Gwichʼin language

File:WIKITONGUES- Allan speaking Gwich'in.webm

Allan Hayton reciting the story (Boy in the Moon) in Gwichʼin

File:Teetl'it Zheh - Fort McPherson Gwich'in - Sign in Mike Zubko International Airport - Inuvik - Northwest Territories - Canada.jpg

A sign in the Fort McPherson identifies the city by its original Gwichʼin name, .

Gwichʼin () is an Athabaskan language spoken by the Gwichʼin First Nation (in Canada) and Alaska Native People (in the United States). It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. Gwichʼin is spoken primarily in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson (aka Teetłʼit Zheh), and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River), all in the Northwest Territories and Old Crow in Yukon of Canada. In Alaska of the United States, Gwichʼin is spoken in Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Venetie and Arctic Village.

The ejective affricate in the name Gwichʼin is usually written with the symbol Template:Unichar, though the correct character for this use (with expected glyph and typographic properties) is Template:Unichar.

Current status

According to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Gwichʼin is at present severely endangered. There are about 260 Gwichʼin speakers in Canada out of a total Gwichʼin population of 1,900. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwichʼin population of 1,100 speak the language. Gwichʼin speakers have been shifting from their heritage language to English as the majority language of both the US and Canada.

Dialects

There are two main varieties of Gwichʼin, Eastern and Western, which are delineated roughly at the Canada–US border. There are several dialects within these subgroupings, including Fort Yukon Gwichʼin, Arctic Village Gwichʼin, Western Canada Gwichʼin (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River. Each village has unique pronunciation features, vocabulary, and expressions.

Inhabitants of Old Crow in the northern Yukon speak a similar dialect to those bands living in Venetie and Arctic Village, Alaska. Kâachik and Tâachik dialects are spoken in Johnson Creek village.

Language preservation and documentation

In 1988, the NWT Official Languages Act named Gwichʼin an official language of the Northwest Territories, and the Official Languages of Alaska Law as amended declared Gwichʼin a recognized language in 2014.

The Gwichʼin language is taught regularly at the Chief Zzeh Gittlit School in Old Crow, Yukon.

Projects are underway to further document the language from a linguistic standpoint, and foster the writing and translation skills of younger Gwichʼin speakers. In one project, lead research associate and fluent speaker Gwichʼin elder Kenneth Frank works with linguists and young Gwichʼin speakers affiliated with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to document traditional knowledge of caribou anatomy (Mishler and Frank 2020).

Residential schools and language decline

Assimilation efforts through residential schools played a factor in creating a cultural disruption and a language shift. One of the goals of residential schools was to wipe out indigenous culture and replace it with the European culture, seen as more conducive to “civilized” society. In the process, indigenous children were taken away from their families and placed in a dedicated school (“Indian Schools” in the US).

Indigenous children were often punished for speaking First-Nation languages, leading children to abandon their heritage languages. Residential schools caused major cultural disruption also among the Gwich’in.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonants of Gwichʼin are shown in IPA notation below, with orthographic symbols in brackets:

		Labial	Inter- dental	Alveolar			Retroflex	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	sibilant	lateral			plain	labialized
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	(Template:IPA link Template:Angbr)	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
	aspirated		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
	ejective		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
	prenasalized			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr				Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Fricative	voiced	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
	voiceless	(Template:IPA link Template:Angbr)	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Sonorant	voiced	(Template:IPA link Template:Angbr)		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
	voiceless			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr

Vowels

Gwich’in has five phonemic vowel qualities which contrast in duration, nasality, and tones.

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Mid	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Open			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr

Allophonic variation

Short vowels show different vowel qualities from their long counterparts:

• occurs as
• occurs as
• occurs as
• occurs as
• occurs as

Tone and nasality

• Nasal vowels are marked with an ogonek, e.g. Template:Angbr for , respectively.
• Low tone is marked with a grave accent, e.g. Template:Angbr, whereas high tones are never marked.

Syllable structure

Gwichʼin has moderate complexity of syllable structure, in which the maximal syllable shape is CCVC. However, no consonant clusters occur within a syllable besides /Cj/ onsets, as in “hook”, or - - “father” (i.e. “my father”). Word-medially, two-consonant sequences may occur. All consonants may occur syllable-initially (i.e. in onset position), but syllable-finally, no ejective, retroflex, affricate, interdental or labialized consonants occur. In coda-position, fricatives are also restricted to the glottal, lateral, and non-sibilant consonants.

Coda consonants in Gwichʼin syllables

Coda			Example		English
			IPA	Orthography
Stop	oral	-k			“squirrel”
	glottal	-ʔ			“beaver”
Fricative	glottal	-h			“house”
	lateral	-ɬ			“fish hook”
	non-sibilant	-ð			“fury”
Sonorant	nasal	-n			“day”
	lateral	-l			“grouse”
	rhotic	-ɻ̥			“steam”

Written Gwichʼin

The missionary Robert McDonald first started working on the written representation of Van Tat and Dagoo dialects Gwichʼin. He also produced a Bible and a hymn book which was written in Gwichʼin in 1898. McDonald used English orthography as his model when representing Gwichʼin. This was unusual for missionaries at the time: other missionaries were translating the Bible from French into languages such as northern Slavey. After 1960, Wycliffe Bible translator Richard Mueller introduced a new modified spelling system. The purpose of his writing system was to better distinguish the sounds of the Gwichʼin language. Later on, Mueller's writing system was officially adopted by the Yukon Territory. The new writing system helped expand the uses of the Gwichʼin language since speakers previously found the system for writing Gwichʼin less user friendly.

Grammar

Gwichʼin is a highly polysynthetic, head-marking language with extensive exclusive prefixal inflection. Word order is relatively flexible but generally follows a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) pattern. The language exhibits evidentiality and verbal inflection that conveys aspectual distinctions rather than tense. Gwichʼin uses postpositions rather than prepositions. Like other Athabaskan languages, Gwichʼin has classifier prefixes in verbs that indicate transitivity and valency changes.

Verb configuration

A verb in Gwichʼin contains a great number of smaller meaningful units or morphemes (e.g. in English un-spok-en) that combine to give the verb its intended meaning. A verb is composed of the stem preceded by a varying number of prefixes, which in Gwichʼin contain information about tense, aspect, and the number of people involved in the action.

Unlike English verbs, which come with comparatively very little derivation and inflection (i.e. number of affixes), a Gwichʼin verb is so rich in affixes that a single inflected and conjugated verb can correspond to whole sentences in English, as in (1).

In popular culture

In the PBS Kids television show Molly of Denali, the main character Molly comes from a family of Gwichʼin background, and therefore uses words in the Gwichʼin language such as throughout the show. Molly shares her Gwichʼin background with the show's creative producer, Princess Daazhraii Johnson.

Further reading

• Firth, William G., et al. Gwìndòo Nànhʼ Kak Geenjit Gwichʼin Ginjik = More Gwichʼin Words About the Land. Inuvik, N.W.T.: Gwichʼin Renewable Resource Board, 2001.
• Gwichʼin Renewable Resource Board. Nànhʼ Kak Geenjit Gwichʼin Ginjik = Gwichʼin Words About the Land. Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada: Gwichʼin Renewable Resource Board, 1997.
• McDonald. A Grammar of the Tukudh Language. Yellowknife, N.W.T.: Curriculum Division, Dept. of Education, Government of the Northwest Territories, 1972.
• Mishler, Craig, ed. Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled From Place to Place: The Gwich’in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank. 2nd ed. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 2001.
• Mishler, Craig and Kenneth Frank, eds. Dinjii Vadzaih Dhidlit: The Man Who Became a Caribou. 2nd ed. Hanover, N.H.: IPI Press, 2020.
• Montgomery, Jane. Gwichʼin Language Lessons Old Crow Dialect. Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre, 1994.
• Northwest Territories. Gwichʼin Legal Terminology. [Yellowknife, N.W.T.]: Dept. of Justice, Govt. of the Northwest Territories, 1993.
• Norwegian-Sawyer, Terry. Gwichʼin Language Lessons Gwichyàh Gwichʼin Dialect (Tsiigèhchik–Arctic Red River). Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre, 1994.
• Peter, Katherine, and Mary L. Pope. Dinjii Zhuu Gwandak = Gwichʼin Stories. [Anchorage]: Alaska State-Operated Schools, Bilingual Programs, 1974.
• Peter, Katherine. A Book of Gwichʼin Athabaskan Poems. College, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, Center for Northern Educational Research, University of Alaska, 1974.
• Scollon, Ronald. A Sketch of Kutchin Phonology. University of Hawaii, 1975.
• Yukon Native Language Centre. Gwichʼin Listening Exercises Teetlʼit Gwichʼin dialect. Whitehorse: Yukon Native Language Centre, Yukon College, 2003. Template:ISBN

External links

• Gwich’in Archived: Yukon Native Language Centre: Gwichʼin
• Alaska Native Language Center: Gwichʼin
• Ettunetle Tutthug Enjit Gichinchik Portions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in Gwichʼin
• Gwich'in Language Dictionary, 2003, 4th Edition, prepared by the Gwich'in Social & Cultural Institute and the Gwich'in Language Centre, Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories (Canada); covers two dialects: Teetl'it Gwich'in (Fort McPherson) and Gwichyah Gwich'in (Tsiigehtchic)
• Gwich'in Junior Dictionary/Dinjii zhuh ginjik nagwan tr'iłtsąįį, 1979, compiled by Katherine Peter, Alaska Native Language Center