Haida language

Haida is an indigenous language of North America, which is spoken by about 50 to 60 people on the Canadian Haida Gwaii Islands, British Columbia, and in the adjacent southern Alaska (Prince of Wales Iceland, Hydaburg and Ketchikan ). All competent speakers are older than 60 years, the people of Haida include more than 2,000 people. The name comes from Haida xayda what "person" or " person " means, in the Haida language. The previously adopted genetic relationship of the Haida to the Na Dene languages ​​is now rejected by the majority, Haida is therefore to be regarded as a language isolate.

Dialects, settlement areas and numbers of speakers

Exploring the Haida language began in the mid-19th century, substantial works (dictionaries and grammars ) emerged since the 1970s. Haida has four dialects, which are divided into a northern and southern group a:

• Haida South Haida Ninstints †
• Skidegate

• Masset
• Kaigani

Many researchers see on the North and South Haida Haida as two different languages ​​, her difference is about as great as that between German and Dutch ( Campbell 1997). The southernmost dialect Ninstints was formerly spoken in Iceland Anthony, he had at the beginning of the 20th century still a few speakers, but is extinct in 1970 ( Krauss 1973). The Skidegate - the dialect of the central islands of Haida Gwaii is still spoken by 10 people, the Masset - dialect of the northern Queen Charlotte Islands of about 30 in the early 18th century was a Haida group moved to southern Alaska. In the towns of Ketchikan and Hydaburg dialect ( numbers of speakers by Krauss 1997) - Of the descendants of these immigrants still speak the so-called 15 Kaigani. Any competent speaker of the Haida are at least 60 years old, the Haida language is so heavily endangered and will be extinct in a few decades.

Relationship with Tlingit, Eyak and Athapaskisch

Since the mid-19th century, a genetic relationship between the Haida, Tlingit, Eyak Athabaskan languages ​​and has been postulated. This language group was established by Edward Sapir in 1915 as Na - Dene languages, Joseph Greenberg took over in 1987 as in his work Language in the Americas. In more recent work on the Haida its membership is, however, very made ​​Na Dene group in question. The similarities are based according to the researchers rather areal language contacts ( Tlingit is directly north of Haida spoken) and on false linguistic analysis of the early comparative research ( Levine 1979, Blank 1990, 1991, Campbell 1997, Mithun 1999). According to these findings, Haida should be provisionally regarded as an isolated language rather than Na - Dene language.