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Dene Suline language
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Dene Suline language

Dene Suline (also Dëne S??iné, Dene S??iné, Chipewyan, Dene Suliné, Dëne Suliné, Dene Soun?liné or just Dene) is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada. It is a part of the Athabaskan family and therefore related to the Navajo language. Dene Suline has over 11,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, [1] but only has official status in the Northwest Territories alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Dogrib, , Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.[2]

Contents

Sounds

Consonants

The 39 consonants of Dene Suline:

  Bilabial Inter-
dental		 Dental Post-
alveolar		 Velar/Uvular Glottal
central lateral plain labial
Nasal m   n          
Plosive plain b   d     g gw  
aspirated     t     k kw  
ejective     t?     k? kw? ?
Affricate plain   ddh dz dl j      
aspirated   tth ts t? ch      
ejective   tth? ts? t?? ch?      
Fricative voiceless   th s ? sh hh hhw h
voiced   dh z l zh gh ghw  
Trill     r          

The "velar" fricatives are actually uvular.

Vowels

Dene Suline has vowels of 6 differing qualities.

  Front Central Back
Close i   u
Close-mid ë/e   o
Open-mid e    
Open   a  

Most vowels can be either

As a result, Dene Suline has 18 phonemic vowels:

  Front Central Back
short long short long short long
Close oral    
nasal    
Close-mid        
Open-mid oral        
nasal        
Open oral        
nasal        

Dene Suline also has 9 oral and nasal diphthongs of the form vowel + .

  Front Central Back
oral nasal oral nasal oral nasal
Close        
Mid  
Open        

Tone

Dene Suline has two tones:

  • high
  • low

References

See also

External links

Bibliography

  • Cook, Eung-Do. (2004). A grammar of Dëne S??iné (Chipewyan). Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics - Special Athabaskan Number, Memoir 17. Winnipeg: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics. ISBN 0-921064-17-9.
  • Cook, Eung-Do. 2006. "The Patterns of Consonantal Acquisition and Change in Chipewyan (Dene Suline)". International Journal of American Linguistics. 72, no. 2: 236.
  • De Reuse, Willem. 2006. "A Grammar of Dene Suline (Chipewyan) (Cook)". International Journal of American Linguistics. 72, no. 4: 535.
  • Elford, Leon W. Dene s??iné yati dit?'ísé = Dene s??iné reader. Prince Albert, SK: Northern Canada Mission Distributors, 2001. ISBN 1896968287
  • Gessner, S. 2005. "Properties of Tone in Dene Suline". Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science. Series IV, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory. 269: 229-248.
  • Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
  • Li, Fang-Kuei. (1946). Chipewyan. In C. Osgood & H. Hoijer (Eds.), Linguistic structures of native America (pp. 398-423). New York: The Viking Fund.
  • Osgood, Cornelius; & Hoijer, Harry (Eds.). (1946). Linguistic structures of native America. Viking fund publications in anthropology (No. 6). New York: The Viking Fund. (Reprinted 1963, 1965, 1967, & 1971, New York: Johnson Reprint Corp.).

es:Idioma chipewyan eo:?ipevajana lingvo fr:Chipewyan (langue) gl:Lingua chipewyan gv:Dene Suline (çhengey)




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