Sekani language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Sekani language is a Northern Athabaskan language

Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...

spoken by the Sekani

Sekani

Sekani is the name of an Athabaskan First Nations people in the Northern Interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The neighbors of the Sekani are the Babine to the west, Dakelh to the south, Dunneza to the east, and...

people of north-central British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Consonants

Sekani has 33 consonants:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Post- Alveolar	Velar		Glottal
		Bilabial	central	lateral	Post- Alveolar	plain	labial	Glottal
Stop	unaspirated	p	t			k	kʷ
	aspirated	(pʰ)	tʰ			kʰ	kʷʰ
	ejective		tʼ			kʼ	kʼʷ	ʔ
Affricate	unaspirated		ts	tɬ	tʃ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɬʰ	tʃʰ
	ejective		tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ
Nasal		m	n
Fricative- Approximant*	voiceless		s	ɬ	ç	x	xʷ	h
Fricative- Approximant*	voiced		z	l	j	ɣ	w

*Sekani, like other Athabaskan languages
Athabaskan languages
Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...

, does not contrast fricatives with approximants.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Tone

Sekani has two tones, low and high. High is the default. That is, syllables normally have high tone. Syllables phonologically marked for tone are low.

Examples

Kwadacha Tsek'ene dialect

dune man; person
tlįį dog
wudzįįh caribou
yus snow
chǫ rain
k’wus cloud
kwùn fire
’įįbèh summer
too water
mun lake
nun land
tselh axe
'ʼukèʼ foot

’àtse my grandfather

’àtsǫǫ my grandmother

lhìghè’ one

lhèkwudut’e two

tadut’e three

dįįdut’e four

ǫ yes

Tlįį duchę̀’ ’ehdasde January

Dahyusè’ nùkehde wìlę February

Nùtsʼiide March

'ʼUtʼǫ̀ʼ kùnuyehde May
Jìje dinììdulh July
Yhììh nunutsunde wìlę August
Yhììh ukudeh’àsde September
’Udììtl’ǫh ’uwit’į̀į̀h October
Yus ’ut’į̀į̀h November
Khuye ’uwììjàh December

External links

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