Dene-Yeniseian lecture March 27 in Fairbanks

Prof Edward Vajda (Western Washington University) will present a free public lecture entitled:

The Peopling of the Americas and the Dene-Yeniseian Connection
Tuesday March 27, 2012, 7:00 pm
Schaible Auditorium, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Summary:
Data from archaeology, human genetics, and linguistics are providing a clearer understanding of how the American continents were first colonized by peoples from Siberia and Asia's Pacific Rim. Archeological remains, along with patterns in the distribution of human DNA, reveal much about the first peopling of the Americas. Historical-comparative language studies can add a third perspective. While most languages spoken in North Asia today were brought northward by pastoral peoples relatively recently and show no connection to those spoken in the Americas, the Ket language, spoken by a small group of forest hunters in the Yenisei River area of central Siberia, is related to North America's Tlingit, Eyak, and Athabaskan languages -- a family called Na-Dene. Evidence includes systematic correspondences in consonants, vowels, and tones, as well as parallel verb structure. The presentation discusses the role of linguistic fieldwork in uncovering this link and emphasizes what the comparison adds to our understanding of prehistoric migrations across the Bering Strait region.

The lecture will be preceded by a one-day workshop on Saturday, March 24 in the Brooks Building on the UAF campus.

Both events are sponsored by the Alaska Native Language Center. For more information see

http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/dy