Slavey (/ˈsleɪvi/;[5] also Slave, Slavé) is a group of Athabaskan languages and a dialect continuum spoken amongst the Dene peoples of Canada in the Northwest Territories – or central Denendeh – where it also has official status.

[6] The languages are primarily written using a modified Latin script, with some using Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.

[1] Northern Slavey is an amalgamation of three separate dialects: South Slavey (ᑌᓀ ᒐ Dené Dháh, Dene Yatıé or Dene Zhatıé) is spoken by the Slavey people, who were also known as Dehghaot'ine, Deh Cho, Etchareottine[8] - "People Dwelling in the Shelter", in the region of Great Slave Lake, upper Mackenzie River (Deh Cho - "Big River") and its drainage, in the District of Mackenzie, northeast Alberta, and northwest British Columbia.

Some communities are bilingual, with the children learning Slavey at home and English when they enter school.

In addition, for some speakers of Hare, an alveolar flap /ɾ/ has developed into a separate phoneme.

The most pronounced difference is however the realization of a series of consonants that varies greatly in their place of articulation:[10] In Slavey proper, these are dental affricates and fricatives; comparative Athabaskan work reveals this to be the oldest sound value.

Bearlake has labialized velars, but has lenited the voiced fricative to coincide with pre-existing /w/.

The most complicated situation is found in Hare, where the plain stop is a labialized velar, the ejective member is replaced by a /ʔw/ sequence, the aspirated affricate has turned into a fricative /f/, and both the voiceless and voiced fricatives have been lenited to /w/.

Lexical: /ɡáh/ 'along' vs. /ɡàh/ 'rabbit' Slavey morphemes have underlying syllable structures in the stems: CV, CVC, CVnC, V, and VC.

Here are some examples:[9] Slavey marks gender by means of prefixation on the verb theme.

There are three different genders, one of which is unmarked; the other two are marked by prefixes [go-] and [de-].

Some examples of these areal nouns are house (kǫ́é), land (déh), river (deh), and winter (xay).

When occurring as a direct or indirect object, the pronoun prefixes change and fourth person becomes relevant.

[9] tewhehchúwater.CLtewhehchúwater.CL'A clothlike object is in the water'[9]Slavey has only one structural tense: future.

tsewoodtádiihtthį1SG.cutgots'ęandgoyíiarea.innaehddhí1SG.warmedtse tádiihtthį gots'ę goyíi naehddhíwood 1SG.cut and area.in 1SG.warmed'I cut some wood and then I warmed myself up inside.

'sine1SGts'ǫ́danechildgogháiidá1SG.saw.3PLkúlúbutdedine3SGgołįinsteadʔajá3.becamesine ts'ǫ́dane gogháiidá kúlú dedine gołį ʔajá1SG child 1SG.saw.3PL but 3SG instead 3.became"I was supposed to watch the children, but he did it instead.

'sewoodwehse3.is.wetyihébecausegodihk'ǫ1SG.make.fireyíleNEGse wehse yihé godihk'ǫ yílewood 3.is.wet because 1SG.make.fire NEG'Because the wood is wet, I can't make fire.

The program requires 100 hours of conversation with the mentor with no English allowed, as well as sessions with instructors in Fort Providence.

[14] Slavey was the native language spoken by the fictional band in the Canadian television series North of 60.

Nick Sibbeston, a former Premier of the Northwest Territories, was a Slavey language and culture consultant for the show.