Sekani or Tse’khene is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by 135 of the Sekani people of north-central British Columbia, Canada. Most of them are only semispeakers, and it is considered critically endangered.[3]
Phonology
Consonants
Sekani has 33 consonants:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post- Alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | lateral | plain | labial | |||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | ts | tɬ | tʃ | k | kʷ | |
| aspirated | (pʰ) | tʰ | tsʰ | tɬʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | kʷʰ | ||
| ejective | tʼ | tsʼ | tɬʼ | tʃʼ | kʼ | kʼʷ | ʔ | ||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||
| Fricative- Approximant[a] |
voiceless | s | ɬ | ç | x | xʷ | h | ||
| voiced | z | l | j | ɣ | w | ||||
- ^ Sekani, like other Athabaskan languages, 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 tone is the more common tone. Syllables phonologically marked for tone are low. For example, tsun means ‘dirt‘, while tsùn means ‘meat‘.[4]
Nasalization
Nasalization of vowels is phonemic. The root *ghèl means ‘scrape‘, while the root *ghę̀l means ‘roll‘.[4] Nasal vowels also contrast with vowels followed by /n/.
Orthography
The orthography of the Kwadcha Tsek’ene dictionary uses the following letters.[5][6]
| Letter | IPA | |
|---|---|---|
| Syll. init. | Syll. final | |
| ’ | ʔ | |
| a | ɑ | |
| à | ɑ˩ | |
| ą | ɑ̃ | |
| ą̀ | ɑ̃˩ | |
| b | p | – |
| ch | t͡ʃʰ | – |
| ch’ | t͡ʃ’ | – |
| d | d | – |
| dl | tɬ | – |
| dz | ts | – |
| e | e | |
| ę | ẽ | |
| è | e˩ | |
| ę̀ | ẽ˩ | |
| g | k | – |
| gw | kʷ | – |
| h | h | |
| i | ɪ | – |
| į | ɪ̃ | – |
| ì | ɪ˩ | – |
| į̀ | ɪ̃˩ | – |
| j | tʃ | – |
| ii | i | |
| įį | ĩ | |
| ìì | i˩ | |
| į̀į̀ | ĩ˩ | |
| k | kʰ | k |
| k’ | k’ | – |
| kh | x | |
| gh | ɣ | |
| kw | kʷ | – |
| kw’ | kʷ’ | – |
| l | l | |
| lh | ɬ | |
| m | m | |
| n | n | |
| o | o | |
| ǫ | õ | |
| ò | o˩ | |
| ǫ̀ | õ˩ | |
| oo | u | |
| ǫǫ | ũ | |
| òò | u˩ | |
| ǫ̀ǫ̀ | ũ˩ | |
| p | pʰ | p |
| s | s | |
| z | z | |
| sh | ʃ | |
| t | tʰ | t |
| t’ | t’ | – |
| tl | tɬ | |
| tl’ | tɬ’ | – |
| ts | tsʰ | ts |
| ts’ | ts’ | – |
| u | ɐ | – |
| ų | ɐ̃ | – |
| ù | ɐ˩ | – |
| ų̀ | ɐ̃˩ | – |
| w | w | |
| yh | ç | – |
| y | j | |
| zh | ʒ | – |
In addition, ⟨wu⟩ represents /ʊ/, ⟨iii⟩ represents /iː/, ⟨ee⟩ represents /eː/, and ⟨aa⟩ represents /ɑː/.
Vocabulary
These words are from the FirstVoices dictionary for Kwadacha Tsek’ene dialect.[5]
| Kwadacha Tsek’ene | English |
|---|---|
| dune | man, person |
| tlįį | dog |
| wudzįįh | caribou |
| yus | snow |
| chǫ | rain |
| k’wus | cloud |
| kwùn | fire (n) |
| ’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 |
| ’Iihts’ii nùtsudawit’į̀į̀h | March |
| Nùts’iide | March |
| Dasè’ | April |
| ’Ut’ǫ̀’ kùlhaghnukehde wìlę | May |
| ’Ut’ǫ̀’ 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 |
Notes
- ^ Sekani language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (29 March 2023). “Indigenous languages in Canada, 2021”. www150.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
- ^ “Did you know Tse’khene (Sekani) is critically endangered?”. Endangered Languages. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
- ^ a b Hargus, Sharon (21 April 2000). “Ft. Ware (Kwadacha) Sekani Dictionary”. Alaska Native Language Archive. University of Alaska Fairbanks. CN990H2000.
- ^ a b “Kwadacha Tsek’ene alphabet”. FirstVoices. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- ^ Hargus, Sharon (26 September 2016). “Sounds and writing systems of Deg Xinag, Tsek’ene and Witsuwit’en” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2022.
Bibliography
- Hargus, Sharon (1988). The Lexical Phonology of Sekani. Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-5187-4.
- Original dissertation: Hargus, Sharon Louise (1985). The Lexical Phonology of Sekani (PhD dissertation). Los Angeles: University of California.
- Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521298759.
Articles
- Hargus, Sharon (26 June 2010). Effects on consonant duration in Fort Ware Tsek’ene (PDF). Athabaskan/Dene Languages Conference. Eugene, OR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
- “References” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
- Hargus, Sharon (2009). Causatives and transitionals in Kwadacha Tsek’ene (PDF). Athabaskan Languages Conference. Berkeley, CA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
- Hargus, Sharon (10 July 2010). Phonetic vs. phonological rounding in Athabaskan languages (PDF). LabPhon 12. Albuquerque, NM.
- References: “References” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
- Journal article: Hargus, Sharon (2012). “Deg Xinag Rounding Assimilation: A case study in phonologization”. Journal of Laboratory Phonology. 3 (1): 163–193. doi:10.1515/lp-2012-0010.
