Chipewyan language

Not to be confused with Chippewa language.
Chipewyan
Dënesųłinë́
ᑌᓀ ᓱᒼᕄᓀ ᔭᕠᐁ (Dënesųłinë́ yatié)
Dënesųłinë́ sign at La Loche Airport
Native to Canada
Region Northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba; southern Northwest Territories and Nunavut
Ethnicity 30,910 Chipewyan people (2016 census)
Native speakers
 11,325, 41% of ethnic population (2016 census)
Dialects
  • Dënesųłinë́ yatié
  • Dënedédliné yatié
  • Tthetsánót’iné yatié
  • Tetsǫ́t’iné yatié
Official status
Official language in
 Canada (Northwest Territories)
Language codes
ISO 639-2 chp
ISO 639-3 chp
Glottolog chip1261
ELP Dënesųłiné
People Dënesųłinë́
Language Dënesųłinë́ yatıé
Country Dënesųłinë́ nëné,
Denendeh
ᑌᓀᐣᑌᐧ

Chipewyan or Dënesųłinë́ (ethnonym: Dënesųłinë́ yatié IPA: [tènɛ̀sũ̀ɬìné jàtʰìɛ́]), often simply called Dëne, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. It has nearly 12,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. It has official status only in the Northwest Territories, alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Tlicho, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.

Most Chipewyan people now use Dëne and Dënesųłinë́ to refer to themselves as a people and to their language, respectively. The Saskatchewan communities of Fond-du-Lac, Black Lake, Wollaston Lake and La Loche are among these.

Phonology

Consonants

The 39 consonants of Dënesųłinë́:

Bilabial Inter-
dental 		Dental Post-
alveolar 		Dorsal Glottal
plain sibilant lateral plain labial
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩
Plosive/
Affricate 		plain p ⟨b⟩ tθ ⟨ddh⟩ t ⟨d⟩ ts ⟨dz⟩ tɬ ⟨dl⟩ tʃ ⟨j⟩ k ⟨g⟩ kʷ ⟨gw⟩ ʔ ⟨’⟩
aspirated tθʰ ⟨tth⟩ tʰ ⟨t⟩ tsʰ ⟨ts⟩ tɬʰ ⟨tł⟩ tʃʰ ⟨ch⟩ kʰ ⟨k⟩ kʷʰ ⟨kw⟩
ejective tθʼ ⟨tthʼ⟩ tʼ ⟨tʼ⟩ tsʼ ⟨tsʼ⟩ tɬʼ ⟨tłʼ⟩ tʃʼ ⟨chʼ⟩ kʼ ⟨kʼ⟩ kʷʼ ⟨kwʼ⟩
Fricative voiceless θ ⟨th⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ɬ ⟨ł⟩ ʃ ⟨sh⟩ χ ⟨hh⟩ χʷ ⟨hhw⟩ h ⟨h⟩
voiced ð ⟨dh⟩ z ⟨z⟩ ɮ ⟨l⟩ ʒ ⟨zh⟩ ʁ ⟨gh⟩ ʁʷ ⟨ghw⟩
Tap ɾ ⟨r⟩
Approximant l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩

The inter-dental series of ⟨ddh⟩, ⟨tth⟩, ⟨tthʼ⟩, ⟨th⟩, and ⟨dh⟩ corresponds to s-like sibilants in other Na-Dené languages.

Vowels

Dënesųłinë́ vowel diagram

Dënesųłinë́ has vowels of 6 differing qualities.

Front Central Back
Close i ⟨i⟩ u ⟨u⟩
Close-mid e ⟨ë⟩ o ⟨o⟩
Open-mid ɛ ⟨e⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩

Most vowels can be either

  • oral or nasal. Nasals are marked with an ogonek in the orthography: ⟨ą ę ę̈ į ǫ ų⟩.
  • short or long

As a result, Dënesųłinë́ has 24 phonemic vowels:

Front Central Back
short long short long short long
Close oral i iː u uː
nasal ĩ ĩː ũ ũː
Close-mid oral e eː o oː
nasal ẽ ẽː õ õː
Open-mid oral ɛ ɛː
nasal ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː
Open oral a aː
nasal ã ãː

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

Front Central Back
oral nasal oral nasal oral nasal
Close uj ũj
Mid ej ẽj əj oj õj
Open aj ãj

Tone

Dënesųłinë́ has two tones:

  • high (marked with acute accents in the orthography: ⟨á é ë́ ı́ ó ú⟩)
  • low

Demographics

Welcome signs by the La Loche Airport
Close-up of Dënesųłinë́ and English sign

In the 2011 Canada Census 11,860 people chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue. 70.6% were located in Saskatchewan and 15.2% were located in Alberta.

Not all were from the historical Chipewyan regions south and east of Great Slave Lake. Approximately 11,000 of those who chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011 are Dëne/Chipewyan with 7,955 (72%) in Saskatchewan, 1,005 (9%) in Manitoba, 510 plus urban dwellers in Alberta and 260 plus urban dwellers in the Northwest Territories. The communities within the Dëne traditional areas are shown below:

Saskatchewan

The Dënesųłinë́-speaking communities of Saskatchewan are located in the northern half of the province. The area from the upper Churchill River west of Pinehouse Lake all the way north to Lake Athabasca and from Lake Athabasca east to the north end of Reindeer Lake is home to 7410 people who chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

Prince Albert had 265 residents who chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011, Saskatoon had 165, the La Ronge Population Centre had 55 and Meadow Lake had 30.

3,050 were in the Lake Athabasca-Fond du Lac River area including Black Lake and Wollaston Lake in the communities of:

3,920 were in the upper Churchill River area including Peter Pond Lake, Churchill Lake, Lac La Loche, Descharme Lake, Garson Lake and Turnor Lake in the communities of:

Manitoba

Two isolated communities are in northern Manitoba. The two Manitoban communities use Dënesųłinë́ syllabics to write their language.

Alberta

The Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake Economic Region in the north eastern portion of Alberta from Fort Chipewyan to the Cold Lake area has the following communities. 510 residents of this region chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

  • Fort Chipewyan 45 out of 847 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Fort McKay 30 out of 562 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Janvier (Janvier 194) 145 out of 295 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Janvier South 35 out of 104 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Cold Lake 149 105 out of 594 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Cold Lake 149 B, Alberta 25 out of 149 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

Northwest Territories

Three communities are located south of Great Slave Lake in Region 5. 260 residents of Region 5 chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

  • Fort Smith 30 out of 2093 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Fort Resolution 95 out of 474 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
  • Lutselk'e 120 out of 295 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

See also