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Wikipedia / Tsuutʼina language

Tsuutʼina (), formerly known as Sarcee or Sarsi, is an Athabaskan language spoken by the people of the Tsuutʼina Nation, whose reserve and community is near Calgary, Alberta. It is related to other Athabaskan languages, such as Navajo and Chiricahua to the south, and Dene Suline and Tłı̨chǫ to the north.

Nomenclature

The name Tsuutʼina comes from the Tsuutʼina self designation , meaning "many people", "nation tribe", or "people among the beavers". Sarcee is a deprecated exonym from Siksiká.

Language revitalization

Tsuutʼina is a critically endangered language, with only 150 speakers, 80 of whom speak it as their mother tongue, according to the 2016 Canadian census. The Tsuutʼina Nation has created the Tsuutʼina Gunaha Institute with the intention of creating new fluent speakers. This includes full K–4 immersion education at schools on the Nation and placing stop signs in the Tsuutʼina language at intersections in the Tsuutʼina Nation.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonants of Tsuutʼina are listed below, with symbols from the standard orthography in brackets:

Vowels

There are four phonemically distinct vowel qualities in Tsuutʼina: , represented as . While and are fairly constant, can vary considerably.Vowels are also distinguished by length and tone, similar to other Athabaskan languages, so that Tsuutʼina, taking the total number of vowel phonemes to 24 (i.e. ).

  • long vowels are written doubled, e.g.,

  • high tone is marked with an acute accent, e.g.,

  • low tone is marked with a grave accent, e.g.,

  • mid tone is marked with a macron, e.g.,

Nouns

Nouns in Tsuutʼina are not declined, and most plural nouns are not distinguished from singular nouns. However, kinship terms are distinguished between singular and plural form by adding the suffix (or ) to the end of the noun or by using the word .

List of nouns

People

  • husband -

  • man, human -

  • wife -

  • woman -

  • grandmother -

  • grandfather -

  • mother -

  • father -

Nature

  • Buffalo, cow -

  • Cloud -

  • Dog -

  • Fire -

  • Mud, dirt -

  • Snow -

  • Water -

Words and phrases

  • my name is (..) -

Noun possession

Nouns can exist in free form or possessed form. When in possessed form, the prefixes listed below can be attached to nouns to show possession. For example, , "knife", can be affixed with the 1st person prefix to become or "my knife". Note that is the possessed form of the noun.

Some nouns, like , as shown above, can alternate between free form and possessed form. A few nouns, like , "snow", are never possessed and exist only in free form. Other nouns, such as , "head", have no free form and must always be possessed.

Typical possession prefixes

  • 1st person -

  • 2nd person -

  • 3rd person -

  • 4th person (Athabaskan) -

References

Bibliography

  • Cook, Eung-Do. (1973b). "Complementation in Sarcee". [Unpublished?]

  • Hofer, E. (1973). "Phonological Change in Sarcee". [Unpublished?]

  • Hoijer, H. and Joël, J.. (1963). "Sarcee Nouns", in Studies in the Athabaskan Languages, eds. Hoijer, H. et al., 62–75.

  • Sapir, E. (1924). "Personal Names Among the Sarcee Indians", American Anthropologist n.s. 26, 108–199.

  • Sarcee Culture Program. 1979. Tsu Tʼina and the Buffalo. Calgary.

See also