Here is the best current understanding of the relationship of the Carrier dialects. The differences between Babine and Witsuwit'en, which are closely related to each other, and the other dialects, are sufficiently great that many people now regard them as forming a distinct language. The technical discussion of the relationship between Babine-Witsuwit'en and Carrier in the narrow sense may be found in the papers Kari (1975), Story (1984a), and Kari and Hargus (1989).
Note that sources differ both in the classification and in the terminology used. For example, some people restrict "Southern" to what are here called the Blackwater dialects. Some people refer to Babine-Witsuwit'en as "Northern Carrier". "Central Carrier" for some people is the same as what is here called Nak'albun/Dzinghubun but for others it includes S̲aik'uz̲.
The following pages contain summaries of the differences among the dialects:
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