Tlicho, also known as Tà Âñèchë Yatñì () or the Dogrib language, is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Tà Âñèchë (Dogrib people) First Nations of the Canadian Northwest Territories. According to Statistics Canada in 2011, there were 2,080 people who speak Tà Âñèchë Yatñì. As of 2016, 1,735 people speak the language.
Tà Âñchë Yatñì is spoken by the Tà Âñchë, a Dene First Nations people that reside in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Tà Âñèchë lands lie east of Mackenzie River (Deh Cho) between Great Slave Lake (Tñdeè) and Great Bear Lake (Sahtu) in the Northwest Territories. There are four primary communities that speak the language: Gamèti (formerly Rae Lakes), Behchokëà(formerly Rae-Edzo), Wekweètì (formerly Snare Lakes) and Whatì (formerly Lac La Martre). From a population number of about 800 during the mid-19th century to about 1,700 by the 1970s, the population has grown to about 2,080 as recorded by the 2011 Census. However, Tà Âñchë Yatñì has seen a decrease in mother tongue speakers, hence placing it under the list of endangered languages.
The Tà Âñchë region covers the northern shore of Great Slave Lake (Tñdeè), reaching up to Great Bear Lake (Sahtu). BehchokëÃÂ, is the largest community in Tà Âñchë territory. According to the Endangered Languages Project, approximately 1,350 people speak the language while at home. Speakers are commonly fluent in English.
Tà Âñchë Yatñì was traditionally only an oral language. Tà Âñèchë Yatñì was one of the many Indigenous Canadian languages affected by the Canadian Indian residential school system. Through the British North America Act 1867 and the Indian Act of 1876, the Canadian Government formalised its unilateral control over Indigenous people and their lands. By the 1920s these schools became mandatory for all indigenous children to attend. Indigenous languages were not allowed to be spoken at these schools since the late 19th century. The last of the residential schools closed in 1996. These schools contributed heavily to language shift away from Indigenous languages, including Tà Âñèchë Yatñì, and towards English.
In 1992, the first edition of the Tà Âñchë Yatñì Enïhtà ÂâÂÂè - A Dogrib Dictionary was published which provided the Tà Âñchë people with a database of words and spelling. This sparked the interest of community members and became the first step in revitalization efforts.
In 2005, the Tà Âñchë signed the Tà Âñchë Agreement for Self-Governance. This allowed the Tà Âñchë people to prioritize the preservation of their language, culture and way of life. Since its implementation, the Tà Âñchë Government has been working hard to help younger generations of Tà Âñchë learn the language by declaring Tà Âñchë Yatñì as one of two official languages of the Tà Âñchë Government. Revitalization efforts include putting up signs in Tà Âñchë Yatñì, creating on the land programs, providing Tà Âñchë Yatñì classes for community members.
Tà Âñèchë Yatñì is one of the nine official Indigenous languages of the Northwest Territories (NWT) in Canada. Because of its official status, the NWT's department of Education, Culture, and Employment, has been monitoring the language through the Indigenous Languages and Education Secretariat since 2014. This department is devoted to the revitalization of the official languages in the NWT and has policies that ensure the continued use and growth of Indigenous languages. According to the 2018 - 2019 Annual Report on Official Languages, multiple revitalization efforts have been made by the Tà Âñèchë Government. Some of which include an Elder Evening Story Telling that occurs weekly, transcribing and translating materials into Tà Âñèchë Yatñì for classes, setting up a radio station, and having community language classes in the language, now including immersion classes in grades K-7. In addition to local efforts, the Official Languages Act ensures that Tà Âñèchë Yatñì and the other indigenous languages are used in providing government services.
The language is mainly spoken in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The four official Tà Âñchë communities are Gamètì, BehchokëÃÂ, Wekweètì and Whatì. Both communities of Yellowknife and Dettah also have many Tà Âñchë speakers, mostly speaking the WññÃÂlññÃÂdeh Yatññàdialect.
The Yellowknives Dene speak a dialect of Tà Âñèchë called WññÃÂlññÃÂdeh YatññÃÂ. This dialect came into existence when speakers of Chipewyan began speaking Tà Âñèchë after 1829 and incorporated some Chipewyan words and grammar.
The consonants of Tà Âñchë Yatñì in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):
Tenuis stops may be lightly voiced. Aspirated stops may be fricated before back vowels.
The language uses long, short and nasal vowels, and distinguishes them in writing, along with low tone:
Typologically, Tà Âñchë Yatñì is an agglutinating, polysynthetic head-marking language, but many of its affixes combine into contractions more like fusional languages. The canonical word order of Tà Âñchë Yatñì is SOV. Tà Âñchë Yatñì words are modified primarily by prefixes, which is unusual for an SOV language (suffixes are expected).
Like Spanish and Portuguese, Tà Âñchë Yatñì has two verbs similar to English 'be'. One is used for ways of being that are more dynamic or temporary; the other for more permanent and immutable properties. For example, ' and ' both mean 'we are hunters', but the first means that the speakers are currently hunters (for example, part of a hunting party), while the second implies that hunting is their regular profession.
In addition to verbs and nouns, there are pronouns, clitics of various functions, demonstratives, numerals, postpositions, adverbs, and conjunctions in Tà Âñchë. The class of adjectives is very small, probably around two dozen words: most descriptive words are verbs rather than adjectives.
Example words and phrases: