activity. Directional prefixes, stems and suffixes also index spatial relations in Kaska narratives. These include allatives, ablatives, areals and punctuals, with some examples listed below. kúh- 'distant location (known to both speaker and addressee)' de- 'distant location (known exclusively to speaker)' ah- 'distant location (determined by non-focal character)' júh-, jah- 'nearby location' degé- 'up ahead' (also used to mean 'in the future') nā́né- 'across' -áné 'to the side' (often used in conjunction with ah- prefix) Syntax When a sentence contains two independent nominals, it takes on Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure. When only one independent nominal is present, the subject and object are differentiated by the prefixes in the verb, shown using the same sample sentence. eskie ganehtan ("She saw/looked at the boy") eskie meganehtan boy 3sg.Obj... "The boy saw/looked at her" Subordinate clauses are marked with an -i or -í suffix and appear before the independent clause, as in the following example: The available literature on Kaska makes no mention of applicatives, relatives or complements, and case marking appears restricted to nominative (subject), accusative (object) and the various forms of locative case marking conveyed through directional morphemes. Endangerment With around 200 speakers as of 2011, the Ethnologue lists Kaska as Status 7 (shifting). It is mostly Kaska Dena Elders who are the fluent speakers despite four communities (Good Hope Lake, Lower Post, Watson Lake and Ross River) where the language is taught in schools. Kaska Dena children are not learning to be fluent because many families do not use the Kaska language at home. The Kaska Dena people recognize the importance in revitalizing the Kaska language and have worked towards building Kaska language written and oral materials as well as programs such as culture camps and training programs. See also Tahltan language References Yukon Native Language Center Kaska Language Website, University of British Columbia Kaska Dena Council Kaska Welcome Page - First Voices Yukon Native Language Centre Further reading Kaska Tribal Council. Guzāgi k'ū́gé': our language book : nouns : Kaska, Mountain Slavey and Sekani. [Watson Lake, Yukon]: Kaska Tribal Council, 1997. Kaska Dena Northern Athabaskan languages Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic First Nations languages in Canada Endangered Athabaskan languages