Gwich’in | |
---|---|
Dinjii Zhu’ Ginjik | |
Native to | Canada, United States |
Region | Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska |
Ethnicity | 3,000 Gwich'in people (2007) |
Native speakers | ca. 560 (2007–2016) [1] |
Dené–Yeniseian?
| |
Latin (Northern Athabaskan alphabet) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | gwi |
ISO 639-3 | gwi |
Glottolog | gwic1235 [4] |
The Gwich’in language (Dinju Zhuh K’yuu) [5] belongs to the Athabaskan language family and is spoken by the Gwich’in First Nation (Canada) / Alaska Native People (United States). It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. [6] Gwich'in is spoken primarily in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Old Crow, and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River) in the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada. [7] In Alaska of the United States, Gwich’in is spoken in Beaver, Circle, Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Arctic Village, Eagle, and Venetie. [8] [ not in citation given ]
Athabaskan is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three groups of contiguous languages: Northern, Pacific Coast and Southern. Kari and Potter 2010:10 place the total territory of the 53 Athabaskan languages at 1,563,000 mi2 or 4,022,000 km2.
Alaska Natives are indigenous peoples of Alaska, United States and include: Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures. They are often defined by their language groups. Many Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities, who in turn belong to 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations, who administer land and financial claims.
Inuvik is a town in the Northwest Territories of Canada and is the administrative centre for the Inuvik Region.
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.
In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some languages have glottalized sonorants with creaky voice that pattern with ejectives phonologically, and other languages have ejectives that pattern with implosives, which has led to phonologists positing a phonological class of glottalic consonants, which includes ejectives.
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation. It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair. English has two affricate phonemes, and, often spelled ch and j, respectively.
Few Gwichʼin speak their heritage language as a majority of the population shifts to English. According to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Gwich’in is now "severely endangered." There are about 260 Gwich’in speakers in Canada out of a total Gwich’in population of 1,900. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwich’in population of 1,100 speak the language. [5]
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. It is the successor of the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
In 1988, the NWT Official Languages Act named Gwich'in as an official language of the Northwest Territories, and the Official Languages of Alaska Law as amended declared Gwich'in a recognized language in 2014. [5]
The Gwich'in language is taught regularly at the Chief Zzeh Gittlit School in Old Crow, Yukon Territory. [8]
Projects are underway to document the language and 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 and 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. [9]
The Alaska Native Language Center, established in 1972 in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a research center focusing on the research and documentation of the Native languages of Alaska. It publishes grammars, dictionaries, folklore collections and research materials, as well as hosting an extensive archive of written materials relating to Eskimo, North Athabaskan and related languages. The Center provides training, materials and consultation for educators, researchers and others working with Alaska Native languages. The closely affiliated Alaska Native Language Program offers degrees in Central Yup'ik and Inupiaq at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and works toward the documentation and preservation of these languages.
Gwich’in is a member of the Northern Athabaskan subgroup of the Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit language family. It shares the Hän-Kutchin subdivision with the Hän language. [10]
There are two main dialects of Gwich’in, eastern and western, which are delineated roughly at the Canada–US border. [10] There are several dialects within these subgroupings, including Fort Yukon Gwich’in, Arctic Village Gwich’in, Western Canada Gwich’in (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River. 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.
The consonants of Gwichʼin in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets): [8]
Labial | Interdental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | lateral | plain | labialized | |||||||
Nasal | voiced | (m /m/) | n /n/ | |||||||
voiceless | nh /n̥/ | |||||||||
Plosive | plain | (b /p/) | d /t/ | dr /ʈ/ | g /k/ | gw /kʷ/ | ’ /ʔ/ | |||
aspirated | t /tʰ/ | tr /ʈʰ/ | k /kʰ/ | kw /kʷʰ/ | ||||||
ejective | t’ /tʼ/ | tr’ /ʈʼ/ | k’ /kʼ/ | |||||||
prenasalized | nd /ⁿd/ | |||||||||
Affricate | plain | ddh /tθ/ | dz /ts/ | dl /tɬ/ | j /tʃ/ | |||||
aspirated | tth /tθʰ/ | ts /tsʰ/ | tl /tɬʰ/ | ch /tʃʰ/ | ||||||
ejective | tth’ /tθʼ/ | ts’ /tsʼ/ | tl’ /tɬʼ/ | ch’ /tʃʼ/ | ||||||
prenasalized | nj /ⁿdʒ/ | |||||||||
Fricative | voiced | v /v/ | dh /ð/ | z /z/ | zhr /ʐ/ | zh /ʒ/ | gh /ɣ/ | ghw /ɣʷ/ | ||
voiceless | (f /f/) | th /θ/ | s /s/ | ł /ɬ/ | shr /ʂ/ | sh /ʃ/ | kh /x/ | h /h/ | ||
Approximant | voiced | l /l/ | r /ɻ/ | y /j/ | w /w/ | |||||
voiceless | rh /ɻ̥/ |
The Porcupine River, a 916-kilometre (569 mi) tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States, is called Ch’ôonjik [11] in Gwich’in.
Vadzaih (caribou) 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. [12] The caribou is the cultural symbol and a keystone subsistence species of the Gwich'in, just as the buffalo is to the Plains Indians. [9]
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." [9]
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The river's source is in British Columbia, Canada, from which it flows through the Canadian Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is 3,190 kilometres (1,980 mi) long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. The average flow is 6,430 m3/s (227,000 ft3/s). The total drainage area is 832,700 km2 (321,500 mi2), of which 323,800 km2 (126,300 mi2) is in Canada. The total area is more than 25% larger than Texas or Alberta.
Venetie, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 166, down from 202 in 2000. It includes the Village of Venetie, a Gwich'in tribal entity designated in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Tanacross is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken by fewer than 60 people in eastern Interior Alaska.
Aklavik is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Until 1961, with a population over 1,500, the community served as the regional administrative centre for the territorial government. Building conditions at the time considered to be unsuitable resulted in the development of Inuvik 63 km (39 mi) to the east, meant to entirely replace Aklavik. However, many residents persevered and kept Aklavik as a community, with a 2016 population of nearly 600. The mayor of Aklavik is Andrew Charlie.
The Hän language is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Hän Hwëch'in. Hän is spoken primarily in two places, each with their own dialect: the village of Eagle, Alaska in the United States and the town of Dawson City, Yukon Territory in Canada, though there are also Hän speakers in the nearby city of Fairbanks, Alaska.
The Inuvialuit (ɪnˈuviˌaluət) or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit people who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homeland - the Inuvialuit Settlement Region - covers the Arctic Ocean coastline area from the Alaskan border, east through the Beaufort Sea and beyond the Amundsen Gulf which includes some of the western Canadian Arctic Islands, as well as the inland community of Aklavik and part of the Yukon. The land was demarked in 1984 by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.
The Gwichʼin are an Athabaskan-speaking First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native people. They live in the northwestern part of North America, mostly above the Arctic Circle.
Old Crow is a community in the Canadian Territory of Yukon, Canada. It had 221 inhabitants as of 2016, most of them belonging to the Gwichʼin-speaking Aboriginal Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.
The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN) is a First Nation in the northern Yukon in Canada. Its main population centre is Old Crow. As the name indicates, the language originally spoken by the people is Gwichʼin.
Fort McPherson is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Peel River and is 121 km (75 mi) south of Inuvik on the Dempster Highway.
Northern Athabaskan is a geographic sub-grouping of the Athabaskan language family spoken by indigenous peoples in the northern part of North America, particularly in Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The Northern Athabaskan languages consist of 31 languages that can be divided into seven geographic subgroups.
The Hän, Han or Hwëch'in / Han Hwech’in are a First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the United States; they are part of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional lands centered on a heavily forested area around the Upper Yukon River, Klondike River (Tr'on'Dëk), Bonanza Creek and Sixtymile River and straddling what is now the Alaska-Yukon Territory border. In later times, the Han population became centered in Dawson City, Yukon and Eagle, Alaska.
Yukon is one of Canada's three territories in the country's extreme northwest. Its history of human habitation dates back to the Ice Age, and the original inhabitants are believed to have arrived over 20,000 years ago by migrating over the land bridge from Asia. In the 18th century, Russian explorers began trade with the First Nations people along the Alaskan coast, beginning the establishment of trade relations throughout the region. The famous Klondike Gold Rush began after gold was discovered near Dawson City in 1896. As a result of the influx of people looking for gold, it was made a separate territory in 1898, split off from the Northwest Territories. The second major event in the Yukon's history is the construction of the Alaska Highway during the Second World War, for the transportation of war supplies. Eventually Whitehorse became the largest city in the Yukon, and then the capital in 1953.
Broken Slavey was a trade language used between Native Americans and whites in the Yukon area in the 19th century.
Gwichyaa Gwich’in are a Gwich'in people who live in the Yukon Flats area of Alaska, USA. This includes the Fort Yukon area on both banks of the Yukon River from Birch Creek to Porcupine River;, the Senati 65.266°N 151.183°W area of the middle Yukon River, the namesake of Sahneuti, Gwich'in chief and fur trader; and Venetie.
The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (IPS) is a secretariat for the six international indigenous organizations affiliated with the eight-nation Arctic Council. The IPS does not represent indigenous peoples or their organizations, but assists those organizations in presenting their causes, and helps to disseminate information among them. IPS was established in 1994 under the auspices of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). It was around the same time that the category of Permanent Participants was being developed and applied to the three indigenous peoples’ organizations then observers in the AEPS. When the Arctic Council was established in 1996, both the Permanent Participants and IPS was reinserted into the new intergovernmental framework. Since commencing business in 1994, the role of the secretariat has been to facilitate contributions from the Permanent Participants to the cooperation of the eight Arctic states and to assist the Permanent Participants in performing, mainly communicational task.
Robert McDonald was an Anglican missionary among First Nation peoples, particularly in the northwest Arctic.
The Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan Athabaskans, Alaskan Athapaskans are Alaska Native peoples of the Northern Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the interior of Alaska and neighboring Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada to the east. In Alaska, where they are the oldest, there are eleven groups identified by the languages they speak.
The Tanana Athabaskans, Tanana Athabascans or Tanana Athapaskans are an Alaskan Athabaskan peoples of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the Tanana River drainage basin in east-central Alaska Interior, United States and a little part lived in Yukon, Canada. Tanana River Athabaskan peoples are called in Lower Tanana and Koyukon language Ten Hʉt'ænæ, in Gwich'in language Tanan Gwich'in. In Alaska, where they are the oldest, there are three or four groups identified by the languages they speak. These are the Tanana proper or Lower Tanana (Kokht'ana) and/or Middle Tanana, Tanacross or Tanana Crossing (Koxt'een), and Upper Tanana (Kohtʼiin). The Tanana Athabaskan culture is a hunter-gatherer culture and have a matrilineal system. Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic and as living in semi-permanent settlements in the Tanana Valley lowlands. Traditional Athabaskan land use includes fall hunting of moose, caribou, Dall sheep, and small terrestrial animals, and also trapping. The Athabaskans did not have any formal tribal organization. Tanana Athabaskans were strictly territorial and used hunting and gathering practices in their semi-nomadic way of life and dispersed habitation patterns. Each small band of 20–40 people normally had a central winter camp with several seasonal hunting and fishing camps, and they moved cyclically, depending on the season and availability of resources.
Gwich’in language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |