KENAI LINGUISTIC AFFILIATIONS.
The Atnah dialect has also been classed with the Thlinkeet by Baer, who inserts a small comparative vocabulary to show the similarity, but in it few similar words are found, while between the Atnah and the Ugalenze the connection is quite prominent, as for instance;
| ATNAH. | UGALENZE. | |
| Heaven | jaat | jaa |
| Ice | ttön | ttetz |
| Stone | ttzesch | ttza |
| Fox | nakattze | nakattze |
| Eagle | ttschkuläk | tkotschkalak |
| Blood | tell | tedlch |
| Fat | chchä | chche |
| Come here | any | anatschtja[II'-47] |
In like manner the Kenai dialect has been classed with the Thlinkeet;[II'-48] but here the preponderance of evidence is with the Tinneh. Buschmann claims it as his discovery that the Kenai belong to the Tinneh family.[II'-49] The Kenai dialect is very difficult to pronounce, so much so that even the neighboring people with their harsh, nasal, and guttural idioms, find great trouble in enunciating it clearly. Some of the combinations of consonants are really very curious,[II'-50]—aljtnjan, earth; kyssynj, woman; mljchny, to drink; keljkatj, to eat; ktaaltatlni, to shoot; kydykntjassnissj, I hear; tschatscheeintschichku, do not be afraid; kazikatejityssny, I know not.
Baer makes the Ingalik cognate with Kenai, Atnah, and Thlinkeet;[II'-51] an affinity is also detected between the Inkalit and the Kenai, Atnah, and Unalaska dialects;[II'-52] while Sagoskin numbers both the Ingalik and the Inkalit among the members of the Tinneh family.[II'-53] Like those of their neighbors these two dialects are harsh and difficult of pronunciation, as for instance in the Inkalit, tschugljkchuja, a fox.
From the earliest times it has been known that the Koltshanes could converse freely with the Atnahs and Kenai, and the relationship existing between these dialects has long been recognized.[II'-54] As a specimen of the Koltshane tongue, I present the following: tschiljkaje, eagle; nynkakit, earth; ssyljtschitan, cold; sstscheljssilj, warm; tschilje, man.
CENTRAL TINNEH DIVISION.
To the Tacullies of our central Tinneh division, whose language Hale separates into eleven dialects, Latham adds the Sicannis, and other writers the Umpquas and the Hoopahs.[II'-55] The northern dialects of this division are represented as composed of words harsh and difficult to pronounce, while the southern dialects are softer and more sonorous, yet robust and emphatic. Mr Hale felt the necessity of adopting a peculiar style of orthography to represent the sounds of these words. The Greek chi he employed to reproduce the Tacully gutturals, which he says are somewhat deeper than the Spanish jota, probably nearly akin to the German ch in acht und achtzig. With t chi l he aims to convey a sound which "is a combination uttered by forcing out the breath at the side of the mouth between the tongue and the palate."[II'-56] In the following words instead of the Greek chi, I write kh, and for t chi l, sch. Schling, dog; schluk, fish; sutschon, good; kwun, fire; kukh, house; schhell, mountain; tse, stone; kuschkai, run.
Hale is the only author who gives any information of the two tribes Tlatskanai and Kwalhioqua. The Kwalhioquas dwell on the north bank of the Columbia, near its mouth; but between them and the river there runs a wedge of Chinook territory. The former are to be found south of the river, on a narrow strip extending north and south. Being nearly related to the Tacully, these languages also belong to the Tinneh family. The only vocabulary obtainable is given by Mr Hale. Round the headwaters of the river Umpqua live the people of that name, speaking a language related to the two last mentioned, but which, if we may believe Mr Hale, is "much softer than the others."
VOCABULARY OF HOOPAH DIALECTS.