Tsuut’ina language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tsuut’ina (also Sarcee, Sarsi, Tsuu T’ina, Tsu T’ina) is a language spoken by Native Americans. It belongs to the Athabaskan language family, which also include the Navajo and Chiricahua of the south, and the Dene Suline and Tłįchǫ of the north.
The name Tsuu T'ina comes from the Tsuu T’ina self designation Tsúùt’ínà which is translated variously as 'many people', 'nation tribe', or 'people among the beavers'. However, all of these derivations are unlikely. The origin of the term Sarcee is unknown.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Consonants
The consonants of Tsuut'ina in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Lateral | Postalveolar | Velar | Velar Rounded | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiced | b* [b] | d [d] | g [g] | gw* [gʷ] | |||
| voiceless | t [t] | k [k] | kw* [kʷ] | ’ [ʔ] | ||||
| ejective | t’ [t'] | k’ [k'] | kw’* [kʷ'] | |||||
| Affricate | voiced | dz [dz] | dl dɮ] | dj [dʒ] | ||||
| voiceless | ts [ts] | tl [tɬ] | tc [tʃ] | |||||
| ejective | ts’ [ts’] | tl’ [tɬ’] | tc’ [ch’] | |||||
| Fricative | voiced | z [z] | j [ʒ] | ɣ [ɣ] | ||||
| voiceless | s [s] | ł [ɬ] | sh [ʃ] | x [x] | h [h] | |||
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | ||||||
| Approximant | w [w] | l [l] | y [j] | |||||
* disputed as phonemes
[edit] Vowels
There are four distinct vowels in Tsuut'ina - i, a, o, and u. While a and o are fairly constant, i and u can vary considerably.
-
- i varies between [i] and [e]
- a [a]
- o [ɒ] - The vowel o does not correspond to the sound [o].
- u varies between [u] and [o]
-
- long vowels are marked with an asterisk, e.g., a* [aː]
- high tone is marked with an acute accent, e.g., á
- low tone is marked with a grave accent, e.g., à
- medial tone is marked with a macron, e.g., ā
[edit] Nouns
Nouns in Sarcee 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 -ká (or -kúwá) to the end of the noun, or by using the word yìná.
[edit] List of nouns
[edit] People
- Husband - kòlà
- Man, human - dìná
- Wife - ts'òyá
[edit] Nature
- Buffalo, cow - xāní
- Cloud - nàk'ús
- Dog - tLí(tc'á)
- Fire - kù
- Mud, dirt - gútL'ìs
- Snow - zòs
- Water - tú
[edit] Bibliography
- Cook, Eung-Do. (1984). A Sarcee grammar . Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0-7748-0200-6.
