MultiTree:

Name: Slave Type: Language Alternate Names: Slavey; South Slavey; Slavey, South; Slavi; "Slave"; Dené; Mackenzian Spoken in: Canada Number of speakers: 2,890. Ethnic population: 3,600 (Krauss 1995) (Ethnologue) Number of speakers: 920 (UNESCO) Number of speakers: 1410 (World Oral Literature Project) Code: xsl Code Standard: ISO 639-3 Documentation: SIL Families: Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit (Eyak-Athabaskan, Na-Dene, Dene-Yeniseian) Parent Subgroup: Dene; Hare-Chipewyan (harc) Brief Description: "Slave, or South Slavey, is an emergent Athabaskan language within the Slavey dialect area of the Dene complex. Slave is spoken as a first language by about 3,260 people in a number of communities in the Northwest Territories and in adjacent parts of northern British Columbia and Alverta. In the Northwest Territories, where it is one of the official languages, Slave has 1,260 speakers, about half of whom use it in the home. The principal communities include: Fort Liard (310 speakers out of a total population of 510), Fort Providence (280 out of 750 total), Fort Simpson (290 out of 1255 total), Hay River Dene (85 out of 250 total), Jean Marie River (30 out of 55 total), Nahanni Butte (50 out of 75 total), and Trout Lake (55 out of 654 total). It may also be spoken by some of the 100 Slavey speakers at Fort Wrigley, most of whom speak Mountain. There are also up to 60 speakers of Slave in the town of Hay River. In northern British Columbia there are reported to be approximately 500 Slave speakers, with the principal community at Fort Nelson. In Alberta Slave is spoken by about 1,500 people at Meander River, Chatch Lake (Assumption) and at a few other places on the upper Hay River." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 22-23

Endangerment Status

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UNESCO Status: Definitely endangered Ethnologue Status: Not listed Sutherland's Red List: Not listed