Dene Suline language

Encyclopedia : D : DE : DEN : Dene Suline language

Dene Suline (also Dëne Sųłiné, Dene Sųłiné, Chipewyan, Dene Suliné, Dëne Suliné, Dene Soun’liné) is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada (parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) and is also called Dene. Chipewyan is part of the Athabaskan family and is related to the Navajo language. This language is spoken by 4,000 out of 6,000 ethnic Chipewyans.

Dene Suline is one of the official languages of the Northwest Territories, the others being English, French, Cree, Dogrib, Gwichʼin, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, and Slavey.

Contents

1 Sounds

1.1 Consonants
1.2 Vowels
1.3 Tone

2 External links
3 Bibliography

Sounds

Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.

Consonants

The 39 consonants of Dene Suline:

Bilabial Interdental Dental Post-alveolar Velar Glottal
central lateral plain labial
Stop unaspirated p t k kʷ
aspirated tʰ kʰ kʷʰ
ejective tʼ kʼ kʼʷ ʔ
Affricate unaspirated tᶿ ʦ tɬ ʧ
aspirated tᶿʰ ʦʰ tɬʰ ʧʰ
ejective tᶿʼ ʦʼ tɬʼ ʧʼ
Nasal m n
Trill r
Fricative voiceless θ s ɬ ʃ x xʷ h
voiced ð z ɮ ʒ ɣ ɣʷ

	Bilabial	Interdental	Dental	Post-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
central	lateral	plain	labial
Stop	unaspirated	p		t			k	kʷ
aspirated			tʰ			kʰ	kʷʰ
ejective			tʼ			kʼ	kʼʷ	ʔ
Affricate	unaspirated		tᶿ	ʦ	tɬ	ʧ
aspirated		tᶿʰ	ʦʰ	tɬʰ	ʧʰ
ejective		tᶿʼ	ʦʼ	tɬʼ	ʧʼ
Nasal		m		n
Trill				r
Fricative	voiceless		θ	s	ɬ	ʃ	x	xʷ	h
voiced		ð	z	ɮ	ʒ	ɣ	ɣʷ

Vowels

Dene Suline has vowels of 6 differing qualities.

Front Central Back
High i u
Upper-Mid e o
Lower-Mid ɛ
Low a

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Upper-Mid	e		o
Lower-Mid	ɛ
Low		a

Most vowels can be either

oral or nasal
short or long

As a result, Dene Suline has 18 phonemic vowels:

Front Central Back
short long short long short long
High oral i iː u uː
nasal ĩ ĩː ũ ũː
Mid-upper
e o
Mid-lower oral ɛ ɛː
nasal ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː
Low oral a aː
nasal ã ãː

	Front	Central	Back
short	long	short	long	short	long
High	oral	i	iː			u	uː
nasal	ĩ	ĩː			ũ	ũː
Mid-upper		e				o
Mid-lower	oral	ɛ	ɛː
nasal	ɛ̃	ɛ̃ː
Low	oral			a	aː
nasal			ã	ãː

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

Front Central Back
oral nasal oral nasal oral nasal
High uj ũj
Mid ej ẽj əj oj õj
Low aj ãj

	Front	Central	Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
High					uj	ũj
Mid	ej	ẽj	əj		oj	õj
Low			aj	ãj

Tone

Dene Suline has two tones:

high
low

Bibliography

Cook, Eung-Do. (2004). A grammar of Dëne Sųłiné (Chipewyan). Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics - Special Athabaskan Number, Memoir 17. Winnipeg: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics. ISBN 0-9210-6417-9.
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.).