Sekani language
| Sekani | |
|---|---|
| Tse'khene | |
| Native to | Canada |
| Region | British Columbia |
| Ethnicity | 1,410 Sekani people (2014, FPCC)[1] |
Native speakers | 200, 14% of ethnic population (2016 census)[2] |
| Latin script Canadian Aboriginal syllabics | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sek |
| Glottolog | seka1250 |
| ELP | Tse'khene (Sekani) |
 Sekani is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The Sekani language or Tse’khene is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Sekani people of north-central British Columbia, Canada.
Phonology
Consonants
Sekani has 33 consonants:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post- Alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | lateral | plain | labial | |||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | ts | tɬ | tʃ | k | kʷ | |
| aspirated | (pʰ) | tʰ | tsʰ | tɬʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | kʷʰ | ||
| ejective | tʼ | tsʼ | tɬʼ | tʃʼ | kʼ | kʼʷ | ʔ | ||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||
| Fricative- Approximant[a] |
voiceless | s | ɬ | ç | x | xʷ | h | ||
| voiced | z | l | j | ɣ | w | ||||
- ^ Sekani, like other Athabaskan languages, does not contrast fricatives with approximants.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Low | a |
Tone
Sekani has two tones: low and high. High tone is the more common tone. Syllables phonologically marked for tone are low. For example, tsun means 'dirt', while tsùn means 'meat'.[3]
Nasalization
Nasalization of vowels is phonemic. The root *ghèl means 'scrape', while the root *ghę̀l means 'roll'.[3] Nasal vowels also contrast with vowels followed by /n/.
Orthography
The orthography of the Kwadcha Tsek'ene dictionary uses the following letters.[4][5]
| Letter | IPA | |
|---|---|---|
| Syll. init. | Syll. final | |
| ’ | ʔ | |
| a | ɑ | |
| à | ɑ˩ | |
| ą | ɑ̃ | |
| ą̀ | ɑ̃˩ | |
| b | p | - |
| ch | t͡ʃʰ | - |
| ch’ | t͡ʃ’ | - |
| d | d | - |
| dl | tɬ | - |
| dz | ts | - |
| e | e | |
| ę | ẽ | |
| è | e˩ | |
| ę̀ | ẽ˩ | |
| g | k | - |
| gw | kʷ | - |
| h | h | |
| i | ɪ | - |
| į | ɪ̃ | - |
| ì | ɪ˩ | - |
| į̀ | ɪ̃˩ | - |
| j | tʃ | - |
| ii | i | |
| įį | ĩ | |
| ìì | i˩ | |
| į̀į̀ | ĩ˩ | |
| k | kʰ | k |
| k’ | k’ | - |
| kh | x | |
| gh | ɣ | |
| kw | kʷ | - |
| kw’ | kʷ’ | - |
| l | l | |
| lh | ɬ | |
| m | m | |
| n | n | |
| o | o | |
| ǫ | õ | |
| ò | o˩ | |
| ǫ̀ | õ˩ | |
| oo | u | |
| ǫǫ | ũ | |
| òò | u˩ | |
| ǫ̀ǫ̀ | ũ˩ | |
| p | pʰ | p |
| s | s | |
| z | z | |
| sh | ʃ | |
| t | tʰ | t |
| t’ | t’ | - |
| tl | tɬ | |
| tl’ | tɬ’ | - |
| ts | tsʰ | ts |
| ts’ | ts’ | - |
| u | ɐ | - |
| ų | ɐ̃ | - |
| ù | ɐ˩ | - |
| ų̀ | ɐ̃˩ | - |
| w | w | |
| yh | ç | - |
| y | j | |
| zh | ʒ | - |
In addition, ⟨wu⟩ represents /ʊ/, ⟨iii⟩ represents /iː/, ⟨ee⟩ represents /eː/, and ⟨aa⟩ represents /ɑː/.
Sample words
These words are from the FirstVoices dictionary for Kwadacha Tsek'ene dialect.[4]
| Kwadacha Tsek'ene | English |
|---|---|
| dune | man, person |
| tlįį | dog |
| wudzįįh | caribou |
| yus | snow |
| chǫ | rain |
| k’wus | cloud |
| kwùn | fire (n) |
| ’įįbèh | summer |
| too | water |
| mun | lake |
| nun | land |
| tselh | axe |
| ʼukèʼ | foot |
| ’àtse | my grandfather |
| ’àtsǫǫ | my grandmother |
| lhìghè’ | one |
| lhèkwudut’e | two |
| tadut’e | three |
| dįįdut’e | four |
| ǫ | yes |
| Tlįį duchę̀’ ’ehdasde | January |
| Dahyusè’ nùkehde wìlę | February |
| ’Iihts’ii nùtsudawit’į̀į̀h | March |
| Nùts’iide | March |
| Dasè’ | April |
| ’Ut’ǫ̀’ kùlhaghnukehde wìlę | May |
| ’Ut’ǫ̀’ kùnuyehde | May |
| Jìje dinììdulh | July |
| Yhììh nunutsunde wìlę | August |
| Yhììh ukudeh’àsde | September |
| ’Udììtl’ǫh ’uwit’į̀į̀h | October |
| Yus ’ut’į̀į̀h | November |
| Khuye ’uwììjàh | December |
Notes
- ^ Sekani language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics (2 August 2017). "Language Highlight Tables, 2016 Census - Aboriginal mother tongue, Aboriginal language spoken most often at home and Other Aboriginal language(s) spoken regularly at home for the population excluding institutional residents of Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 100% Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Hargus, Sharon (21 April 2000). "Ft. Ware (Kwadacha) Sekani Dictionary". Alaska Native Language Archive. University of Alaska Fairbanks. CN990H2000.
- ^ a b "Kwadacha Tsek'ene alphabet". FirstVoices. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- ^ Hargus, Sharon (26 September 2016). "Sounds and writing systems of Deg Xinag, Tsek'ene and Witsuwit'en" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2022.
Bibliography
- Hargus, Sharon (1988). The Lexical Phonology of Sekani. Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-5187-4.
- Original dissertation: Hargus, Sharon Louise (1985). The Lexical Phonology of Sekani (PhD dissertation). Los Angeles: University of California.
- Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521298759.
Articles
- Hargus, Sharon (26 June 2010). Effects on consonant duration in Fort Ware Tsek'ene (PDF). Athabaskan/Dene Languages Conference. Eugene, OR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
- "References" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
- Hargus, Sharon (2009). Causatives and transitionals in Kwadacha Tsek'ene (PDF). Athabaskan Languages Conference. Berkeley, CA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
- Hargus, Sharon (10 July 2010). Phonetic vs. phonological rounding in Athabaskan languages (PDF). LabPhon 12. Albuquerque, NM.
- References: "References" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
- Journal article: Hargus, Sharon (2012). "Deg Xinag Rounding Assimilation: A case study in phonologization". Journal of Laboratory Phonology. 3 (1): 163–193. doi:10.1515/lp-2012-0010.
