The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language

Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...

 of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 and Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

 of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik

Aklavik, Northwest Territories

Aklavik is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Until 1961, the community served as the regional administrative centre for the territorial government...

, Fort McPherson

Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories

Fort McPherson is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Peel River and is south of Inuvik on the Dempster Highway....

, Old Crow

Old Crow, Yukon

-Population data:-External links:******, a National Film Board of Canada documentary...

, and Tsiigehtchic (formerly Arctic Red River)

Tsiigehtchic, Northwest Territories

Tsiigehtchic is a Gwich’in community located at the confluence of the Mackenzie and the Arctic Red River, in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community was formerly known as Arctic Red River, until 1 April 1994.Population is 175 according to the 2006 Census...

. There are about 430 Gwich’in speakers in Canada out of a total Gwich’in population of 1,900.

In Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, Gwich’in is spoken in Beaver

Beaver, Alaska

Beaver is a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 84.-Geography:Beaver is located at ....

, Circle

Circle, Alaska

Circle is a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 100....

, Fort Yukon

Fort Yukon, Alaska

As of the census of 2000, there were 595 people, 225 households, and 137 families residing in the city. The population density was 85.0 people per square mile . There were 317 housing units at an average density of 45.3 per square mile...

, Chalkyitsik

Chalkyitsik, Alaska

Chalkyitsik is a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 83.-Geography:Chalkyitsik is located at ....

, Birch Creek

Birch Creek, Alaska

Birch Creek is a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 28 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, Arctic Village

Arctic Village, Alaska

Arctic Village is an unincorporated Native American village and a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the CDP was 152. The village is located in the large Gwitch'in speaking region of Alaska, and the local dialect...

, Eagle

Eagle, Alaska

Eagle is a city located along the United States-Canada border in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. It includes Eagle Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The population was 129 at the 2000 census...

, and Venetie

Venetie, Alaska

Venetie , pronounced VEEN-ih-tye, is a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States...

, Alaska. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwich’in population of 1,100 speak the language.

It is an official language of the Northwest Territories.

The ejective

Ejective consonant

In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...

 affricate

Affricate consonant

Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...

 in the name Gwich’in is usually written with symbol U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK, though the correct character for this use (with expected glyph and typographic properties) is U+02BC MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE.

Classification

Gwich’in is a member of the Northern Athabaskan

Northern Athabaskan languages

Northern Athabaskan is a geographic sub-grouping of the Athabaskan language family spoken in the northern part of North America, particularly in Alaska and the Yukon...

 subgroup of the Athabaskan language family

Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...

, in greater the Na-Dene family of languages. It shares the Han-Kutchin subdivision with the Hän language

Hän language

The Hän language is a Native American endangered language spoken in only two places: Eagle, Alaska and Dawson City, Yukon. There are only a few fluent speakers left , all of them elderly....

.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Gwich’in, including Fort Yukon Gwich’in, Arctic Village Gwich’in, Western Canada Gwich’in (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River.

Consonants

The consonants of Gwichʼin in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):

		Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...	Interdental Interdental consonant Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors...	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...		Retroflex Retroflex consonant A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...	Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....		Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
				central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center....	lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....			plain	labialized
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...	m  /m/		n  /n/
	voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...			nh  /n̥/
Plosive Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...	voiced	b  /b/		d  /d/		dr  /ɖ/		g  /ɡ/	gw  /ɡʷ/
	voiceless			t  /t/		tr  /ʈ/		k  /k/	kw  /kʷ/	’  /ʔ/
	ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...			t’  /tʼ/		tr’  /ʈʼ/		k’  /kʼ/
	nasal release Nasal release In phonetics, a nasal release is the release of a plosive consonant into a nasal stop. Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with superscript nasal letters, for example as . In English words such as sudden in which historically the tongue made separate contacts with the alveolar ridge for the /d/...			nd  /dⁿ/
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...	voiced		ddh  /dð/	dz  /dz/	dl  /dɮ/		dj  /dʒ/
	voiceless		tth  /tθ/	ts  /ts/	tl  /tɬ/		ch  /tʃ/
	ejective		tth’  /tθʼ/	ts’  /tsʼ/	tl’  /tɬʼ/		ch’  /tʃʼ/
	nasal release						nj  /dʒᶮ/
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...	voiced	v  /v/	dh  /ð/	z  /z/		zhr  /ʐ/	zh  /ʒ/	gh  /ɣ/	ghw  /ɣʷ/
	voiceless		th  /θ/	s  /s/	ł  /ɬ/	shr  /ʂ/	sh  /ʃ/	kh  /x/		h  /h/
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...	voiced				l  /l/	r  /ɻ/	y  /j/		w  /w/
	voiceless					rh  /ɻ̥/

Vowels

• short
  • a [a]
  • e [e]
  • i [i]
  • o [o]
  • u [u]
• long
  • aa [aː]
  • ee [eː]
  • ii [iː]
  • oo [oː]
  • uu [uː]
• nasal vowels are marked by an ogonek accent, e.g., ą
• low tone is optionally marked with a grave accent, e.g., à
• high tone is never marked

External links

• Yukon Native Language Centre: Gwich’in
• Alaska Native Language Center: Gwich’in
• Ettunetle Tutthug Enjit Gichinchik Portions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in Gwich’in