Some Useful Words Numbers Colours ‡¯À one dÀht¯öÀ it is blue n�ke two dez· it is black tai three dekwo it is yellow d‡ four degoo it is white s‡lài five dzÀhw� pink eköÀtai six ‡töÎfi green ¯Îhd‡ seven ejiedoÕ brown eköÀd‡ eight deköo it is red ¯·Ît· nine deköo dekwo it is orange hoÕn· ten dehbaa it is gray hoÕn· daatsöÎ ‡¯À eleven hoÕn· daatsöÎ nàke twelve hoÕn· daatsöÎ ¯·Ît· nineteen naÀn· twenty taÀn· tfty d‡Àn· forty d‡Àn· daatsöÎ s‡lài forty-five s‡l�Àn· fifty eköÀtaÀn· sixty T¯‡ch· Yatià En‡ht¯öÀ A Dogrib Dictionary Dogrib Divisional Board of Education Dettah • Rae-Edzo • Rae Lakes • Snare Lake • Wha Ti 1996 Dedication To the young people of our communities... and to their elders. With the strength, energy and enthusiasm of the one and the knowledge, wisdom and values of the other, may we have a generation that is truly “strong like two people”. © Dogrib Divisional Board of Education 1992, 1996 Published by the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education, Rae-Edzo, NWT. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. ISBN 1-896790-00-3 Copies may be ordered from: Dogrib Divisional Board of Education Bag 1, Rae-Edzo, NT X0E 0Y0 Canada telephone (403) 371-3026 facsimile (403) 371-3053 Funding provided by the Secretary of State, Canada under the Cooperation Agreement for French & Aboriginal Languages in the NWT and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Table of Contents Preface Editorial Committee Introduction ................................................................ i How to Use the Dictionary ................................... i The Dogrib Alphabet ........................................... ii Nouns, Verbs & Other Types of Words ............... vi The Dogrib Language and Its Family ................. xv Writing Dene and Dogrib Words ....................... xvi How a Dictionary is Made ................................xvii More on Dogrib Spelling: Orthographic Standardization ...................xviii Dogrib to English Dictionary ......................................1 English to Dogrib Dictionary ..................................137 Preface The publication of a preliminary edition of the Dogrib Feenstra who began this project on our behalf in Dictionary in 1992 was an important event for the 1990 and for Leslie Saxon and Mary Siemens who Dogrib Divisional Board of Education. The dictionary continued the work after the preliminary dictionary coincided with the graduation of the first teachers publication in 1992. They have committed a great from the Kw’atindee Bino Community Teacher deal of their personal time, energy and passion into Education Program in Rae-Edzo and was intended this project, and the Board of Education is indebted as an integral part of the foundation upon which we to them. could build the language and cultural programming in Appreciation must also be given to the individual our schools. The distribution of the dictionary kindled members of the Dogrib Divisional Board of an interest in many people in their language which Education, who, over the past seven years, have supported the progress of literacy courses in our consistently recognized the importance of this work communities and the writing of Dogrib in our schools. and supported the project. Also, thanks are due We hope that this enlarged and improved edition of to those people outside of our communities who the dictionary will do more of the same. As each year contributed significantly to the success of the project there are fewer elders who speak of the old ways in including Paul Brown and, later, Flemming Andersen the old language, it becomes extremely important of AKTIV Software in Victoria who developed the 4th to document their world view before it is gone Dimension template and completed the formatting altogether. The dictionary is one tool to achieve this for the final product. end. In the future, it will serve young people by giving Finally, I would like to thank the first and second them a glimpse into the world of their ancestors and, generation of Dogrib teachers who have taught our we can pray that it will continue to be the record of a children in their first language: Mary Adele Flunkie, living language. Lucy Lafferty, George Mackenzie, Phillip Mackenzie, The publication of this book is not the end of this Gina Maclean and Terri Tsetta who in many ways dictionary project. We hope to continue documenting started it all with her original noun dictionary, and the Dogrib language, and that this continuing work Josie Bishop, Shirley Campbell, Verna Crapeau, will lead to the publication of a more comprehensive Mary Therese Douglas, Christine Liske, Rosa Mantla, dictionary in the years to come. Indeed, we currently Cecilia Zoe-Martin, Bella Nitsiza, Eva Nitsiza, Marie collect and document the language using a relational Sabourin, Ernestine Steinwand, Tammy Steinwand database that records a great deal more information and Celine Whane. than we have been able to include within the constraints of this edition. Mahsì cho. This dictionary project would never have been completed without the work of a number of people. I Jim Martin, Director want to express my profound appreciation for Jacob Dogrib Divisional Board of Education Editors Leslie Saxon Department of Linguistics University of Victoria Mary Siemens Teaching & Learning Centre Dogrib Divisional Board of Education Advisory Group Alphonse Eronchi Phillip Huskey Rosa Huskey Gabe Lafferty Lucy Lafferty Elizabeth Mackenzie Robert Mackenzie Jimmy Martin Elizabeth Quitte Phillip Rabesca Vital Thomas Joe Tobie Isidore Wellin Edward Weyallon Introduction Ths book s a revson of the prelmnary Dogrib Dogrb has four vowels (a e i o) and four knds of Dictionary publshed by the Dogrb Dvsonal Board vowels. Wth PLAIN VOWELS, the ar whch makes the of Educaton n 1992. Ths book both adds and sounds flows through the mouth. With NASAL VOWELS, subtracts words from the 1992 dctonary. Added are the air which makes the sound flows through the words whch were notced to be mssng from the nose and the mouth. Wth LOW TONE PLAIN VOWELS, earler book, and subtracted are words whch could the voice is deeper and the air flows through the not be completely checked for correct spellng and mouth. In LOW TONE NASAL VOWELS, the voce s deeper meanng. The words n ths book also demonstrate and the air flows through the nose and mouth. For mportant advances n our understandng of how the example, wth the vowel we wrte these vowels n Dogrb language s pronounced, especally the four the followng way: knds of vowels. i plain vowel ‡ nasal vowel How to Use the Dictionary à low tone plain vowel Alphabetical Order Í low tone nasal vowel In ths dctonary the words are lsted n the order of Plan vowels are lsted n the alphabet before nasal the Dogrb alphabet. Snce ˙ is the first letter of the vowels, and regular tone vowels are lsted before Dogrb alphabet, all of the words startng wth ˙ are low tone vowels. The words below are shown n the listed on the first pages. Sincezh s the last letter, correct order. words whch start wth zh are lsted last. di island ˙ a b ch chö d dl dz e g grouse gh gw h i j k kö kw kwö l dih ¯ m mb n nd o r s sh t dii this tö t¯ t¯ö ts tsö w wh x y z dià now zh d‡ four d‡Í four times dÃÀ very The Dogrib Alphabet The chart below lsts all of the Dogrb letters and letters. Also shown s the closest Englsh equvalent gves Dogrb words whch llustrate the sound of the to the Dogrb sound. Letter Dogrib Word English Translation Closest English Sound ˙ ˙ah snowshoe the ‘clck’ sound whch we hear n ˙oo spruce bough the expression “oh-oh” t¯ö∑˙eh pants se˙ÎÎ more than me a am� mother father; when a s nasalzed, t s lad� table smlar to the sound n want d·fi lttle person eht¯ö‡fi sweater b bebà baby baby lÃbal∑ canvas köehbe I am swmmng b‡Í beans ch ch· ran char; some people pronounce ths cheÀ cheque sound more lke what we hear n nech∑ t s bg wetsut ticho ocean chõ chõoh qull the same as ch, but wth the ‘clck’ sechõ∑ aganst me sound as part of t ÀhchõÀ I’m angry ehchõÈfl pckerel d done person dd edi hot weather wheda she or he s sttng nedÀ your younger sster dl dlÍfi mouse badly; or sometmes more lke glue dlÕo squrrel n∑˙etsöedlÕ we are laughng seÀdl∑ it has been fixed dz dzÀh spruce gum adze adzflza∑ moon edza cold weather d· köÀtaÃdz‡‡ baptsm e eht¯öÀ mud, drt set; when e s nasalzed, t s smlar wet∑ hs or her father to the sound n sent; in a prefix after ‡xÈfl yesterday w, t s smlar to wood hfl˙fl yes g gah rabbit go n∑hgfi bushman gom· our mother köe˙egege they are backpacking gh segha for me no similar sound in English; similar wegh∑tsöeeda we are looking at it to the r sound in the French rouge nekwÃghÎ your brain “red” n∑xoegh∑ he or she is playing cards gw ehgw∑a dryfish language ch·gwÃa drizzle whagwe sandy area naÍgwi warm yourself up h hanà in this way hat; in Dogrib this sound can be ehtsÀe grandfather pronounced inside or at the end of a e¯Àhtöe they are the same word ehj‡ I am singing i lidà tea ski; when i is nasalized, it is similar mÍ fish net to the sound in means niw∑ it is far yehtöà she or he is pulling it j jÃe berry jet; some people pronounce this j· here sound more like what we hear in dej‡ she or he is scared adze x·nÇja you got married k ke footwear kit; in prefixes, it is sometimes tsöÀko woman pronounced like x or h k∑tsöele ha we will take them out whekÎ it is hot kõ kõ∑le spider the same as k, but with the ‘click’ ekõ‡Í fish eggs sound as part of it kõechöà he or she is crawling whihkõÀ I shot it kw kwe rock quit