A Siberian link with Na-Dene languages

Draft for Dene-Yeniseic Symposium, Fairbanks, March 3.08.

[In this text,] I will make extensive use of the Proto-Na-Dene (PND), Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak (PAE) and Proto-Athabaskan (PA) reconstructions that have been worked out over many decades. The symbol ~ before a reconstructed protoform indicates that the author regards it as approximate; this is generally the case with Leer's (2008) reconstructions linking Tlingit with Athabaskan-Eyak. I will not, however, generally attempt to offer Proto-Yeniseic forms, which have not yet been worked out systematically; in fact, at present we still lack a firm reconstruction of the basic Proto- Yeniseic sound inventory. Instead, I will use cognate forms in the attested Yeniseic daughter languages to illustrate the points I am trying to make.