Sekani language

The Sekani language or Tse’khene is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Sekani people of north-central British Columbia, Canada.

Sekani
Tse'khene
Native toCanada
RegionBritish Columbia
Ethnicity1,410 Sekani people (2014, FPCC)[1]
Native speakers
200, 14% of ethnic population (2016 census)[2]
Latin script
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
Language codes
ISO 639-3sek
Glottologseka1250
ELPTse'khene (Sekani)
Sekani is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Phonology

Consonants

Sekani has 33 consonants:

Bilabial Alveolar Post-
Alveolar		 Velar Glottal
plainsibilantlateral plainlabial
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[lower-alpha 1]		 voiceless s ɬ ç x xʷ h
voiced z l j ɣ w
  1. 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.

Nasalization

Nasalization of vowels is phonemic and so changes the meaning.

Sample words

[3] In the practical writing system used here for the Kwadacha Tsek'ene dialect, u represents the mid-central vowel, and oo represents the high back rounded vowel. An apostrophe represents a glottal stop, and an ogonek under a vowel represents nasalization.

  • dune man; person
  • tlįį dog
  • wudzįįh caribou
  • yus snow
  • chǫ rain
  • k’wus cloud
  • kwùn fire
  • ’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
  • Nùtsʼiide March
  • ʼUtʼǫ̀ʼ 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
  1. Sekani language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics. "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 2017-11-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. FirstVoices: Kwadacha Tsek'ene Community Portal

Bibliography
  • Hargus, Sharon. (1988). The Lexical Phonology of Sekani. (Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics). New York: Garland Publishers. ISBN 0-8240-5187-4
  • Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.

Articles
  • Hargus, Sharon (2009) Effects on consonant duration in Fort Ware Tsek'ene. Presented at Athabaskan/Dene Languages Conference, Eugene, OR. PDF of slides, PDF of references.
  • Hargus, Sharon (2009) "Causatives and transitionals in Kwadacha Tsek'ene." (slides) Presented at the Athabaskan Languages Conference, Berkeley, CA. [Supported by NSF DEL-0651853 and Kwadacha Education Society]
  • Hargus, Sharon (2009) "Phonetic vs. phonological rounding in Athabaskan languages." PDF of slides, PDF of references. Presented at LabPhon 12, Albuquerque, NM. (reposted July 16, 2010). The article will appear in Journal of Laboratory Phonology 3:163-193.
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