Carrier-Chilcotin languages

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The Carrier-Chilcotin language group is a subgroup of the Canadian Athabaskan group of Na-Dene languages. It includes the Babine, Carrier, and Chilcotin languages.

Contents 1 Babine-Carrier subgroup 1.1 Babine 1.2 Southern Carrier 1.3 Carrier 2 Chilcotin subgroup 2.1 Chilcotin 3 Phonology 3.1 Consonants 3.2 Vowels

[edit] Babine-Carrier subgroup

[edit] Babine

The Babine language is spoken by the Babine and Witsuwit'en peoples of British Columbia. Some consider Babine and Witsuwit'en to be two separate languages, or at least clearly distinct dialects, while others insist that the two constitute different accents of the same language, like Southeastern and Northeastern American English. Babine is also called Babine Carrier or Northern Carrier. There are an estimated 500 speakers (1997 S. Hargus) in West central British Columbia.

[edit] Southern Carrier

Southern Carrier is spoken by the Carrier people of British Columbia. The Carrier language has something of a dialect continuum, so the number of Carrier languages varies depending on the opinion of the particular linguist, but generally it is accept that there are at least two distinct dialects. Southern Carrier is one of these, with 500 speakers (1987 SIL) in central British Columbia.

[edit] Carrier

Carrier, also called Central Carrier, is distinct from Southern Carrier and Babine (also called Northern Carrier). There are around 1,500 speakers (1987 SIL) in central British Columbia.

[edit] Chilcotin subgroup

[edit] Chilcotin

Chilcotin or Tzilkotin constitutes a separate subgroup of the Carrier-Chilcotin subgroup of Canadian Athabaskan languages. The language is still taught in primary schools, and of the 2,000 speakers (2000), 100 are monolingual.

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Consonants

The consonants of the Carrier-Chilcotin languages in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Postalveolar	Velar	Velar Rounded	Glottal
Stop	voiced	b  [b]			d  [d]				g  [g]	gw  [gʷ]
	voiceless	(p)  [p]			t  [t]				k  [k]	kw  [kʷ]	’  [ʔ]
	ejective				t’  [t']				k’  [k']	k’w  [kʷ’]
Affricate	voiced			dz  [d̪z̪]	dz  [dz]	dl  dɮ]		j  [dʒ]
	voiceless			ts  [t̪s̪]	ts  [ts]	tl  [tł]		č  [tʃ]
	ejective			ts’  [t̪s̪’]	ts’  [ts’]	tl’  [tł’]		č’  [ch’]
Fricative	voiced			z  [z̪]	z  [z]				gh  [ɣ]	ghw  [ɣʷ]
	voiceless		(f)  [f]	s  [s̪]	s  [s]	ł  [ł]		š  [ʃ]	x  [x]	xw  [xʷ]	h  [h]
Nasal	m  [m]			n  [n]		ñ  [ɲ]		ŋ  [ŋ]
Approximant	w  [w]			(r)  [ɹ]	l  [l]	y  [j]

[edit] Vowels

• a [a]
• e [e]
• i [i]
• o [o]
• u [u]
• ʌ [ʌ]