Indigenous Languages Alphabets | Government of Northwest Territories

An alphabet is a type of writing system in which a set of symbols (letters) represents the distinctive sounds (or phonemes) of a language. Below are the alphabets, vowels, and dipthongs for each of the NWT’s official Indigenous languages.

Dene Kǝdǝ́

Consonants
ɂ	a	b	ch	ch’	d	dl	dz	e	ǝ	f	g	gh
gw	h	ı	j	k	kw	k’	kw’	l	ł	m	n	o
p	p’	r	s	sh	t	t’	tł	tł’	ts	ts’	u	v
w	wh	w’	x	y	z	zh

Vowels and Dipthongs
a	á	ą	ą́	e	é	ę	ǝ	ǝ́	ı	ı́	ı̨	ı̨́
o	ó	ǫ	ǫ́	u	ú	ų	ų́

Dëne Sųłinë

Consonants
ɂ	a	b	ch	ch’	d	dh	ddh	dl	dz	e	ë	g
gh	h	ı	j	k	k’	l	ł	m	n	o	r	s
sh	t	t’	th	tł	tł’	ts	ts’	tth	tth’	u	w	x
y	z

Vowels and Dipthongs
a	á	ą	ą́	e	é	ę	ę́	ë	ë́	ı	ı́	ı̨
ı̨́	o	ó	ǫ	ǫ́	u	ú	ų	ų́	aı	au	ay	ıe
ue	uı

Dene Zhatıé

Consonants
ɂ	a	b	ch	ch’	d	dh	ddh	dl	dz	e	f	g
gh	h	ı	j	k	k’	l	ł	m	mb	n	nd	o
p	p’	r	s	sh	t	t’	th	tth	tth’	tł	tł’	ts
ts’	u	v	w	x	y	z	zh

Vowels and Dipthongs
a	á	ą	ą́	e	é	ę	ı	ı́	ı̨	ı̨́	o	ó
ǫ	ǫ́	u	ú	ų	ų́	aı	au

Dinjii Zhuh Ginjik

Consonants
‘	a	b	ch	ch’	d	ddh	dh	dl	dr	dz	dzh	e
g	gh	ghw	gw	h	ı	j	k	k’	kh	khw	kw	l
ł	m	n	n’	nd	ng	nh	o	r	s	sh	sr	t
t’	th	tth	tth’	tł	tł’	tr	tr’	ts	ts’	tsh	tsh’	u
v	y	z	zh	zr

Vowels and Dipthongs
a	à	ą	e	è	ę	ı	ı̀	ı̨	o	ò	u	ù
ao	aıı	eıı	eu

nēhiyawēwin

Consonants
c	h	k	m	n	p	s	t	w	y

Vowels and Dipthongs
a	ā	i	ı̄	o	ō	ē	aw	āw
ay	ēw	ey	wi	ı̄y	ow	ōw	oy	āw

Inuinnaqtun

Consonants
b	dj	ff	g	h	k	l	m	n
ñ	ng	p	q	r	t	v	y

Vowels
a	i	u	aa	ii	uu

Inuktitut

Qaniujaaqpait Syllabics

Consonant	-i	-u	-a	final
Vowel only	ᐃ	ᐅ	ᐊ	·
p	ᐱ	ᐳ	ᐸ	ᑉ
t	ᑎ	ᑐ	ᑕ	ᑦ
k	ᑭ	ᑯ	ᑲ	ᒃ
g	ᒋ	ᒍ	ᒐ	ᒡ
m	ᒥ	ᒧ	ᒪ	ᒻ
n	ᓂ	ᓄ	ᓇ	ᓐ
s/h	ᓯ	ᓱ	ᓴ	ᔅ
l	ᓕ	ᓗ	ᓚ	ᓪ
j	ᔨ	ᔪ	ᔭ	ᔾ
v	ᕕ	ᕗ	ᕙ	ᕝ
r	ᕆ	ᕈ	ᕋ	ᕐ
q	ᕿ	ᖁ	ᖃ	ᖅ
ng	ᖏ	ᖑ	ᖓ	ᖕ
ł	ᖠ	ᖢ	ᖤ	ᖦ

Qaliujaaqpait Roman Orthography

Consonants
ch*	ff*	g	h	hl*	j	k	L	ł	m	n
ng	p	q	r	rh*	s	shr*	t	v	ʼ*

Vowels
a	i	u	aa	ii	uu

* Introduced in the 2019 Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami revision to support all Inuktut dialects.

Inuvialuktun

Sallirmiutun

Consonants
b	ch	dj	g	k	l	ł	m	n
ng	p	q	r	s	t	v	y

Uummarmiutun

Consonants
ch	dj	ff	g	h	k	l	ł	m	n
ñ	ng	p	q	r	r̂	t	v	y

Vowels
a	i	u	aa	ii	uu

Tłı̨chǫ

Consonants
ɂ	a	b	ch	ch’	d	dl	dz	e	g	gh	gw	h
ı	j	k	k’	kw	kw’	l	ł	m	mb	n	nd	o
r	s	sh	t	t’	tł	tł’	ts	ts’	w	wh	x	y
z	zh

Vowels and Dipthongs
a	à	ą	ą̀	e	è	ę	ę̀	ı	ı̀	ı̨	ı̨̀	o
ò	ǫ	ǫ̀	aı

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Indigenous Languages Words and Phrases

Indigenous Languages Secretariat

Education, Culture and Employment

Phone:

867-767-9346

Extension:

71037

Email:

Indigenous_languages@gov.nt.ca