Editing Kaska language (section)

{{Short description|Northern Athabaskan language of the Kaska Dena people}}
{{distinguish|Kaskian language}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Kaska
| nativename = {{lang|kkz|Dene Zágéʼ}}
| states = [[Canada]]
| ethnicity = 1,435 [[Kaska people|Kaska]] (2016 census)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110522&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=122&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|title=Aboriginal Ancestry Responses (73), Single and Multiple Aboriginal Responses (4), Residence on or off reserve (3), Residence inside or outside Inuit Nunangat (7), Age (8A) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data|publisher=Government of Canada|website=www12.statcan.gc.ca|date=25 October 2017 |language=en|access-date=2017-11-23}}</ref>
| speakers = 240
| date = 2016 census
| ref = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110514&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=122&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|title=Aboriginal Language Spoken at Home (90), Single and Multiple Responses of Language Spoken at Home (3), Aboriginal Identity (9), Registered or Treaty Indian Status (3) and Age (12) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data|last=Canada|first=Government of Canada, Statistics|website=www12.statcan.gc.ca|date=28 March 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-05-10}}</ref>
| familycolor = Dené-Yeniseian
| fam2 = [[Na-Dené languages|Na-Dené]]
| fam3 = [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan]]
| fam4 = [[Northern Athabaskan languages|Northern Athabaskan]]
| fam5 = Central Cordillera
| iso3 = kkz
| glotto = kask1239
| glottorefname = Kaska
| map = Lang Status 40-SE.svg
| mapcaption = {{center|{{small|Kaska is classified as Severely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|root=[[Dene]]<br/><small>"person"</small>|people=[[Kaska|Kaska Dena]]|language='''Kaska Dena Zágéʼ'''|country=Kaska Dena Kayeh, [[Denendeh]]}}
The '''Kaska language''' is an endangered [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan language]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Moore|first=J. P.|date=2003|title=Lessons on the Land: The Role of Kaska Elders in a University Language Course|journal=Canadian Journal of Native Education|volume=27. No. 1|pages=127–139|id={{ProQuest|230305886}}}}</ref> Traditionally, Kaska was an oral aboriginal language used by the [[Kaska Dena]] people.<ref name=":1">{{cite thesis |last=Farnell |first=Gillian |year=2014 |title=The Kaska Dene: A study of Colonialism, Trauma and Healing in Dene Kēyeh |degree=MA |publisher=The University of British Columbia |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0167385 |doi=10.14288/1.0167385 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Kaska Dene region consists of a small area in the Southwestern part of the [[Northwest Territories]], the Southeastern part of [[Yukon]] Territory, and the Northern part of [[British Columbia]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />  The communities that are in the Kaska Dene region are Fort Ware in N.W.T.; Ross River and Watson Lake in Y.T.; Dease Lake, Good Hope Lake, Lower Post, Fireside, and Muncho Lake in B.C.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=We Are Our Language: An Ethnography of Language Revitalization in a Northern Athabaskan Community |last=Meek|first=Barbra <!-- not Barbara--> A. |publisher=The University of Arizona Press |year=2010 |location=Tucson |pages=1–40 |isbn=9780816514533}}</ref>  Kaska is made up of eight dialects,<ref name=":3">{{Cite thesis |last=Meek |first=Barbra Allyn |date=2001 |title=Kaska language socialization, acquisition and shift |type=PhD dissertation |url=https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/290390 |hdl=10150/290390 |hdl-access=free |language=en-US}}</ref> all of which have similar pronunciations and expressional terms.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />  The town of Watson Lake was established around the period of the second World War when the [[Alaska Highway]] was built in 1942.<ref name=":2" />  A major consequence of colonization was Kaska language loss.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Another major cause of Kaska language loss in Canada was due to the [[Canadian Residential School System]].  The effect that these schools had on the Kaska language have caused a language gap between two generations, resulting in few young speakers.