Tsuut’ina is a language spoken by the Tsuu T'ina Nation

Tsuu T'ina Nation

The Tsuu T'ina Nation is a First Nation in Canada. Their territory is located on the Indian reserve Tsuu T'ina Nation 145, whose east side is adjacent to the southwest city limits of Calgary, Alberta...

 near Calgary, Alberta. It belongs to the Athabaskan language family

Athabaskan languages

Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...

, which also include the Navajo

Navajo language

Navajo or Navaho is an Athabaskan language spoken in the southwestern United States. It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages .Navajo has more speakers than any other Native American language north of the...

 and Chiricahua

Chiricahua language

Mescalero-Chiricahua is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Mescalero and Chiricahua tribes in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is related to Navajo and Western Apache. Mescalero-Chiricahua has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer , especially in Hoijer &...

 of the south, and the Dene Suline

Dene Suline language

Dene Suline or Chipewyan is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada. It is a part of the Athabaskan family...

 and Tłı̨chǫ

Dogrib language

Dogrib, the English translation of the indigenous name ' , is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the First Nations Tłı̨chǫ people of the Canadian territory Northwest Territories...

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.

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  [ɡ]	gw*  [ɡʷ]
	voiceless		t  [t]			k  [k]	kw*  [kʷ]	’  [ʔ]
	ejective		t’  [tʼ]			k’  [kʼ]	kw’*  [kʷʼ]
Affricate	voiced		dz  [dz]	dl  [dɮ]	dj  [dʒ]
	voiceless		ts  [ts]	tl  [tɬ]	tc  [tʃ]
	ejective		ts’  [tsʼ]	tl’  [tɬʼ]	tc’  [tʃʼ]
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

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

Nouns

Nouns in Tsuut'ina 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.

Nature

• Buffalo, cow - xāní
• Cloud - nàk'ús
• Dog - tLí(tc'á)
• Fire - kù
• Mud, dirt - gútL'ìs
• Snow - zòs
• Water - tú

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, más, "knife", can be affixed with the 1st person prefix to become sìmázà’, or "my knife". Note that -mázà’ is the possessed form of the noun.

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

Typical possession prefixes

• 1st person - si-
• 2nd person - ni-
• 3rd person - mi-
• 4th person (Athabascan) - ɣi-

External links

• The Verb «Be» in Sarcee