Gwich’in language

Gwich’in
Gwich’in
Native to	Canada, United States
Region	Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska
Ethnicity	Gwich'in people
Native speakers	370 in Canada (2011 census) 300 in United States  (2007)[1]
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan Northern Athabaskan Gwich’in
Writing system	Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Northwest Territories (Canada)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-2	gwi
ISO 639-3	gwi

The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Old Crow, and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River). There are about 430 Gwich’in speakers in Canada out of a total Gwich’in population of 1,900.

In Alaska, Gwich’in is spoken in 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 ejective affricate in the name Gwich’in is usually written with symbol U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK, though the correct character for this use (with expected glyph and typographic properties) is U+02BC MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE.

Classification

Gwich’in is a member of the Northern Athabaskan subgroup of the Athabaskan language family, in greater the Na-Dene family of languages. It shares the Han-Kutchin subdivision with the Hän language.

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.

Phonology

Consonants

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

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

References

Further reading

External links

Gwich’in language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Yukon Native Language Centre: Gwich’in
• Alaska Native Language Center: Gwich’in
• Ettunetle Tutthug Enjit Gichinchik Portions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in Gwich’in

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