Athabaskan or Athabascan (also Athapascan or Athapaskan) is the name of a large group of distantly related Native American peoples, also known as the Athabasca Indians or Athapaskes, and of their language family.
Eyak and Athabaskan form a language group called Eyak-Athabascan. Tlingit is said to be related to this group to form the language family called Na-Dené by linguists. Haida was once thought to have been a member of the Na-Dené language family, but most linguists dispute this today.
The word itself does not come from any Athabaskan language; it is an anglicized version of the Cree Indian name for Lake Athabasca in Canada. Athabaskan languages are spoken throughout the interior of Alaska and the interior of northwestern Canada. There are Athabaskan people in northern California and southern Oregon. The Navajo and the various Apache people of the southwest also speak Athabaskan languages.
Language groups
Below is a list of all of the Athabaskan languages and their geographic locations. The Apachean or Southern Athabaskan languages are spoken in the American Southwest, Texas, Oklahoma, and Canada:
Athabaskan or Athabascan (also Athapascan or Athapaskan) is the name of a large group of closely related Native American peoples, also known as the Athabasca Indians or Athapaskes, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family.
The 31 Northern Athabaskanlanguages are spoken throughout the interior of Alaska and the interior of northwestern Canada in the Yukon and Northwest Territories as well as in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The seven Pacific Coastal Athabaskanlanguages are spoken in southern Oregon and northern California.