Gwichʼin language

Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people

The Gwichʼin langauge (Dinju Zhuh Kʼyuu in Gwichʼin)[1] is a language spoken by the Gwichʼin people in Canada and Alaska.

Gwichʼin is now an endangered language because most Gwichʼin now speak English.

Sounds

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Gwichʼin has a lot of sounds that are not found in English.

Letter Pronunciation
a "a" as in Tina
e "e" as in bed
i "i" as in bit
o "ough" as in thought
u "oo" as in hook
aa "a" as in hat
ee "ay" as in may
ii "ee" as in free
oo "o" as in go
uu "oo" as in boot

Consonants

Letter Pronunciation
b "p"
ch
chʼ
d "t"
dr
dh "th" like in this
ddh "th" like in eighth
dj
dl
dz
f
g
gw
gh
ghw
h
k
kw
kh
khw
l
l/
m
n
nd
nh
nj
r
rh
s
sh
shr
t
th "th" as in thin
tth
tthʼ
tl
tlʼ
tr
trʼ
ts
tsʼ
v
w
y
z
zh "si" as in vision
zhr
ʼ like the pause between "uh" and "oh" in uh-oh

This letter is a curved apostrophe (ʼ) and not a straight one (').

References

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  1. "Gwichʼin". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-03-15.