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Dene Naowere Ko
Traditional Tents
North Slavey is the language of the Sahtu Region which includes the traditional communities of Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Deline. A 1992 federal language report indicated that over half the Sahtu region’s population was more fluent in North Slavey than in English, but over the years there has been a steady decline in North Slavey language use over three generations. While 100% of the population over 45 years were fluent in the language only 50% of the 25-44 year old age group were fluent and only 10 % under 25 were fluent. Even with this decline Deline maintains the strongest connection to the North Slavey language in the Sahtu.
Tidbits
When Elders Speak
Going out on the Land
Deline Stories
Youth Space
Speaking Slavey
Let me show you Deline
Writing Slavey Sample Audio

These two articles were written by Betty Harnum and presented here with permission from the Mackenzie Valley Viewer

Ms. Harnum has a Master's degree in Linguistics from the University of Calgary. She teaches literacy, trains interpreters and translators, and develops language resource materials like terminology, dictionaries and teaching materials. She often helps groups get funding for language projects. She was the first NWT Languages Commissioner, from1992-1996, working in the area of language law and policy.
 
This digital collection was produced with the financial assistance from Canada's Digital Collections Initiative, Industry Canada.