Editing Gwichʼin language (section)

== Current status ==
According to the [[UNESCO]] ''Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger,'' Gwichʼin is at present severely endangered. There are about 260 Gwichʼin speakers in Canada out of a total Gwichʼin population of 1,900. About 300 out of a total Alaska Gwichʼin population of 1,100 speak the language.<ref name=":0" /> Gwichʼin speakers have been shifting from their [[heritage language]] to English as the [[National language|majority language]] of both the US and Canada.

===Dialects===
There are two main varieties of Gwichʼin, Eastern and Western, which are delineated roughly at the [[Canada–United States border|Canada–US border]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Did you know Gwich'in is severely endangered? |url=http://endangeredlanguages.com/lang/2441 |access-date=2018-03-15 |website=Endangered Languages}}</ref> There are several dialects within these subgroupings, including Fort Yukon Gwichʼin, Arctic Village Gwichʼin, Western Canada Gwichʼin (Takudh, Tukudh, Loucheux), and Arctic Red River. Each village has unique pronunciation features, vocabulary, and expressions. 

Inhabitants of [[Old Crow, Yukon|Old Crow]] in the northern Yukon speak a similar dialect to those bands living in [[Venetie, Alaska|Venetie]] and [[Arctic Village, Alaska]]. Kâachik and Tâachik dialects are spoken in Johnson Creek village.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Loovers |first=Jan Peter Laurens |date=2011-03-09 |title=People of the Lakes: Stories of Our Van Tat Gwich'in Elders/Googwandak Nakhwach'ànjòo Van Tat Gwich'in, by Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and Shirleen Smith |url=https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/67134 |department=Reviews |journal=Arctic |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=118 |doi=10.14430/arctic4086 |issn=1923-1245 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Language preservation and documentation ===
In 1988, the [[Official Languages Act (Northwest Territories)|NWT Official Languages Act]] named Gwich'in an official language of the Northwest Territories, and the Official Languages of Alaska Law as amended declared Gwich'in a recognized language in 2014.<ref name=":0" />

The Gwich'in language is taught regularly at the Chief Zzeh Gittlit School in Old Crow, Yukon.<ref name=":2" />

Projects are underway to further [[Language documentation|document the language]] from a [[Linguistics|linguistic]] standpoint, and foster the writing and translation skills of younger Gwich'in speakers. In one project, lead research associate and fluent speaker Gwichʼin elder Kenneth Frank works with linguists and young Gwich'in speakers affiliated with the [[Alaska Native Language Center]] at the [[University of Alaska system|University of Alaska]] in [[Fairbanks, Alaska|Fairbanks]] to document traditional knowledge of caribou anatomy (Mishler and Frank 2020).<ref name="Linguistics_2014">{{cite magazine |last1=Mishler |first1=Craig |date=Fall 2014 |editor1-last=Turner-Bogren |editor1-first=Betsy |editor2-last=Fahnestock |editor2-first=Judy |editor3-last=Wiggins |editor3-first=Helen |title=Linguistic Team Studies Caribou Anatomy |url=https://www.arcus.org/witness-the-arctic/2014/3/article/22797 |access-date=12 July 2022 |department=Arctic Social Sciences Program |magazine=Witness the Arctic |publisher=Arctic Research Consortium of the United States |location=Fairbanks, AK |pages=12–16 |volume=18 |issue=3}}</ref>

=== Residential schools and language decline ===
Assimilation efforts through [[Canadian Indian residential school system|residential schools]] played a factor in creating a cultural disruption and a language shift. One of the goals of residential schools was to [[cultural genocide|wipe out indigenous culture]] and [[cultural assimilation|replace it with the European culture]], seen as more conducive to “civilized” society. In the process, indigenous children were [[child displacement|taken away from their families]] and placed in a dedicated school (“[[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans|Indian Schools”]] in the US). 

Indigenous children were often punished for speaking First-Nation languages, leading children to abandon their heritage languages. Residential schools caused major cultural disruption also among the Gwich’in.<ref name="auto">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Dinjii Zhuh (Gwich'in) |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/gwichin |access-date=12 July 2022 |last=McFadyen Clark |first=Annette |date=19 June 2020}}</ref>