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Sekani
Tse'khene
Native to	Canada
Region	British Columbia
Ethnicity	1,410 Sekani people (2014, FPCC)
Native speakers	200, 14% of ethnic population (2016 census)
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan Northern Athabaskan Sekani
Writing system	Latin script Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sek
Glottolog	seka1250
ELP	Tse'khene (Sekani)
Sekani is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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The Sekani language or Tse’khene is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Sekani people of north-central British Columbia, Canada.

Phonology

Consonants

Sekani has 33 consonants:

1. Sekani, like other Athabaskan languages, does not contrast fricatives with approximants.

Vowels

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'.

Nasalization

Nasalization of vowels is phonemic. The root *ghèl means 'scrape', while the root *ghę̀l means 'roll'. Nasal vowels also contrast with vowels followed by /n/.

Orthography

The orthography of the Kwadcha Tsek'ene dictionary uses the following letters.

In addition, ⟨wu⟩ represents /ʊ/, ⟨iii⟩ represents /iː/, ⟨ee⟩ represents /eː/, and ⟨aa⟩ represents /ɑː/.

Sample words

These words are from the FirstVoices dictionary for Kwadacha Tsek'ene dialect.

Notes

1. Sekani language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics (2 August 2017). "Language Highlight Tables, 2016 Census - Aboriginal mother tongue, Aboriginal language spoken most often at home and Other Aboriginal language(s) spoken regularly at home for the population excluding institutional residents of Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 100% Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 17 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. ^ Hargus, Sharon (21 April 2000). "Ft. Ware (Kwadacha) Sekani Dictionary". Alaska Native Language Archive. University of Alaska Fairbanks. CN990H2000.
4. ^ "Kwadacha Tsek'ene alphabet". FirstVoices. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
5. 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.

External links

• First Voices Kwadacha Tsek'ene Community Portal
• Sekani entry on First Nations Languages of British Columbia site
• Bibliography of Sekani Linguistics
• Map of Northwest Coast First Nations (including Sekani)
• OLAC resources in and about the Sekani language

• Northern Athabaskan languages
• Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
• First Nations languages in Canada
• Languages of the United States
• Northern Interior of British Columbia
• Endangered Athabaskan languages
• Sekani