Southern Tutchone

The Southern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern Yukon in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, traditionally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people, is a variety of the Tutchone language, part of the Athabaskan language family. Some linguists suggest that Northern and Southern Tutchone are distinct and separate languages.

Nlan, a Southern Tutchone word, added to stop signs in the McIntyre subdivision of Whitehorse. It means, “stop that now,” as there is no exact translation. This initiative is to promote language.
Nlan, a Southern Tutchone word, added to stop signs in the McIntyre subdivision of Whitehorse. It means, “stop that now,” as there is no exact translation. This initiative is to promote language.
Map of traditional territory of the Southern Tutchone

Southern Tutchone First Nations governments and communities include:

Many citizens of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (Kwänlin Dän kwächʼǟn - "Whitehorse people", formerly White Horse Indian Band) in Whitehorse are of Southern Tutchone origin; their name refers to a section of the Yukon River from Miles Canyon Basalts to the White Horse Rapids which their ancestors called Kwanlin meaning "running water through canyon” and together with the Southern Tutchone word Dän or Dün for ″people″, they referred to this location for naming the KDFN)

Southern Tutchone language

The Southern Tutchone[1] people named by the late Catharine McClellan; are a group of Athabaskan speaking indigenous people of Southern Yukon, Canada. Today, the Southern Tutchone language is more often being called, "Dän'ke" which means 'our way' or, "Dän k'e kwänje" which means 'our way of speaking' in the Athabaskan language. This territory stretches over the south-west Yukon, and is controversial in what is overlap with different indigenous groups of people in Yukon. The Tutchone language was separated into two groups by McClellan in which she called them Southern and Northern Tutchone. The languages themselves are close, but are different in subtle dialects.[1]

Demographics

In the early 1950s there were close to 20,000 Southern Tutchone speaking individuals.[2] This has since plummeted to less than a few hundred speakers.[3] As of 2004 the number of individuals who spoke Southern Tutchone as their first language was 404, and the total number of individuals who had some knowledge of the language was 645.[4]

Revitalization efforts

The Southern Tutchone language is an endangered language with fewer than 100 speakers. There have been revitalization efforts in place to help combat the dwindling numbers. This includes signage throughout the Yukon highlighting the language.[5] Other revitalization efforts includes an adult immersion program focused on increasing the number of speakers in the Champagne and Aishihik traditional territory.[6] In 2015 the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations launched the first Da Ku Nän Ts'tthèt (Our House is Waking Up the Land) dance festival which focused on Southern Tutchone language and culture. This was hosted at the cultural centre named Da Ku, meaning "our house" in Southern Tutchone. Efforts for revitalization have also included school programs throughout the territory,[7] as well as a language nest in Haines Junction, Yukon.[8] The Yukon Native Language Centre has played a key role in many revitalization efforts as they have developed Indigenous teacher education programs, as well as curriculum materials.[9]

Landclaims

In other places in the Southern Tutchone region there are four First Nations governments that have settled their land claims in the Southern Tutchone cultural area these include:

See also

References
  1. McClellan, C. (2001) My Old People Say: an Ethnographic Survey of Southern Yukon Territory. Canadian Museum of Civilization.
  2. McClellan, C. (1987). Yukon Indian languages. Chapter 6. In Part of the land, part of the water: A history of the Yukon Indians. (pp. 105-115). Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre.
  3. "Tutchone, Southern".
  4. Ferguson, Jenanne, 1983- (2010). Manufacturing linguistic communities : Dän K'è language transmission and maintenance practices. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque et Archives Canada. ISBN 978-0-494-54614-7. OCLC 732947932.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. "Southern Tutchone will adorn city signs".
  6. "Yukon first nations to launch Southern Tutchone language immersion program, for grownups".
  7. Ferguson, Jenanne (2010). "Shäwthän Dän, Shäwthän Kwänjè : good people, good words: creating a dän k'è speech community in an elementary school". Current Issues in Language Planning. 11 (2): 152–172. doi:10.1080/14664208.2010.505072. ISSN 1466-4208. S2CID 144516187.
  8. Ferguson, Jenanne (2011). "Intergenerational Connections and Language Transmission among dän k'è (Southern Tutchone) Speakers". In McPherson, Naomi (ed.). An anthropology of mothering. Demeter Press. pp. 115–130. ISBN 978-0-9866671-8-3. OCLC 999427254.
  9. Nuttall, Mark (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Arctic. ISBN 978-1-136-78681-5. OCLC 646879442.
  10. "Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement" (PDF).

Sources
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