The Sekani language or Tse’khene is a
Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the
Sekani people of north-central
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
.
Phonology
Consonants
Sekani has 33 consonants:
Vowels
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
FirstVoices: Kwadacha Tsek'ene Community Portal
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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
The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.
...
. 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
Bibliography
* Hargus, Sharon. (1988). ''The Lexical Phonology of Sekani''. (Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics). New York: Garland Publishers.
* Mithun, Marianne
Marianne Mithun (born 1946) is an American linguist specializing in American Indian languages and language typology. She is professor of linguistics at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she has held an academic position since 19 ...
. (1999). ''The Languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
Articles
* Hargus, Sharon (2009) Effects on consonant duration in Fort Ware Tsek'ene. Presented at Athabaskan/Dene Languages Conference, Eugene, OR
PDF of slidesPDF of references
* Hargus, Sharon (2009) "Causatives and transitionals in Kwadacha Tsek'ene."
slides
Presented at the Athabaskan Languages Conference, Berkeley, CA. upported by NSF DEL-0651853 and Kwadacha Education Society
* Hargus, Sharon (2009) "Phonetic vs. phonological rounding in Athabaskan languages.
PDF of slidesPDF of references
Presented at LabPhon 12, Albuquerque, NM. (reposted July 16, 2010). The article will appear in Journal of Laboratory Phonology 3:163-193.
External links
First Voices Kwadacha Tsek'ene Community Portal
* ttp://www.ydli.org/biblios/sekbib.htm Bibliography of Sekani Linguistics
Map of Northwest Coast First Nations
(including Sekani)
OLAC resources in and about the Sekani language
{{Languages of Canada
Northern Athabaskan languages
Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
First Nations languages in Canada
Languages of the United States
Northern Interior of British Columbia
Endangered Athabaskan languages
Sekani