Slavey is an 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...

 spoken among the Slavey

Slavey

The Slavey are a First Nations aboriginal people of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta....

 First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

 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...

 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...

 where it also has official status

Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...

.

In older literature, the name of the language was spelt and pronounced Slave; however, in order to dissociate the name from the word slave

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

, first the pronunciation was changed by pronouncing the e, and then the spelling was changed to Slavé and later Slavey.

The language is written using Canadian Aboriginal syllabics

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics

Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families....

 or the Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

.

Slavey was the native language spoken by the fictional band in the Canadian television series North of 60

North of 60

North of 60 is a mid-1990s Canadian television series depicting life in the sub-Arctic northern boreal forest . It first aired on CBC Television in 1992 and was syndicated around the world. It is set in the fictional community of Lynx River, a primarily Native-run town depicted as being in the...

. Nick Sibbeston

Nick Sibbeston

Nick G. Sibbeston is a Canadian Senator. He attended residential school in Fort Simpson, Providence, Inuvik, and Yellowknife, and the University of Alberta where he graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees.-Political career:...

, a former Premier of the Northwest Territories

Premier of the Northwest Territories

The Premier of the Northwest Territories is the first minister for the Northwest Territories,Canada. He or she is the territory's head of government and de facto chief executive, although the powers of the office are considerably less than those of a provincial premier.Unlike provincial premiers,...

, was a Slavey language and culture consultant for the show.

North Slavey language and South Slavey language

North Slavey language is spoken by the Sahtu

Sahtu

The Sahtú are an Aboriginal peoples of Canada Dene people living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake , Northwest Territories, Canada...

 people in the Mackenzie District

District of Mackenzie

The District of Mackenzie was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories. The district consisted of the portion of the Northwest Territories directly north of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan on Canada's mainland....

 along the middle Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 from Fort Norman north, around Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely within Canada , the third or fourth largest in North America, and the seventh or eighth largest in the world...

, and in the Mackenzie Mountains

Mackenzie Mountains

The Mackenzie Mountains are a mountain range forming part of the Yukon-Northwest Territories boundary between the Liard and Peel rivers. The range is named in honour of Canada's second Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie. Nahanni National Park Reserve is in the Mackenzie Mountains.The Mackenzie...

 of the Canadian territory of 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...

.

Statistics:
Speakers: 1,235 (2006 Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

)

Alternate names: Slavi, Dené, Mackenzian, Slave

Dialects: Hare, Bearlake, Mountain

South Slavey language or Dene-thah, is spoken in the region of Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada , the deepest lake in North America at , and the ninth-largest lake in the world. It is long and wide. It covers an area of in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from to and up to ...

, upper Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 and drainage in Mackenzie District

Mackenzie District

Mackenzie District is a political district in New Zealand's South Island. It is part of the larger Canterbury Region.-Principal settlements:*Fairlie*Twizel*Cave*Mount Cook Village*Albury*TekapoAlso*Burkes Pass-Geography:See Mackenzie Basin,...

, northeast Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, northwest British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

.

Statistics:
Speakers: 2,310 (2006 Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

)

Alternate names: Slavi, Slave, Dené, Mackenzian

Consonants

		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...	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...	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....	Postalveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as 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)....  / palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	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...
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 &...	plain	p	t			k	ʔ
	aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...		tʰ			kʰ
	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...		tʼ			kʼ
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...	plain		ts	tɬ	tʃ
	aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...		tsʰ	tɬʰ	tʃʰ
	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...		tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ
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...	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...		s	ɬ	ʃ	x	h
	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...		z	ɮ	ʒ	ɣ
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 :...		m	n
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...		w				j

The consonant inventories in the dialects of Slavey differ considerably. The table above lists the 30 consonants common to most or all varieties. Hare lacks aspirated affricates (on red background), while Mountain lacks /w/ (on blue). In addition, for some speakers of Hare, an alveolar flap /ɾ/ has developed into a separate phoneme.

The most pronounced difference is however the realization of a series of consonants that varies greatly in their place of articulation:

	Slavey proper	Mountain	Bearlake	Hare
Plain stop/affricate	t̪θ	p	kʷ	kʷ
Aspirated	t̪θʰ	pʰ	kʷʰ	-
Ejective	t̪θʼ	pʼ	kʷʼ	ʔw
Voiceless fricative	θ	f	hʷ	f
Voiced fricative / semivowel	ð	v	w	w

In Slavey proper, these are dental affricates and fricatives; comparative Athabaskan work reveals this to be the oldest sound value. Mountain has labials, with the voiceless stop coinciding with pre-existing /p/. Bearlake has labialized velars, but has lenited the voiced fricative to coincide with pre-existing /w/. The most complicated situation is found in Hare, where the plain stop is (as in Bearlake) a labialized velar, the aspirated member is missing, the ejective member is replaced by a /ʔw/ sequence, the voiceless fricative is (as in Mountain) /f/, and the voiced fricative has (again as in Bearlake) been lenited to /w/.

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.
  • /k/ → [k] or [k̬]
• Aspirated obstruents are strongly aspirated.
• Ejectives are strongly ejective.
• When occurring between vowels, ejectives are often voiced, e.g.
  • /kʼ/ → [ɡˀ] or [kʼ] is usually strongly velarized, i.e. [tˣ].
• Velar obstruents are palatalized before front vowels, e.g.
  • /kɛ/ → [cɛ]
  • /xɛ/ → [çɛ]
  • /ɣɛ/ → [ʝɛ]
• Velar fricatives may be labialized before round vowels.
  • The voiceless fricative is usually labialized, e.g.
    • /xo/ → [xʷo]
  • The voiced fricative is optionally labialized and may additionally be defricated e.g.
    • /ɣo/ → [ɣo] or [ɣʷo] or [wo]
• 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.
  • /ko/ → [kʷo]
  • /kʷo/ → [k̹ʷwo]
• Lateral affricates are generally alveolar, but sometimes velar, i.e.
  • /tɬ/ → [tɬ] or [kɬ]
  • /tɬʰ/ → [tɬʰ] or [kɬʰ]
  • /tɬʼ/ → [tɬʼ] or [kɬʼ] may be velar or glottal, i.e.
  • /x/ → [x] or [h]

Vowels

• a [a]
• e [ɛ]
• ə [e] or [ie]
• i [i]
• o [o]
• u [u]
• nasal vowels are marked with an ogonek accent, e.g., ⟨ą⟩ [ã]
• South Slavey does not have the ⟨ə⟩ vowel.

Tone

Slavey has two tones:

• high
• low

In Slavey orthography, high tone is marked with an acute accent, and low tone is unmarked.

Tones are both lexical and grammatical.

Lexical: /ɡáh/ 'along' vs. /ɡàh/ 'rabbit'