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: Vowels Tone Sekani has two tones: low and high. High tone is the more common tone. Syllables phonologically marked for tone are low. Nasalization Nasalization of vowels is phonemic and so changes the meaning. Sample words In the practical writing system used here for the Kwadacha Tsek'ene dialect, u represents the mid-central vowel, and oo represents the high back rounded vowel. An apostrophe represents a glottal stop, and an ogonek under a vowel represents nasalization. dune man; person tlįį dog wudzįįh caribou yus snow chǫ rain k’wus cloud kwùn fire ’įįbèh summer too water mun lake nun land tselh axe ʼukèʼ foot ’àtse my grandfather ’àtsǫǫ my grandmother lhìghè’ one lhèkwudut’e two tadut’e three dįįdut’e four ǫ yes Tlįį duchę̀’ ’ehdasde January Dahyusè’ nùkehde wìlę February Nùtsʼiide March ʼUtʼǫ̀ʼ kùnuyehde May Jìje dinììdulh July Yhììh nunutsunde wìlę August Yhììh ukudeh’àsde September ’Udììtl’ǫh ’uwit’į̀į̀h October Yus ’ut’į̀į̀h November Khuye ’uwììjàh December Notes Bibliography Hargus, Sharon. (1988). The Lexical Phonology of Sekani. (Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics). New York: Garland Publishers. Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); . Articles Hargus, Sharon (2009) Effects on consonant duration in Fort Ware Tsek'ene. Presented at Athabaskan/Dene Languages Conference, Eugene, OR. PDF of slides, PDF of references. Hargus, Sharon (2009) "Causatives and transitionals in Kwadacha Tsek'ene." (slides) Presented at the Athabaskan Languages Conference, Berkeley, CA. [Supported by NSF DEL-0651853 and Kwadacha Education Society] Hargus, Sharon (2009) "Phonetic vs. phonological rounding in Athabaskan languages." PDF of slides, PDF of references. Presented at LabPhon 12, Albuquerque, NM. (reposted July 16, 2010). The article will appear in Journal of Laboratory Phonology 3:163-193. 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