The standardization project began in 1987, with a mandate to make recommendations on orthography standardization. Five linguists and one fluent/literate speaker from each language group made up the planning committee, in addition to invited elders and other members for working committees for each language group.

• Dene alphabets have a one-to-one sound to symbol correspondence. The same sound is always represented by the same symbol.
• There are differences in use and pronunciations between communities, people, and age groups.
• Therefore, recommendations say to keep the system as phonetic as possible (writing exactly what one hears) while trying to strive towards regional standardization. Consensus is that the speech of elders should be chosen as the standard for writing, because “the speech of elders retains greater morphological information than the contracted or shortened forms which are found in the speech of younger speakers.”

Arguments for standardization:

• Preserving the speech of elders.
• Easier to teach and learn literacy. 
• Curriculum materials can be disseminated across a region. 
• Uniform Dene orthographies will “facilitate the production of printed materials” across Dene languages in private and public sectors.

Abstract: 

The 1986 report by the Canadian Task Force on Aboriginal Languages, which recommended that the writing systems used for the northern Dene languages be standardized within 10 years, resulted in the 1987 Dene Standardization Project. The mandate for the project was to make recommendations on orthography standardization as the first step in the process of encouraging widespread native language literacy, the publication of native language materials, and ultimately the preservation of the Dene languages in a technological era that places high demands for literacy and depends on the print media for the retention and transmission of information. This paper reports on the Dene languages and writing systems in the Northwest Territories, the Dene alphabetic system, and types of and rationale for standardization. Recommendations deal with five broad orthographic issues: alternate pronunciations, alphabet symbols, use of symbols, word divisions, and punctuation. The concluding paragraphs note that the Dene Standardization Project is a model for other language groups undertaking orthographic standardization. (LB)

Access this Resource:

Read the full paper online: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/NALI3.html

Or, download the PDF from ERIC: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED354768

Biscaye, Elizabeth and Mary Pepper. “The Dene Standardization Project.” In Effective Language Education Practices and Native Language Survival edited by Jon Reyhner, 23-29. Oklahoma: Native American Language Issues, 1990.