Dene (Slave, Dogrib, Hare)

• Philip G. Howard, A Dictionary of the Verbs of South Slavey. Northwest Territories, Culture & Communications, 1990. 800 pp. $40 (Canadian). --- A verb-oriented dictionary of Slave(y) (Athabaskan) as spoken in the communities of Fort Simpson, Fort Laird, Nahanni Butte, Hay River, and Fort Providence. Howard spent 35 years in the area, first as a missionary and later as a Canadian civil servant, and speaks South Slavey fluently. His dictionary contains over 4,000 verbal lexemes, divided into the customary Indian-to-English and English-to-Indian sections, accompanied by appendices on grammar, writing conventions, and dialect differences. There is also a map of the Slavey linguistic area, a standardized alphabet chart, charts of verb prefixes, and a number of verb paradigms. --- Order from: Territorial Printer, Government of the NWT, Box 1320, Yellowknife, NWT, CANADA X1A 2L9. Telephone: (403) 873-7632; fax: (403) 873-0107. [Jan. 1991]
  
  
• Patrick J. Moore & Angela Wheelock, Wolverine Myths and Visions: Dene Traditions from Northern Alberta. Illustrated by Dia Thurston. Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1989. 225 pp., $20. --- A collection of Dene Dhaá (Slave) stories, with interlinear and free translations, focusing on helpful Wolf and trickster Wolverine. "Wolverine" was also the leader of the messianic "Tea Dance" that took hold in the early 20th century, and these texts demonstrate how old myths can be transfigured. --- Order from: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 901 N. 17th St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0520. Add $2 postage. Orders from individuals must be prepaid. [Jan. 1990]
  
  
• Keren Rice, A Grammar of Slave. Mouton de Gruyter (Mouton Grammar Library 5), 1989. 1370 pp., DM 320,-. --- Perhaps the most thorough grammar of an Athabaskan language available to date. R.'s goal is a complete descriptive presentation, covering phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax and semantics. She also provides a number of texts with interlinear glosses, and a fairly complete lexicon. --- Individual members of SSILA should order this volume at the special members' discount price of $35 (for ordering instructions see the SSILA/Mouton order form). Others need to order from: Mouton de Gruyter, 200 Saw Mill River Road, Hawthorne, NY 10532. [June 1989]