Babine-Witsuwit'en language

Babine–Witsuwit'en
Witsuwit'en
Spoken in	Canada
Region	British Columbia
Ethnicity	Carrier people
Native speakers	500 (1997 S. Hargus)  (date missing)
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian Na-Dené Athabaskan–Eyak Athabaskan Northern Athabaskan Babine–Witsuwit'en
Dialects	Babine Witsuwit'en
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bcr

Babine–Witsuwit'en or Nadot’en-Wets’uwet’en is an Athabaskan language spoken in the Central Interior of British Columbia. Its closest relative is Carrier. Because of this linguistic relationship together with political and cultural ties, Babine–Witsuwit'en is often referred to as Northern Carrier or Western Carrier. Specialist opinion is, however, that it should be considered a separate, though related, language (Kari 1975, Story 1984, Kari and Hargus 1989).

As its name suggests, Babine–Witsuwit'en consists of two main dialects, Babine (Nedut’en) and Witsuwit'en. Babine is spoken around Babine Lake, Trembleur Lake, and Takla Lake. Witsuwit'en is spoken in the Bulkley Valley, around Broman Lake, and in the vicinity of Skins Lake. The two dialects are very similar and are distinguished primarily by the fact that in Babine but not in Witsuwit'en the Athbascan front velar series have become palatal affricates.

Like most other native languages of British Columbia, Babine–Witsuwit'en is an endangered language. It is spoken by a minority of the population, primarily elders. There are 161 fluent and 159 partial speakers of the Babine dialect^[1] and 131 fluent and 61 partial speakers of the Witsuwit'en dialect.^[2] At most a handful of children speak the language.^[3]

The language is sometimes conflated with Carrier or treated as a dialect of Carrier and referred to as Northern Carrier or less commonly Western Carrier. A term used briefly in the 1990s is Bulkley Valley – Lakes District Language', abbreviated BVLD. The Ethnologue uses the bare name Babine for the language as a whole, not just for the Babine dialect. (See also the articles on the two dialects.)

Phonology

Witsuwit'en Consonants^[4]

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	(labial-) Velar	Uvular	Glottal
			Central	Lateral
Nasal		m	n
Stop	plain	p	t		c	kʷ	q	ʔ
	aspirated	(pʰ)	tʰ		cʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ
	ejective	(pʼ)	tʼ		cʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ
Affricate	plain		ts	tɬ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɬʰ
	ejective		tsʼ	tɬʼ
Fricative	voiced		z				ʁ
	voiced		s	ɬ	ç	xʷ	χ	h
Approximant				l	j	w

The aspirated and ejective labials are rarer than other consonants.

Words and Phrases

Witsuwit'en	Southern Carrier	English
lhok	lhook	fish
ne’	'ama	mother
lhk'iy	lhuk’i	one
nek	nankoh	two
tak'iy	tak’ih	three
Hadï So'endzin		Hello. How are you?
Sne kal yëgh		Thank you

Source: First Voices

See also

• Babine
• Wet'suwet'en
• Witsuwit'en
• Dakelh
• Carrier language

References

1. ^ First People's Language Map of British Columbia Nedut’en (Babine): State of the Language
2. ^ First People's Language Map of British Columbia Witsusit'en: State of the Language
3. ^ The Status of the Native Languages of British Columbia Yinka Déné Language Institute 2007
4. ^ Wright, Hargus & Davis (2002:45)

Bibliography

• Hargus, Sharon (2007) Witsuwit'en Grammar: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology. Vancouver: UBC Press.
• Kari, James (1975) Babine, a New Athabaskan Linguistic Grouping, ms. Alaska Native LanguagezCenter, Fairbanks, Alaska.
• Kari, James and Sharon Hargus (1989)Dialectology, Ethnonymy and Prehistory in the Northwest Portion of the 'Carrier' Language Area, ms. Alaska Native Language Center, Fairbanks, Alaska, and University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
• Story, Gillian L. (1984) Babine and Carrier Phonology: A Historically Oriented Study. Arlington, Texas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
• Wright, Richard; Hargus, Sharon; Davis, Katharine (2002), "On the categorizaiton of ejectives: data from Witsuwit'en", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 32 (1): 43–77, doi:10.1017/S0025100302000142 

External links

• First Voices: Contains Learning Resources for Witsutit'en
• Entry on First Nations Languages of British Columbia site
• Ethnologue Entry
• Family Tree of Athabaskan Languages
• Status of the Native Languages of British Columbia
• Map of Northwest Coast First Nations Note, however, that the Carrier-speaking region is marked incorrectly on this map and that Babine-Witsuwit'en is not indicated. The area around Babine Lake and Takla Lake, included in the Dakelh region on the map, is actually Babine speaking. A correct map would attach the Babine Lake and Takla Lake areas to what is shown on this map as "Wet'suwet'en" and label the combination "Babine-Witsuwit'en".