Babine-Witsuwit'en language

Babine–Witsuwit'en
Witsuwit'en
Native to Canada
Region British Columbia
Ethnicity 3,410 Nadot’en (Babine) and Wet'suwet'en in 7 of 9 communities (2014, FPCC)[1]
Native speakers
 430 in 7 of 9 communities (2014, FPCC)[1]
Dené–Yeniseian?
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bcr
Glottolog babi1235[2]

Babine–Witsuwit'en or Nadot’en-Wets’uwet’en is an Athabaskan language spoken in the Central Interior of British Columbia. Its closest relative is Carrier. Because of this linguistic relationship together with political and cultural ties, Babine–Witsuwit'en is often referred to as Northern Carrier or Western Carrier. Specialist opinion is, however, that it should be considered a separate, though related, language (Kari 1975, Story 1984, Kari and Hargus 1989).

A term used briefly in the 1990s is Bulkley Valley – Lakes District Language, abbreviated BVLD. The Ethnologue uses the bare name Babine for the language as a whole, not just for the Babine dialect.

As its name suggests, Babine–Witsuwit'en consists of two main dialects, Babine (Nedut’en) and Witsuwit'en. Babine is spoken around Babine Lake, Trembleur Lake, and Takla Lake. Witsuwit'en is spoken in the Bulkley Valley, around Broman Lake, and in the vicinity of Skins Lake. The two dialects are very similar and are distinguished primarily by the fact that in Babine but not in Witsuwit'en the Athabascan front velar series have become palatal affricates.

Several non-specialist sources (the First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council, the British Columbia Ministry of Education, and the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology) classify Witsuwit'en as one language and Babine as a distinct language, either on its own or together with Carrier proper under the name Dakelh. Experts on the languages reject this classification. All agree that the differences between Babine and Witsuwit'en are small and that the major split is between Babine and Witsuwit'en on the one hand and Carrier proper on the other hand. The distinction is because speakers of Babine and of Carrier proper call themselves and their language Dakelh but that speakers of Witsuwit'en do not.[3]

Like most other native languages of British Columbia, Babine–Witsuwit'en is an endangered language. It is spoken by a minority of the population, primarily elders. There are 161 fluent and 159 partial speakers of the Babine dialect[4] and 131 fluent and 61 partial speakers of the Witsuwit'en dialect.[5] At most a handful of children speak the language.[6]

Phonology

Witsuwit'en Consonants[7]
Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal
central lateral sibilant fronted rounded backed
Nasal m n
Occlusive tenuis p t tɬ ts c kʷ q ʔ
aspirated (pʰ) tʰ tɬʰ tsʰ cʰ kʷʰ qʰ
ejective (pʼ) tʼ tɬʼ tsʼ cʼ kʷʼ qʼ
Continuant voiced l z j w ʁ
voiceless l s ç xʷ χ h

The aspirated and ejective labials are rarer than other consonants.

Words and phrases

Witsuwit'en Southern Carrier English
lhok lhook fish
ne’ 'ama mother
lhk'iy lhuk’i one
nek nankoh two
tak'iy tak’ih three
Hadï So'endzin Hello. How are you?
Sne kal yëgh Thank you

Source: First Voices

Basic word order in Babine-Witsuwit'en is Subject Object Verb (SOV).[8] The Witsuwit'en verb consists of a lexical root and an aspectual, tense, or modal affix - most often a suffix. All Witsuwit'en verbs carry tense and subject inflection; there is no Witsuwit'en equivalent to the English infinitive. Verbs are inflected for direct objects, with the order of prefixing on verbs relatively rigid, with affixes furthest away from the lexical stem displaying more variability.[9] However, Witsuwit'en does not mark for third-person singular subject or object, as demonstrated in the examples below:[10]

1) Yilh niwilyekh.

    with-3s 3s-plays
    ‘3s was playing with it’

2) Yighinsiye.

   ‘3s invited 3s’

3) Hiyïts’oldeh.

‘They need it’

While verbs are marked for tense and inflected via affix markers for subject and object, noun stems are inflected for possessor but do not take case marking as no case marking exists in Witsuwit'en. These two sets of affix markings for both nouns and verbs draw from the same set of prefixes, except in the case of subject marking on the verb stems. There are another set of markers for subject marking on verb stems, distinct from other pronominal affixes.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Babine–Witsuwit'en at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Babine". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Poser, William J. (2011) The Carrier Language: a brief introduction. Prince George, British Columbia: College of New Caledonia Press. Page 8, footnote 15.
  4. ↑ First People's Language Map of British Columbia Nedut’en (Babine): State of the Language
  5. ↑ First People's Language Map of British Columbia Witsusit'en: State of the Language
  6. ↑ The Status of the Native Languages of British Columbia Yinka Déné Language Institute 2007
  7. ↑ Wright, Hargus & Davis (2002:45)
  8. ↑ Denham, Kristin (2000). "Optional Wh-Movement in Babine-Witsuwit'en". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory.
  9. ↑ Hargus, Sharon (2007). Witsuwit'en Grammar: Phonetics, phonology, morphology. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press. ISBN 978-0774813822.
  10. 1 2 Gunlogson, Christine (2001). "Third-Person Object Prefixes in Babine Witsuwit'en". International Journal of American Linguistics 67: 365–395. doi:10.1086/466468.

Bibliography

External links

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