Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Feb 15/02) - There has been so much interest in introductory Slavey classes in Fort Providence that the evening courses had to be divided in two.

Margaret Vandell reviews Slavey vowels and consonants with students taking an evening course in Fort Providence. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

With 19 people registered, Mondays are devoted to one group and Wednesdays to another. The two-hour sessions, a Dene Zhatie working group initiative, started last week and are to continue until the end of March.

The Slavey language has 20 vowels and 37 consonants. The vowels are regular, high-toned, nasalized and nasalized/high-toned. The consonants are one, two and three-lettered such as dz, mb, tth and ddh.

"I find it kind of difficult. I've got to practice on my own, pronouncing it and stuff," said student Ivan Landry.

Landry, an apprentice housing maintainer, said he enrolled in the course because it would aid him in his job, and many elders speak Slavey.

Student Belinda Sabourin's motivation is also to "communicate with our elders."

Instructor Matthew Sabourin, who is being assisted by Philip Constant and elder Margaret Vandell, said he finds himself speaking English most often even though he grew up speaking Slavey at home.

"It's hard. The younger generation doesn't even know how to speak their language," Sabourin said.

He took his level one and level two Literacy in Aboriginal Language courses through Aurora College, and was instructed by Philip Howard and Andy Norwegian.

Vandell taught about Dene language and culture at Deh Gah school for 18 years.

"It's a shame that we've just about lost our language," she said.

Last Wednesday evening she was supervising as students completed their work sheets, matching objects such as a drum, a rabbit, a paddle, mittens, a table and body parts to their Slavey name.

She then went to the chalkboard to review the many vowels and consonants.

"We start with those for their pronunciation, it's very important," Vandell said. "Here again we have to do a lot of practising."