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Tanaina

Tanaina, also known as Dena'ina, is the Athabascan language of the Cook Inlet area of Alaska, with four dialects located:

  1. Kenai Peninsula southcentral Alaska
  2. Upper Cook Inlet north of Anchorage, Alaska
  3. Coastal west side of the Cook Inlet
  4. Inland areas of the west side of the Cook Inlet

Tanaina can also refer to the First Nation tribe, the people of which spoke the language.

Of the total Tanaina population of about 900 people, only 75-95 members still speak Tanaina Athabascan. James Kari has done extensive work on the language since 1972, including his edition with Alan Boraas of the collected writings of Peter Kalifornsky in 1991.