Tahltan, Tāłtān, also called Tałtan ẕāke ("Tahltan people language"), dah dẕāhge ("our language") or didene keh ("this people’s way") is a poorly documented and endangered
Northern Athabaskan language spoken by 235
of the
Tahltan people (also "Nahanni") who live in northern
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
around
Telegraph Creek,
Dease Lake, and
Iskut. Tahltan is a critically endangered language.
[Alderete, John forthcoming]
On tone length in Tahltan (Northern Athabaskan)
. In: Hargus, Sharon and Keren Rice (eds.): ''Athabaskan Prosody''. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Several linguists classify Tahltan as a dialect of the same language as
Tagish and
Kaska (Krauss and Golla 1981, Mithun 1999).
Language revitalization
As of May 2013, language researcher Dr. Judy Thompson estimated that there are 30 Tahltan speakers. A new Language and Culture office is exploring evening "language immersion" classes, a Master-Apprentice program, and creating a "language nest" for teaching the language to young children. Scholarships are planned for part-time language learners.
Lacking written documentation, it was unclear to the language revitalization coordinator how to teach the language, and how to explain the grammar. "After a year of study, Oscar Dennis says he, along with Reginald and Ryan Dennis, have finally cracked the code on Tahltan language’s fundamental patterns."
As a
Dene language, like
Navajo
The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language.
The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...
, Tahltan has “encoded” patterns in which small pieces are added to words to create meaning. "Dr. Gregory Anderson from the
Living Tongues Institute visited our territory, and was so impressed with the team’s work that he said he 'couldn’t improve upon it.'"
A digital archive of Tahltan recordings, located "at the Tahltan Language Revitalization Offices in
Dease Lake,
Iskut and
Telegraph Creek" can be used on
iPod
The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...
s.
Phonology
Consonants
There are 47
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
sounds:
Vowels
Phonological processes
* Vowel flattening.
*
Consonant harmony
Consonant harmony is a type of "long-distance" phonology, phonological Assimilation (phonology), assimilation, akin to the similar assimilatory process involving vowels, i.e. vowel harmony.
Examples
In Athabaskan languages
One of the more common ...
* Vowel nasalization
* Vowel laxing
References
Further reading
*
* . (Revised version of the author's doctoral dissertation, Johns Hopkins University).
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Tahltan Central Council language pageOLAC resources in and about the Tahltan language* Alderete, John, Tanya Bob and Thomas McIlwraith
An annotated bibliography of Tahltan language materials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahltan Language
+
Northern Athabaskan languages
Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
First Nations languages in Canada
Endangered Athabaskan languages
Native American language revitalization