Sekani or Tse’khene is the indigenous language of the Sekani of the British Columbia Interior. It is spoken primarily in communities located along the upper Peace, Parsnip, and Finlay river systems, including areas around Kwadacha, Tsay Keh Dene First Nation, and McLeod Lake. The language historically reflects the people's mobility across a vast boreal and mountainous landscape, with different bands occupying distinct territories while maintaining close linguistic ties.
Most are only semispeakers, and the language is considered critically endangered. English predominates in education, government, wage labor, and interactions with outsiders, while Sekani is spoken more frequently by older generations and in family or ceremonial contexts. Many younger Sekani understand some of the language but have limited fluency, reflecting the effects of residential schools, language shift, and changing economic and social structure. As a result, English often serves economic functions, whereas Sekani remains closely associated with cultural knowledge and traditional ways of life.
Phonology Consonants Sekani has 33 consonants:
Bilabial Alveolar Post-Alveolar Velar Glottal plain sibilant lateral plain labial Stop voiceless aspirated () ejective Nasal Fricative-Approximant voiceless voiced
Vowels
Front Central Back High Mid Low
Tone Sekani has two tones: low and high. High tone is the more common tone. Syllables phonologically marked for tone are low. For example, means , while means .
Nasalization Nasalization of vowels is phonemic. The root means , while the root means . Nasal vowels also contrast with vowels followed by .
Orthography The orthography of the Kwadcha Tsek'ene dictionary uses the following letters.
+ Kwadacha Tsek'ene alphabetLetter IPA Syll. init. Syll. final - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In addition, represents , represents , represents , and represents .
Vocabulary These words are from the FirstVoices dictionary for Kwadacha Tsek'ene dialect.
Kwadacha Tsek'ene English man, person dog caribou snow rain cloud fire (n) summer water lake land axe foot my grandfather my grandmother one two three four yes January February March March April May May July August September October November December
Notes
Bibliography
Original dissertation:
Articles
References: Journal article:
External links First Voices Kwadacha Tsek'ene Community Portal Sekani entry on First Nations Languages of British Columbia site Bibliography of Sekani Linguistics Map of Northwest Coast First Nations (including Sekani) OLAC resources in and about the Sekani language