Native speakers 12,000 (2011 census) | Ethnicity Chipewyan people Writing system NAPADene Syllabics | |
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Language family Dené–Yeniseian?Na-DenéAthabaskanNorthern AthabaskanChipewyan | ||
Chipewyan /tʃɪpəˈwaɪən/, ethnonym Dënesųłiné [ tènɛ̀sũ̀ɬìnɛ́], is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënesųłiné has nearly 12,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. It has official status only in the Northwest Territories, alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Dogrib, Gwich’in, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.
Contents
Most Chipewyan people now use Dené and Dënesųłiné to refer to themselves as a people and to their language, respectively. The Saskatchewan communities of Fond-du-Lac, Black Lake, Wollaston Lake and La Loche are among these.
Consonants
The 39 consonants of Dënesųłiné:
The "velar" fricatives are actually uvular.
Vowels
Dënesųłiné has vowels of 6 differing qualities.
Most vowels can be either
As a result, Dënesųłiné has 18 phonemic vowels:
Dënesųłiné also has 9 oral and nasal diphthongs of the form vowel + /j/.
Tone
Dënesųłiné has two tones:
Demographics
In the 2011 Canada Census 11,860 people chose Dene as their mother tongue. 70.6% were located in Saskatchewan and 15.2% were located in Alberta.
Not all were from the historical Chipewyan regions south and east of Great Slave Lake. Approximately 11,000 of those who chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011 are Dene/Chipewyan with 7,955 (72%) in Saskatchewan, 1,005 (9%) in Manitoba, 510 plus urban dwellers in Alberta and 260 plus urban dwellers in the Northwest Territories. The communities within the Dene/Chipewyan traditional areas are shown below:
Saskatchewan
The Dene (Dënesųłiné) speaking communities of Saskatchewan are located in the northern half of the province. The area from the upper Churchill River west of Pinehouse Lake all the way north to Lake Athabasca and from Lake Athabasca east to the north end of Reindeer Lake is home to 7410 people who chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
Prince Albert had 265 residents who chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011, Saskatoon had 165, the La Ronge Population Centre had 55 and Meadow Lake had 30.
3,050 were in the Lake Athabasca-Fond du Lac River area including Black Lake and Wollaston Lake in the communities of:
3,920 were in the upper Churchill River area including Peter Pond Lake, Churchill Lake, Lac La Loche, Descharme Lake, Garson Lake and Turnor Lake in the communities of:
Manitoba
Two isolated communities are in northern Manitoba.
Alberta
The Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake Economic Region in the north eastern portion of Alberta from Fort Chipewyan to the Cold Lake area has the following communities. 510 residents of this region chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.
Northwest Territories
Three communities are located south of Great Slave Lake in Region 5. 260 residents of Region 5 chose Dene as their mother tongue in 2011.