Slavey language
In older literature, the name of the language was spelt Slave; however, the connotations of this, along with the pronunciation of the homograph slave (the final e should be pronounced) have caused the change to Slavey instead.
Their language is considered to be a part of the Athabaskan language group (part of the larger Na-Dené family) and can be written using Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics or the Roman alphabet.
Slavey was the native language spoken by the fictional band in the Canadian television series, North of 60. Nick Sibbeston, a former Premier of the Northwest Territories, was a Slavey language and cultural consultant for the show.
| Table of contents |
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2 Sounds 3 Grammar 4 Bibliography |
info from North Slavey language and South Slavey language
North Slavey language is spoken in the Mackenzie District along the middle Mackenzie River from Fort Norman north, around Great Bear Lake, and in the Mackenzie Mountains of the Canadian territory of Northwest Territories.
Statistics: Speakers: 290 (1998 Statistics Canada)
Alternate names: Slavi, Dené, Mackenzian, Slave
Dialects: Hare, Bearlake, Mountain
SIL code: SCS
ISO 639-2: den
South Slavey language or Dene-thah, is spoken in the region of Great Slave Lake, upper Mackenzie River and drainage in Mackenzie District, northeast Alberta, northwest British Columbia.
Statistics: Speakers: 2,620 (1998 Statistics Canada)
Alternate names: Slavi, Slave, Dené, Mackenzian
SIL code: SLA
ISO 639-2: den
Sounds
Consonants
Bearlake
The 35 consonants of Bearlake:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||||
| central | lateral | plain | labial | |||||
| Stop | unaspirated | |||||||
| aspirated | ||||||||
| ejective | ||||||||
| Affricate | unaspirated | |||||||
| aspirated | ||||||||
| ejective | ||||||||
| Nasal | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | |||||||
| voiced | ||||||||
| Approximant | ||||||||
Hare
The 30 (or 31) consonants of Hare:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||||
| central | lateral | plain | labial | ||||||
| Stop | unaspirated | ||||||||
| aspirated | |||||||||
| ejective | |||||||||
| Affricate | unaspirated | ||||||||
| ejective | |||||||||
| Nasal | |||||||||
| Flap | |||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ||||||||
| voiced | |||||||||
| Approximant | plain | ||||||||
| preglottalized | |||||||||
For some speakers of Hare, has developed into a separate phoneme.
Mountain
The 33 consonants of Mountain:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||
| central | lateral | |||||||
| Stop | unaspirated | |||||||
| aspirated | ||||||||
| ejective | ||||||||
| Affricate | unaspirated | |||||||
| aspirated | ||||||||
| ejective | ||||||||
| Nasal | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | |||||||
| voiced | ||||||||
| Approximant | ||||||||
Slavey (proper)
The 34 (or 35) consonants of Slavey (proper):
| Bilabial | Labio-velar | Interdental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||
| central | lateral | ||||||||
| Stop | unaspirated | ||||||||
| aspirated | |||||||||
| ejective | |||||||||
| Affricate | unaspirated | ||||||||
| aspirated | |||||||||
| ejective | |||||||||
| Nasal | |||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ||||||||
| voiced | |||||||||
| Approximant | |||||||||
Phonological processes
The following phonological and phonetic statements apply to all four dialects of Slavey.
- Unaspirated obstruents are either voiceless or weakly voiced, e.g.
- → or
- Aspirated obstruents are strongly aspirated.
- Ejectives are strongly ejective.
- When occurring between vowels, ejectives are often voiced, e.g.
- → or
- is usually strongly velarized, i.e. .
- Velars are palatalized before front vowels, e.g.
- →
- →
- →
- Velar fricatives may be labialized before round vowels.
- The voiceless fricative is usually labialized, e.g.
- →
- The voiced fricative is optionally labialized and may additionally be defricated e.g.
- → or or
- The voiceless fricative is usually labialized, e.g.
- Velar stops are also labialized before round vowels. These labialized velars are not as heavily rounded as labial velars (which occur in Bearlake and Hare), e.g.
- →
- →
- Lateral affricates are sometimes velar, i.e.
- → or
- → or
- → or
- may be velar or glottal, i.e.
- → or
- → or
Vowels
Tone
Slavey has two tones:
- high
- low
Tones are both lexical and grammatical.
Lexical: 'along' vs. 'rabbit'
Grammar
Bibliography
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Rice, Karen. (1989). A grammar of Slave. Mouton grammar library (No. 5). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-010779-1.
