Babine

BCR

shifting

Alternate Names: Babine Carrier, Northern Carrier, Witsuwit’en

Dialects: Babine Proper, Wetsuset’en.

Genealogy:

Eyak-Athabaskan
Athabaskan
Northern Athabaskan

Demographics: 200 (Golla 2007). 100 fluent speakers and 100 passive speakers of Wetsuwet’en. 200 speakers of all degrees of fluency of Babine Proper (Golla 2007). Ethnic population: 250. In Babine Proper.

Language Use: Wetsuwet’en dialect: no children are fluent speakers, some children are passive speakers. Babine Proper: few speakers under 25. No children are active speakers. Also use English [eng].

Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 1%–5%. Literacy rate in L2: 50%–75%. Bible portions: 1978.

Writing System: Latin

Nation of Origin: Canada