Gwich’in language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gwi’chin Gwi’chin
Spoken in:	Canada, United States
Region:	Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Alaska
Total speakers:	770 (1998 Statistics Canada)
Language family:	Na-Dené  Athabaskan-Eyak    Athabaskan    Northern     Gwi’chin
Writing system:	Latin (Northern Athabaskan variant)
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	ath
ISO 639-3:	gwi
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River). There are about 430 Gwich’in speakers in Canada out of a total Gwi’chin population of 1,900.

In Alaska, Gwich’in is spoken in Old Crow, Yukon; Beaver, Circle, Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Arctic Village, Eagle, and Venetie, Alaska. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwich’in population of 1,100 speak the language.

It is an official language of the Northwest Territories.

The glottal stop in the name Gwich’in is written with symbol 'U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK'.

Contents 1 Classification 1.1 Dialects 2 Phonology 2.1 Consonants 2.2 Vowels 3 External link

[edit] Classification

Gwich'in is a member of the Canadian sub-group of the Athabaskan languages, of the Na-Dene family of languages. It shares the Han-Kutchin subgroup with the Han language.

[edit] Dialects

There are several dialects of Gwich'in, including Fort Yukon Gwich'in, Arctic Village Gwich'in, Western Canada Gwich'in (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River.

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Consonants

The consonants of Gwich'in in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):

		Labial	Interdental	Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				Central	Lateral			Plain	Labialized
Nasal	Voiced	m  /m/		n  /n/
	Voiceless			nh  /n̥/
Plosive	Voiced	b  /b/		d  /d/		dr  /ɖ/		g  /g/	gw  /gʷ/
	Voiceless			t  /t/		tr  /ʈ/		k  /k/	kw  /kʷ/	’  /ʔ/
	Ejective			t’  /t’/		tr’  /ʈ’/		k’  /k’/
	Nasal release			nd  /dⁿ/
Affricate	Voiced	v  /v/	ddh  /dð/	dz  /dz/	dl  dɮ/		dj  /dʒ/
	Voiceless		tth  /tθ/	ts  /ts/	tl  /tɬ/		ch  /tʃ/
	Ejective		tth’  /tθ’/	ts’  /ts’/	tl’  /tɬ’/		ch’  /tʃ’/
	Nasal release						nj  /dʒɲ/
Fricative	Voiced		dh  /ð/	z  /z/		zhr  /ʐ/	zh  /ʒ/	gh  /ɣ/	ghw  /ɣʷ/
	Voiceless		th  /θ/	s  /s/	ł  /ɬ/	shr  /ʂ/	sh  /ʃ/	kh  /x/		h  /h/
Approxi- mant	Voiced				l  /l/	r  /ɻ/	y  /j/		w  /w/
	Voiceless					rh  /ɻ̥/

[edit] Vowels

• short
  • a [a]
  • e [e]
  • i [i]
  • o [o]
  • u [u]
• long
  • aa [aː]
  • ee [eː]
  • ii [iː]
  • oo [oː]
  • uu [uː]
• nasal vowels are marked by an ogonek accent, e.g., ą
• low tone is optionally marked with a grave accent, e.g., à
• high tone is never marked

[edit] External link

• Gwich’in language info
• Yukon Native Langguage Centre: Gwich’in
• Alaska Native Language Center: Gwich’in