Saanich dialect facts for kids

Saanich (also called Sənčáθən, and written as SENĆOŦEN) is the language of the Saanich people. These First Nations people live in the Pacific Northwest area of North America. Saanich is part of the Coast Salishan language family. It is closely related to the Klallam language.

Bringing the Saanich Language Back

The Saanich language is very important to the W̱SÁNEĆ people. Sadly, not many people speak it fluently today. Because of this, there are special efforts to teach the language to a new generation.

Learning Saanich with Technology

The W̱SÁNEĆ School Board is working with the FirstVoices program. They are teaching SENĆOŦEN at the ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱ Tribal School. This helps young people learn their traditional language.

Technology also plays a big role!

• In 2012, a special app for texting in Saanich was released.
• An iPhone app for SENĆOŦEN came out in 2011.
• You can also find an online dictionary, a phrasebook, and other learning tools on the First Voices SENĆOŦEN Community Portal.

How Saanich Sounds

Every language has its own unique sounds, and Saanich is no different!

Saanich Vowels

Saanich has a few main vowel sounds. Unlike English, it does not have rounded vowels (like the 'o' in 'go') in its native words. The sounds of the vowels can change a bit depending on the consonants next to them.

Saanich Consonants

The Saanich language has many interesting consonant sounds. Some sounds are made by quickly releasing air, like a small pop. Others are made with a glottal stop, which is a sound like the break in "uh-oh."

How Saanich is Written

The Saanich writing system is called the Saanich alphabet or SENĆOŦEN. Dave Elliott created it in 1978.

This alphabet is special because it mostly uses only uppercase (capital) letters. There is one exception: the small letter s. This 's' is used to show that something belongs to a third person (like "his" or "her").

Here are some of the letters and the sounds they make:

The sound like the "uh-oh" break (called a glottal stop) is not always written. Sometimes, a comma is used to show it.

Example Text

Here is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in Saanich:

How Saanich Grammar Works

Saanich grammar has some interesting features. One cool thing is how it shows when an action is happening right now.

Changing Words to Show Action

In Saanich, a process called metathesis is used. This means that the order of a consonant and a vowel in a word can swap places. This change shows if an action is "actual" (happening right now) or "nonactual" (not happening right now).

Think of it like adding "-ing" in English (e.g., "shove" becomes "shoving"). In Saanich, the word itself changes its internal sounds.

Here are some examples:

See also

• In Spanish: Saanich para niños