 Holikachuk is intermediate between the Deg Xinag and Koyukon languages, linguistically closer to Koyukon but socially much closer to Deg Xinag.Though it was recognized by scholars as a distinct language as early as the 1840s, it was only definitively identified in the 1970s.Of about 180 Holikachuk people, only about 5 spoke the language in 2007.