Sahtu Dene Kǝdǝ́ ‒ ᓴᑋᕲ ᑌᓀ ᑦᑫᑌ

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Sahtu Dene Kǝdǝ́ (ISO 639-3: scs) is an amalgamation of three separate dialects: K’áshogot’ıne (Hare), Sahtúgot’ıne (Bear Lake) and Shıhgot’ıne (Mountain). In the Northwest Territories, “Sahtu Dene Kǝdǝ́” or “Sahtúot’ı̨nę Yatı̨́” refers to language group as an entirety. All of the dialects are spoken in the western Northwest Territories, while Shıhgot’ıne also has speakers in Yukon. The language was previously known as North Slavey. A fourth language, Dene Zhatıé (South Slavey) is closely related but recognized as a separate language.

The division of dialects is based largely on the way each one pronounces the old Proto-Athapaskan sounds *dz *ts *ts’ *s and *z.

Proto-Athapaskan	Dene Zhatıé	Sahtúgot’ıne	K’áshogot’ıne	Shıhgot’ıne
*dz	ddh	gw	gw/b	b
*ts	tth	kw	f	p
*ts’	tth’	kw’	w’	p’
*s	th/dh	wh/w	w	f/v

There are several Roman Orthography conventions on this site that may require further explanation. On the charts below, there is lots of phonetic terminology that may not be familiar to everyone.

Roman Orthography: Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	lateral	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	velar rounded	glottal
voiceless stop	b	d	dz	dl	j		g	gw	ɂ
aspirated stop	p	t	ts	tl	ch		k	kw
ejective stop	p’	t’	ts’	tl’	ch’		k’	kw’
voiced fricative	v		z		zh		gh	wh
voiceless fricative	f		s	ł	sh		x		h
nasal	m	n
nasalised voiced stop	mb	nd
resonant		r		l		y		w
glottalised resonant								w’

Roman Orthography: Vowels

	front	central	back
high	ı		u
mid-high	ǝ		o
mid-low	e
low		a

Notes

• Sahtúgot’ıne does not have the following sounds: /p/ /p’/ /v/ /f/ /w’/.
• K’áshogot’ıne does not use these sounds: /p/ /p’/ /v/ /mb/ /nd/ /ts/ /tl/ /ch/ /kw/ /kw’/ /wh/.
• Shıhgot’ıne does not include the following sounds: /gw/ /kw/ /kw’/ /wh/ /w/ /w’/.
• /wh/ can be pronounced bilabially [ɸ], as a labio-velar [w], a labio-dental [f], or a rounded labio-dental [fʷ].
• K’áshogot’ıne /f/ can be pronounced bilabially [ɸ], as a labio-dental [f], or a rounded labio-dental [fʷ]. The K’áshogot’ıne /b/ can also be pronounced like /gw/.
• High tone is indicated by an acute accent ⟨á⟩. Low tone is unmarked.
• Nasal vowels are show by an ogonek accent ⟨ą⟩.
• In the NWT, the glottal stop ⟨ɂ⟩ has tall capital and short lowercase forms.
• Phonetically /l/ and /y/ are classified in the resonants row, but in the language, /l/ is the voiced partner of /ł/, and /y/ is the voiced counterpart of /sh/. There is some variation between /y/ and /zh/.
• The lowercase-i ⟨ı⟩ is undotted.

Demographics

The 2006 Canadian Census (2001 figures in parentheses) indicates 1,235 (1,025) Sahtu Dene Kǝdǝ́ speakers, to which would have to be added a portion of the 11,130 (10,585) who are reported as Dene speakers. According to Howe and Cook, there are 3,850 speakers of all Slavey dialects.

Dene Communities

This is a list of the Sahtu Dene Kǝdǝ́ speaking communities. In parentheses are the English place name and the dialect spoken there, followed by the number of speakers in that community according to the 2006 Canadian Census.

• Tulít’a (Ft. Norman–Mountain) 130
• Łe Gǫ́hlı̨nı̨ (Norman Wells–Mtn) 10
• Délı̨ne (Ft. Franklin–Bear Lake) 465
• Rádı̨lı̨h Kóé (Ft. Good Hope–Hare) 45
• K’áhbamı̨́túé (Colville Lake–Hare) 30