Gwichʼin language
Template:Short description Template:Infobox language Template:Infobox ethnonym
Gwichʼin (Template:Lang)<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> is an Athabaskan language spoken by the Gwichʼin First Nation (in Canada) and Alaska Native People (in the United States). It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Gwichʼin is spoken primarily in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson (aka Teetłʼit Zheh), and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River), all in the Northwest Territories and Old Crow in Yukon of Canada.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> In Alaska of the United States, Gwichʼin is spoken in Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Venetie and Arctic Village.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
The ejective affricate in the name Gwichʼin is usually written with the symbol Template:Unichar, though the correct character for this use (with expected glyph and typographic properties) is Template:Unichar.
Current status
According to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Gwichʼin is at present severely endangered. There are about 260 Gwichʼin speakers in Canada out of a total Gwichʼin population of 1,900. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwichʼin population of 1,100 speak the language.<ref name=":0" /> Gwichʼin speakers have been shifting from their heritage language to English as the majority language of both the US and Canada.
Dialects
There are two main varieties of Gwichʼin, Eastern and Western, which are delineated roughly at the Canada–US border.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> There are several dialects within these subgroupings, including Fort Yukon Gwichʼin, Arctic Village Gwichʼin, Western Canada Gwichʼin (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River. Each village has unique pronunciation features, vocabulary, and expressions.
Inhabitants of Old Crow in the northern Yukon speak a similar dialect to those bands living in Venetie and Arctic Village, Alaska. Kâachik and Tâachik dialects are spoken in Johnson Creek village.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Language preservation and documentation
In 1988, the NWT Official Languages Act named Gwichʼin an official language of the Northwest Territories, and the Official Languages of Alaska Law as amended declared Gwichʼin a recognized language in 2014.<ref name=":0" />
The Gwichʼin language is taught regularly at the Chief Zzeh Gittlit School in Old Crow, Yukon.<ref name=":2" />
Projects are underway to further document the language from a linguistic standpoint, and foster the writing and translation skills of younger Gwichʼin speakers. In one project, lead research associate and fluent speaker Gwichʼin elder Kenneth Frank works with linguists and young Gwichʼin speakers affiliated with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to document traditional knowledge of caribou anatomy (Mishler and Frank 2020).<ref name="Linguistics_2014">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Residential schools and language decline
Assimilation efforts through residential schools played a factor in creating a cultural disruption and a language shift. One of the goals of residential schools was to wipe out indigenous culture and replace it with the European culture, seen as more conducive to “civilized” society. In the process, indigenous children were taken away from their families and placed in a dedicated school (“Indian Schools” in the US).
Indigenous children were often punished for speaking First-Nation languages, leading children to abandon their heritage languages. Residential schools caused major cultural disruption also among the Gwich’in.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Phonology
Consonants
The consonants of Gwichʼin are shown in IPA notation below, with orthographic symbols in brackets:<ref name=":2" />
Vowels
Gwich’in has five phonemic vowel qualities Template:IPA which contrast in duration, nasality, and tones.
Allophonic variation
Short vowels show different vowel qualities from their long counterparts:
- Template:IPA occurs as Template:IPA
- Template:IPA occurs as Template:IPA
- Template:IPA occurs as Template:IPA
- Template:IPA occurs as Template:IPA
- Template:IPA occurs as Template:IPA
Tone and nasality
- Nasal vowels are marked with an ogonek, e.g. Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, respectively.
- Low tone is marked with a grave accent, e.g. Template:Angbr, whereas high tones are never marked.
Syllable structure
Gwichʼin has moderate complexity of syllable structure, in which the maximal syllable shape is CCVC. However, no consonant clusters occur within a syllable besides /Cj/ onsets, as in Template:IPA Template:Lang “hook”, or -Template:IPA -Template:Lang “father” (i.e. Template:IPA Template:Lang “my father”). Word-medially, two-consonant sequences may occur. All consonants may occur syllable-initially (i.e. in onset position), but syllable-finally, no ejective, retroflex, affricate, interdental or labialized consonants occur. In coda-position, fricatives are also restricted to the glottal, lateral, and non-sibilant consonants.
| Coda | Example | English | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Small | Template:Small | ||||
| Stop | oral | -k | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “squirrel” |
| glottal | -ʔ | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “beaver” | |
| Fricative | glottal | -h | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “house” |
| lateral | -ɬ | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “fish hook” | |
| non-sibilant | -ð | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “fury” | |
| Sonorant | nasal | -n | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “day” |
| lateral | -l | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “grouse” | |
| rhotic | -ɻ̥ | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | “steam” | |
Written Gwichʼin
The missionary Robert McDonald first started working on the written representation of Van Tat and Dagoo dialects Gwichʼin. He also produced a Bible and a hymn book which was written in Gwichʼin in 1898. McDonald used English orthography as his model when representing Gwichʼin. This was unusual for missionaries at the time: other missionaries were translating the Bible from French into languages such as northern Slavey.<ref name=":3" /> After 1960, Wycliffe Bible translator Richard Mueller introduced a new modified spelling system. The purpose of his writing system was to better distinguish the sounds of the Gwichʼin language. Later on, Mueller's writing system was officially adopted by the Yukon Territory. The new writing system helped expand the uses of the Gwichʼin language since speakers previously found the system for writing Gwichʼin less user friendly.<ref name="auto" />
Grammar
Gwichʼin is a highly polysynthetic, head-marking language with extensive exclusive prefixal inflection. Word order is relatively flexible but generally follows a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) pattern. The language exhibits evidentiality and verbal inflection that conveys aspectual distinctions rather than tense. Gwichʼin uses postpositions rather than prepositions. Like other Athabaskan languages, Gwichʼin has classifier prefixes in verbs that indicate transitivity and valency changes.
Verb configuration
A verb in Gwichʼin contains a great number of smaller meaningful units or morphemes (e.g. in English un-spok-en) that combine to give the verb its intended meaning. A verb is composed of the stem preceded by a varying number of prefixes, which in Gwichʼin contain information about tense, aspect, and the number of people involved in the action.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref>
Unlike English verbs, which come with comparatively very little derivation and inflection (i.e. number of affixes), a Gwichʼin verb is so rich in affixes that a single inflected and conjugated verb can correspond to whole sentences in English, as in (1).
In popular culture
In the PBS Kids television show Molly of Denali, the main character Molly comes from a family of Gwichʼin background, and therefore uses words in the Gwichʼin language such as Template:Lang throughout the show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Molly shares her Gwichʼin background with the show's creative producer, Princess Daazhraii Johnson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
References
Further reading
- Firth, William G., et al. Gwìndòo Nànhʼ Kak Geenjit Gwichʼin Ginjik = More Gwichʼin Words About the Land. Inuvik, N.W.T.: Gwichʼin Renewable Resource Board, 2001.
- Gwichʼin Renewable Resource Board. Nànhʼ Kak Geenjit Gwichʼin Ginjik = Gwichʼin Words About the Land. Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada: Gwichʼin Renewable Resource Board, 1997.
- McDonald. A Grammar of the Tukudh Language. Yellowknife, N.W.T.: Curriculum Division, Dept. of Education, Government of the Northwest Territories, 1972.
- Mishler, Craig, ed. Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled From Place to Place: The Gwich’in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank. 2nd ed. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 2001.
- Mishler, Craig and Kenneth Frank, eds. Dinjii Vadzaih Dhidlit: The Man Who Became a Caribou. 2nd ed. Hanover, N.H.: IPI Press, 2020.
- Montgomery, Jane. Gwichʼin Language Lessons Old Crow Dialect. Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre, 1994.
- Northwest Territories. Gwichʼin Legal Terminology. [Yellowknife, N.W.T.]: Dept. of Justice, Govt. of the Northwest Territories, 1993.
- Norwegian-Sawyer, Terry. Gwichʼin Language Lessons Gwichyàh Gwichʼin Dialect (Tsiigèhchik–Arctic Red River). Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre, 1994.
- Peter, Katherine, and Mary L. Pope. Dinjii Zhuu Gwandak = Gwichʼin Stories. [Anchorage]: Alaska State-Operated Schools, Bilingual Programs, 1974.
- Peter, Katherine. A Book of Gwichʼin Athabaskan Poems. College, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, Center for Northern Educational Research, University of Alaska, 1974.
- Scollon, Ronald. A Sketch of Kutchin Phonology. University of Hawaii, 1975.
- Yukon Native Language Centre. Gwichʼin Listening Exercises Teetlʼit Gwichʼin dialect. Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre, Yukon College, 2003. Template:ISBN
External links
- Gwich’in Archived: Yukon Native Language Centre: Gwichʼin
- Alaska Native Language Center: Gwichʼin
- Ettunetle Tutthug Enjit Gichinchik Portions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in Gwichʼin
- Gwich'in Language Dictionary, 2003, 4th Edition, prepared by the Gwich'in Social & Cultural Institute and the Gwich'in Language Centre, Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories (Canada); covers two dialects: Teetl'it Gwich'in (Fort McPherson) and Gwichyah Gwich'in (Tsiigehtchic)
- Gwich'in Junior Dictionary/Dinjii zhuh ginjik nagwan tr'iłtsąįį, 1979, compiled by Katherine Peter, Alaska Native Language Center
Template:Athabaskan languages Template:Languages of Alaska Template:Languages of Canada