Chipewyan language

The 39 consonants of Dënesųłinë́:

The inter-dental series of ⟨ddh⟩, ⟨tth⟩, ⟨tthʼ⟩, ⟨th⟩, and ⟨dh⟩ corresponds to s-like sibilants in other Na-Dené languages.[12]

Dënesųłinë́ vowel diagram

Dënesųłinë́ has vowels of 6 differing qualities.

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:

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

Dënesųłinë́ has two tones:

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

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.[14]

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.[14]

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

• Fond-du-Lac 705 out of 874 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• Stony Rapids 140 out of 243 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Black Lake (Chicken 224) 1040 out of 1070 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Uranium City (hamlet)
• Camsell Portage (hamlet)
• Wollaston Lake
• Wollaston Post (Lac La Hache 220) 1165 out of 1251 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

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:

• La Loche 2,300 out 2,611 chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• Clearwater River 720 out of 778 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Black Point (hamlet)
• Bear Creek (hamlet)
• Garson Lake (hamlet)
• Descharme Lake (hamlet)
• Turnor Lake
• Turnor Lake (Birch Narrows First Nation) 70 out of 419 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Dillon (Buffalo River Dene Nation) 330 out of 764 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• St. George's Hill, Saskatchewan 85 out of 100 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Michel Village 55 out of 66 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Buffalo Narrows 35 out of 1153 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Patuanak 35 out of 64 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Patuanak (Wapachewunak 1920) 265 out of 482 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.
• Beauval (La Plonge 192) 25 out of 115 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

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

• Lac Brochet (197 A) 720 out of 816 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• Tadoule Lake (Churchill 1) 170 out of 321 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.

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.[14]

• Fort Chipewyan 45 out of 847 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• 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.

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.[14]

• Fort Smith 30 out of 2093 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• Fort Resolution 95 out of 474 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]
• Lutselk'e 120 out of 295 residents chose Dënesųłinë́ as their mother tongue in 2011.[14]