation of /χət’an/ "people of (area)", a nominalized verb form. There is no contrast between /χ/ and /h/ in the verb prefixes of Deg Xinag, and acoustic evidence indicates that the normative pronunciation in that context is [χ] rather than [h].
...
Wikipedia