Chilcotin (Tŝinlhqut’in)

Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by about 860 people in British Columbia in Canada, mainly in Nemiah Valley west of Williams Lake. The language is also known as Tsilhqot’in, Tsilhqut’in or Tzilkotin, and the native name for the language is Tŝinlhqut’in, [ts̠ˤʰᵊĩɬqʰotʼin], which means "people of the red ochre river".

The Naghtaneqed Elementary Jr. Secondary School runs Chilcotin language classes from Kindergarten to grade nine, and also a culture week. Chilcotin immersion daycare is also available for infants and preschoolers.

Chilcotin alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Vowels can be tense, lax, nasal or flattened. Vowels become nasalized when followed by n. The tense vowels i, u and a become lax when followed by a syllable-final h.
Chilcotin has two tones: high and low. The high tone can be marked with an acute accent (á) and the low tone with a grave accent (à).

Download an alphabet chart for Chilcotin (Excel)

Sample text

ʔEsdiniq'ed ʔeyi chula jeyiyanagwelnɨg ʔanh. ʔEyi chuh nenk'ed ʔetsu gadenish. Deni ch'adet'insh guts'elhtish hink'an lha ʔeyen xats'elhtish hink'an lha gagwet'in guyah. Xenan deni ʔinlhanx gwenɨsh guts'aghilhtin ts'enentalhʔinlh.

Translation

There is a story told about the sasquatch. Grandma tells this story too. When they used to bury people somebody was digging up the graves and the people didn't know what was going on. Finally, they buried one person alive so they could see what was happening.

Source: http://www.firstvoices.com/en/Tsilhqotin-Xeni-Gwetin/stories

Sample videos in Chilcotin

Links

Information about the Chilcotin language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_language
http://www.ethnologue.com/language/clc
http://www.ydli.org/langs/chilcotin.htm
http://www.native-languages.org/chilcotin.htm
http://www.firstvoices.com/en/Tsilhqotin-Xeni-Gwetin

Na-Dené languages

Ahtna, Apache (Western), Babine-Witsuwit'en, Chilcotin, Chipewyan, Deg Xinag, Dena’ina, Dane-zaa (Beaver), Eyak, Gwich'in, Hän, Hupa, Jicarilla, Kaska, Koyukon, Lipan Apache, Lower Tanana, Mescalero-Chiricahua, Navajo, North Slavey, Sekani, South Slavey, Tahltan, Tanacross, Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib), Tolowa, Tsuut'ina (Sarcee), Tutchone, Upper Kuskokwim, Upper Tanana

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 12.06.21

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