| Also Known As: Dene,Dene Suliné,Dëne Sųłiné,Dene Suline
Description:
Dene Suline (also Dëne Sųłiné, Dene Sųłiné, Chipewyan, Dene Suliné, Dëne Suliné, Dene Soun’liné or just Dene) is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada. It is a part of the Athabaskan family and therefore related to the Navajo language. Dene Suline has over 11,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, but only has official status in the Northwest Territories alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Dogrib, Gwichʼin, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.
The 39 consonants of Dene Suline:
The "velar" fricatives are actually uvular.
Dene Suline has vowels of 6 differing qualities.
Most vowels can be either
As a result, Dene Suline has 18 phonemic vowels:
Dene Suline also has 9 oral and nasal diphthongs of the form vowel + /j/.
Dene Suline has two tones:..... full article at Wikipedia |
