A Grammar of Upper Tanana, Volume 2 is part of a comprehensive two-volume text that linguistically renders a written record of the endangered Upper Tanana language. Serving as a descriptive grammar of the Upper Tanana language, volume 2 meticulously details a language that is currently spoken, with fluency, by approximately fifty people in limited parts of Alaska’s eastern interior and Canada’s Yukon Territory. As part of the Dene (Athabascan) language group, Upper Tanana embodies elements of both the Alaskan and Canadian subgroups of Northern Dene. This is the first comprehensive grammatical description of any of the Alaskan Dene languages.

The grammar is written in the framework of basic linguistic theory in order to make it accessible to a wide variety of readers, including specialists in Dene languages, linguists interested in the structure of non-Indo-European languages, and teachers and learners of Upper Tanana and related languages.

Olga Lovick's profile page

Olga Lovick is a professor and head of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Saskatchewan. She is the author of A Grammar of Upper Tanana, Volume 1: Phonology, Lexical Classes, Morphology (Nebraska, 2020), editor of a collection of stories of the Tetlin people of Alaska, and coeditor of a collection of stories by women from Northway, Alaska.

“A Grammar of Upper Tanana, Volume 2 is a treasure trove of well-exemplified insights into the semantics, syntax, and discourse structures of this Alaskan/Yukon language. Based on fifteen years of dedicated field work with nine fluent speakers, this is an indispensable resource for both scholars of Dene languages and the many community members who are committed to carrying the language forward.”—Patrick Moore, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia

“Theoretically informed and empirically well grounded, A Grammar of Upper Tanana, Volume 2 is without parallel as a reference work on the Upper Tanana language and is sure to serve as a model for the comprehensive grammatical description of Northern Dene languages for years to come. Olga Lovick also demonstrates an impressive command of the literature concerning Alaskan Dene languages. The result is a cross-linguistically informed description that remains firmly centered on Upper Tanana language structure, beliefs, and practices.”—Christopher Cox, associate professor in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University