James Kari is an American linguist and Professor Emeritus with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) specializing in the Dene (a.k.a. Athabascan languages) of Alaska. He served on the faculty of UAF from 1973 to his retirement in 1997.

For more than fifty years Kari has done extensive linguistic work in many Dene languages. These include Ahtna, Dena'ina, Koyukon, Deg Hit'an, Holikachuk, Lower Tanana, Middle Tanana, Tanacross, Upper Tanana, and Babine-Witsuwit'en.

Kari continues to work on numerous Alaska Native language projects. He is the author or editor of more than 200 publications, including more than 4000 pages of bilingual texts in seven Dene languages. He is the most prolific contributor to the Alaska Native Language Archive (with more than 1000 entries as of 2019).

Education

He earned his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and linguistics from University of New Mexico in 1973. His doctoral dissertation, Navajo Verb Prefix Phonology, later published in 1976, became a widely used text in Navajo linguistics. He previously completed a Master of Arts in teaching at Reed College in 1969 and a B.A. in English at University of California, Los Angeles, in 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he served as an English teacher in Bafra, Turkey, with the U.S. Peace Corps.

Academic career

Kari has spent is his academic career at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, particularly at the Alaska Native Language Center. He joined the institution in 1973 as a post-doc, then as an assistant professor from 1975 to 1981, then was promoted to associate professor from 1982 to 1993, and later served as professor of linguistics from 1993 to 1997. He was named professor emeritus of linguistics in 1997.

Research and contributions

Several of Kari's articles (1991, 2005) emphasize cumulative language work for the distinct Dene languages. Kari's Dene research program has had several priorities: a) working with the best speakers; b) root/morpheme/affix consolidation in congruent Lexware Dene dictionaries; c) attention to ethnology and biology lexicons; d) maintaining cumulative place names files that are grouped into hydrologic sections; end e) audio and text production. The 2024 Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary has many new features that can foster comparisons across the Dene language family. He continues to refine two companion theories—Dene Interrupted Synthesis Word Formation— and a Sapirian time perspective theory called the Proto-Dene Lex Loci. op. cit.1-11 The LT Table of Headwords is an alphabetized cosmographical outline that reflects Lower Tanana's long-term ecological adaptation to the Tanana Valley. The LTDD has over 960 Proto-Dene roots. The LT verb complex strives to put every verb prefix and suffix on record. The strong cognation among intricate grammatical features reflect how Dene languages reinforce one another. Strikingly similar among the best documented Dene languages are verb theme categories, transitivity options, several types of string-like derivations, and the prolific inflectional system in the prestem syllables of the Operator Zone.

His major works include reference and lexicographic studies such as Dena'ina Topical Dictionary (2007; rev. 2013) regarded as the most refined topical lexicon for an Alaska Native language. He has also produced (with James A. Fall) the influential ethnogeographic study Shem Pete's Alaska: The Territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina, which annotates hundreds of Indigenous for the Upper Inlet Dena'ina landscape. He has collaborated as linguistic editor in TEK studies, including the 6th edition of Priscilla Russell's Dena'ina K'et'una, Tanaina Plantlore, and on Ahtna fish and fishing (Simeone and Kari 2005a, 2005b) and Dena'ina ornithology (Russell and West 2003). Kari has edited and contributed to major collections of oral literature, including A Dena'ina Legacy: K'tl'egh'i Sukdu (1991), presenting bilingual narratives and writings of Dena'ina author Peter Kalifornsky.

His special interest is Dene ethnogeography. Since 2012 Kari and Gerad Smith have developed an experimental Dene place names web map (Smith and Kari 2023) which now has nearly 13,000 named features for 12 contiguous Alaska Dene languages. The auto-instructional Dene Generative Geography is discussed in (Kari 2010, 2011). In 2012-2013 he in intiated the naming of Troth Yedddha', the officially unnamed ridge at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (GNIS 2745576) Kari, James (2013). .

Since 2007 Kari has been among a small group of historical linguists that is advancing the Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis (DYH). In 2008 he moderated the Dene–Yeniseian Symposium in Fairbanks and Anchorage. He was co-editor( with Ben Potter) of The Dene–Yeniseian Connection, published in 2010. In December 2024 he moderated a round table "Discussions of the Dene-Yeniseian Hypothesis in 2024" at the First Eurasian Congress of Linguists in Moscow. A theme issue of Anthropological Linguistics (vol 65.3) on the Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis will appear in 2026.

His 2019 Alaska Journal of Anthropology article "The Resilience of Dene Generative Geography, Considering "The Nen' Yese' Ensemble" outlines rule-driven Dene geographic names that date from 10,700 to 10,500 year ago when Susitna River-to-Copper River drainage shift occurred. The 2024 Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary has several essays that contribute to the Dene Yeniseian hypothesis. Most striking for the DYH, Kari 2024a:620 concludes "A suite of six fish names from the upper Yenisei/Lake Baikal region were brought over to the middle Yukon River Basin and rearranged."

Kari is building upon Edward Vajda’s 2010, 2022, and 2024 work on the Genesis of the Dene‑Yeniseian verb template. Kari (2024, 2026a, 2026b) proposes numerous new Proto‑Dene‑Yeniseian cognates and expands the comparative framework in several important ways. With consistent root‑morpheme consolidation, systematic recognition of allomorphy, editable verb‑complex reconstructions, and refined headword tables for both Na‑Dene and Yeniseian languages, researchers will have many new pathways for identifying potential Proto‑Dene, Proto‑Na‑Dene, or Proto‑Dene‑Yeniseian cognate sets.

These developments point toward a future in which both Indigenous and academic communities can engage in deeper, more collaborative discussions about what may be the world’s oldest and most geographically expansive land‑based hunter‑gatherer language family,

Awards and honors

Kari has received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to linguistics, Indigenous language preservation, and the humanities. A festschrift titled Language and Toponymy in Alaska and Beyond (2019), edited by Gary Holton and Thomas M. Thornton, was published in his honor. He was awarded the Professional Achievement Award by the Alaska Anthropological Association in 2013 and the Governor's Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities by the Alaska Humanities Forum in 2009. He received a Special Recognition Award from the Association of Interior Native Educators in 1997 for his lifetime work with Athabaskan languages, the same year he was named Professor of Linguistics Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Selected works

Articles

  • Kari, James. 1989 Some Principles of Alaskan Athabaskan Toponymic Knowledge. In General and Amerindian Ethnolinguistics, In Remembrance of Stanley Newman, ed. by M. R. Key and H. Hoenigswald. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, pp.129–151. (ANLA: )
  • Kari, James. 1989. Affix Positions and Zones in the Athabaskan Verb Complex: Ahtna and Navajo. International Journal of American Linguistics 55:424 455
  • Kari, James. 1991. On the language effort and language work in Alaska Athabaskan. The Council, Dec. 1991, p.8. (ANLA: )
  • Kari, James. 1992. Some Concepts in Ahtna Athabaskan Word Formation. In Morphology Now, ed. by Mark Aronoff; SUNY Series in Linguistics, SUNY Press, pp.107–133. (ANLA: )
  • Kari, James. 1996. Linguistic Traces of Dena'ina Strategy at the Archaic Periphery. In Adventures Through Time: Readings in the Anthropology of Cook Inlet, ed. by Nancy Davis. Anchorage: Cook Inlet Historical Society. (ANLA: )
  • Kari, James. 1996. A Preliminary View of Hydronymic Districts in Northern Athabaskan Prehistory. Names 44:253-271.
  • Kari, James. 2005. Language Work in Alaskan Athabaskan and its Relationship to Alaskan Anthropology. Alaska Journal of Anthropology 3(1):105-119. (ANLA: )
  • Kari, James. 2010. The concept of geolinguistic conservatism in Na-Dene prehistory . In The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. Vol. 5, new series. pp.194–222. (ANLA: )
  • Kari. James. 2011 A Case Study in Ahtna Athabascan Geographic Knowledge. In Landscape in Language, Transdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. by D.M. Mark, A.G. Turk, N. Burenhult & D.Stea. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.239–260. (ANLA:)
  • Kari, James. 2012 A names Place. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Sept. 12, 2012
  • Kari. James. 2019 The Resilience of Dene Generative Geography, Considering "The Nen' Yese' Ensemble." Alaska Journal of Anthropology vol. 17 (1–2):44-76.

Books

  • Kari, James. 1976. Navajo Verb Prefix Phonology. New York: Garland Publishing Company. 328 pp.
  • Kari, James. 1979. Athabaskan Verb Theme Categories: Ahtna. Alaska Native Language Center Research Paper No. 2, 230pp.
  • Kari, James. 1981 (editor) Athabaskan Stories From Anvik, Rev. John W. Chapman's "Ten'a Tales". ANLC, 186 pp.
  • Kari, James. 1986. Tatl'ahwt'aenn Nenn', The Headwaters People's Country, Narratives of the Upper Ahtna Athabaskans. Told by Katie John et al. Fairbanks: ANLC. 221 pp.
  • Kari, James. 1987. (editor) Engthidong Xugixudhoy, Stories of Long Ago; Told by Belle Deacon. Fairbanks:ANLC. 127 pp
  • Kari, James. 1990. Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary. Fairbanks: ANLC. 712 pp.
  • Kari, James. 1996.Ttheek'ädn Ut'iin Yaaniida' Oonign', Old Time Stories of the Scottie Creek People. Told in Upper Tanana Athabaskan, by Mary Tyone. ANLC.
  • Kari, James. (editor-in-chief). 2000. Koyukon Athabaskan Dictionary by Jules Jetté and Eliza Jones. ANLC. 1118 pp.
  • Kari, James. 2004 (editor) by Walter Johnson. Sukdu Neł Nuhtghelnek, I'll Tell You a Story, Stories I Recall From Growing up on Iliamna Lake. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. 81 pp with audio CD.
  • Kari, James. 2005. Upper Inlet Dena'ina Language Lessons, by Sava Stephan. Alaska Native Heritage Center.
  • Kari, James. 2007, 2011. Dena'ina Topical Dictionary. ANLC. 367 pp. Revised Edition [Reviewed in IJAL vol. 75:110-113 by Keren Rice.]
  • Kari, James. 2008. (editor) Shtutda'ina Da'a Sheł Qudeł, My Forefathers are Still Walking with Me, Verbal Essays on Tsaynen and Qizhjeh Traditions. By Andrew Balluta. Anchorage: National Park Service.
  • Kari, James. 2010. Ahtna Travel Narratives, a Demonstration of Shared Geographic Knowledge among Alaska Athabascans. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.

Co-editor or co-author of:

  • Kari, James, and Priscilla Russell Kari. 1982. Dena'ina Ełnena: Tanaina Country. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
  • Kalifornsky, Peter. 1991 K'tl'egh'i Sukdu, A Dena'ina Legacy: The Collected Writings of Peter Kalifornsky edited by James Kari and Alan Boraas. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. [520 pp. Reprinted in 2001 with a new introduction by the editors.]
  • Kari, James and James A. Fall. 2016. Shem Pete's Alaska: The Territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina. Revised Second edition. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
  • Kari, James. (linguistic editor). 2003. Bird Traditions of the Lime Village Area Dena'ina, Upper Stony River Ethno-Ornithology. by Russell, Priscilla N. and George C. West. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Knowledge Network.
  • Simeone William E. & J. Kari. 2005a. Traditional Knowledge and Fishing Practices of the Ahtna of Copper River, Alaska. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence, Technical Paper No. 270. 2nd printing with revisions, 2005. 189 pp.
  • Simeone William E. & J. Kari. 2005b. The Harvest and Use of Non-salmon Fish Species in the Copper River Basin, Alaska. Office of Subsistence Management Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence. Technical Paper No. 292.
  • Kari, James. (linguistic editor). 2007. Dnaghelt'ana Qut'ana K'eli Ahdelyax, They Sing the Songs of Many Peoples, The 1954 Nondalton recordings of John Coray. by Craig Coray. Anchorage: Kijik Corporation.
  • Kari, James and Ben A. Potter (editors). 2010. The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. Vol. 5, new series. 369 pp.ISBN978-0-615-43296-0. ().
  • Kari, James and Alan Boraas, Aaron Leggett, and R. Greg Dixon. 2017 Bibliography of sources on Dena'ina and Cook Inlet anthropology through 2016 (UAscholarworks: ]).
  • Kari, James and Siri G. Tuttle (editors). 2019. Yenida'atah, Ts'utsaede, K'adiide, in Legendary Times, Ancient Times and Recent Times, an Anthology of Ahtna Narratives. ANLC. 208 pp.
  • Holton, Gary and Thomas M. Thornton. 2019. Language and Toponymy in Alaska and Beyond, Papers in Honor of James Kari. Language Documentation and Conservation Special Publication, No. 17. Alaska Native Language Center and University of Hawaii Press. Honolulu.
  • Russell, Priscilla N. 2024. Dena'ina Plantlore, Dena'ina K'et'una, An Ethnobotany of the Dena'ina Indians of Southcentral Alaska (6th ed.): Kenai: Kenaitze Indian Tribe.

Alaska Native Language Center,

External links

  • [permanent dead link]