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Babine–Witsuwit'en or Nadot’en-Wets’uwet’en is an Athabaskan language spoken in the Central Interior of British Columbia. Its closest relative is Carrier. Because of this linguistic relationship together with political and cultural ties, Babine–Witsuwit'en is often referred to as ''Northern Carrier'' or ''Western Carrier''. Specialist opinion is, however, that it should be considered a separate, though related, language (Kari 1975, Story 1984, Kari and Hargus 1989). A term used briefly in the 1990s is ''Bulkley Valley – Lakes District Language'', abbreviated BVLD. The Ethnologue uses the bare name ''Babine'' for the language as a whole, not just for the Babine dialect. As its name suggests, Babine–Witsuwit'en consists of two main dialects, Babine (Nedut’en) and Witsuwit'en. Babine is spoken around Babine Lake, Trembleur Lake, and Takla Lake. Witsuwit'en is spoken in the Bulkley Valley, around Broman Lake, and in the vicinity of Skins Lake. The two dialects are very similar and are distinguished primarily by the fact that in Babine but not in Witsuwit'en the Athabascan front velar series have become palatal affricates. Several non-specialist sources (the First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council, the British Columbia Ministry of Education, and the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology) classify Witsuwit'en as one language and Babine as a distinct language, either on its own or together with Carrier proper under the name ''Dakelh''. Experts on the languages reject this classification. All agree that the differences between Babine and Witsuwit'en are small and that the major split is between Babine and Witsuwit'en on the one hand and Carrier proper on the other hand. The distinction is because speakers of Babine and of Carrier proper call themselves and their language ''Dakelh'' but that speakers of Witsuwit'en do not.〔Poser, William J. (2011) The Carrier Language: a brief introduction. Prince George, British Columbia: College of New Caledonia Press. Page 8, footnote 15.〕 Like most other native languages of British Columbia, Babine–Witsuwit'en is an endangered language. It is spoken by a minority of the population, primarily elders. There are 161 fluent and 159 partial speakers of the Babine dialect〔(''First People's Language Map of British Columbia'' ) Nedut’en (Babine): State of the Language〕 and 131 fluent and 61 partial speakers of the Witsuwit'en dialect.〔(''First People's Language Map of British Columbia'' ) Witsusit'en: State of the Language〕 At most a handful of children speak the language.〔(The Status of the Native Languages of British Columbia ) Yinka Déné Language Institute 2007〕 ==Phonology== The aspirated and ejective labials are rarer than other consonants. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Babine-Witsuwit'en language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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