The
Upper Kuskokwim language (also called
Kolchan or
Goltsan or
Dinak'i) is an
Athabaskan language of the
Na-Dené language family. It is spoken by the
Upper Kuskokwim people in the Upper
Kuskokwim River villages of
Nikolai,
Telida, and
McGrath,
Alaska. About 40 of a total of 160 Upper Kuskokwim people (Dichinanek’ Hwt’ana) still speak the language. A practical
orthography of the language was established by Raymond Collins, who in 1964 began linguistic work at Nikolai.