Holikachuk

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Holikachuk (also Innoko, Organized Village of Grayling, Innoka-khotana, Tlëgon-khotana) are an Athabascan people native to western Alaska. Their native territory includes the area surrounding the middle and upper Innoko River. Later in 1963 they moved to Grayling on the Yukon.

The Holikachuk call themselves Doogh Hit’an (IPA: [toʁhət’an]). The name Holikachuk is derived from the name (in the Holikachuk language) of a village in native Holikachuk territory.

The Holikachuk have been neglected by anthropologists, resulting in little documentation (both published and unpublished). In the past they have erroneously (or out of convenience) been grouped with the Koyukon.

The peoples neighboring the Holikachuk are in the north the Yupik (Eskimo) and Koyukon, in the east the Koyukon, in the south the Kolchan, and in the west the Deg Hit'an.

Holikachuk culture is most similar to the Deg Hit'an.

Language

The Holikachuk language is the most endangered language in Alaska today with only 12 remaining speakers. Its closest relative is Koyukon. Holikachuk is a northern member of the Athabaskan family.

External links

[Holikachuk] (Alaska Native Languages)
[Holikachuk Grammar: NSF Award Abstract]
[Ethnologue: Holikachuk]
[Holikachuk (Innoko)]
[Constitution and By-laws of the Organized Village of Holikachuk Alaska]

Bibliography

Snow, Jeanne H. (1981). Ingalik. In Subarctic (pp. 602-617). Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 6). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.

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