Native to Canada, United States | Ethnicity Gwich'in people | |
Region Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska Native speakers 370 in Canada (2011 census)
300 in United States (2007) Language family Dené–Yeniseian?
Na-Dené
Athabaskan
Northern Athabaskan
Gwich’in Writing system Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet) | ||
The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Old Crow, and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River). There are about 430 Gwich’in speakers in Canada out of a total Gwich’in population of 1,900.
Contents
- Current status
- Classification
- Dialects
- Consonants
- Vowels
- Gwichin language in place names
- Vocabulary
- References
In Alaska, Gwich’in is spoken in Beaver, Circle, Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Arctic Village, Eagle, and Venetie. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwich’in population of 1,100 speak the language.
It is an official language of the Northwest Territories.
The ejective affricate in the name Gwich’in is usually written with symbol U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK, though the correct character for this use (with expected glyph and typographic properties) is U+02BC MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE.
Current status
Few Gwichʼin speak their indigenous Gwich’in language. There are two main dialects of Gwich’in, eastern and western, which are delineated roughly at the Canada–US border. Each village has unique dialect differences, idioms, and expressions. The Old Crow people in the northern Yukon have approximately the same dialect as those bands living in Venetie and Arctic Village, Alaska. According to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Gwich’in is now a "severely endangered" language, with fewer than 150 fluent speakers in Alaska and another 250 in northwest Canada. Projects are underway to document the language, and to enhance the writing and translation skills of younger Gwich'in speakers. In one project lead research associate and fluent speaker Gwich’in elder, Kenneth Frank, works with linguists that include young Gwich'in speakers affiliated with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to document traditional knowledge of caribou anatomy.
Classification
Gwich’in is a member of the Northern Athabaskan subgroup of the Athabaskan language family, in greater the Na-Dene family of languages. It shares the Han-Kutchin subdivision with the Hän language.
Dialects
There are several dialects of Gwich’in, including Fort Yukon Gwich’in, Arctic Village Gwich’in, Western Canada Gwich’in (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River.
Consonants
The consonants of Gwichʼin in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):
Vowels
Gwich’in language in place names
The Porcupine River, a 916-kilometre (569 mi) tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States, is called Ch’ôonjik in Gwich’in.
Vocabulary
Caribou vadzaih are an integral part of First Nations and Inuit oral histories and legends including the Gwich'in creation story of how Gwich’in people and the caribou separated from a single entity. The caribou is the cultural symbol and a keystone subsistence species of the Gwich'in, just as the buffalo is to the Plains Indians. Elders have identified at least 150 descriptive Gwich'in names for all of the bones, organs, and tissues "Associated with the caribou's anatomy are not just descriptive Gwich'in names for all of the body parts including bones, organs, and tissues as well as "an encyclopedia of stories, songs, games, toys, ceremonies, traditional tools, skin clothing, personal names and surnames, and a highly developed ethnic cuisine."