Inuktitut (Inuktitut syllabics The Inuktitut syllabary is a writing system (specifically an abugida) used by the Inuit in Nunavut and in Nunavik, Quebec. In 1976, the Language Commission of the Inuit Cultural Institute made it the co-official script for the Inuit languages, along with the Latin alphabet: ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ (fonts required), literally "like an Inuk") is the name of some of the Inuit languages The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik language is spoken in western and southern Alaska and far eastern Russia, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and is spoken only in a few villages on the Chukchi spoken in Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. Beyond the tree line, they are unable to grow because of inappropriate environmental conditions . Some distinguish additionally a deeper timberline, where trees can develop timber-trunks, including parts of the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador A former colony and dominion of the United Kingdom, it became the tenth province to enter the Canadian Confederation on 31 March 1949, named simply as Newfoundland. Since 1964, the province's government has referred to itself as the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and on 6 December 2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada, Québec Quebec is the second most populous province, after Ontario. Most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. English-speaking communities and English-language institutions are concentrated in the west of the island of Montreal but are also significantly present in the Outaouais, the, to some extent in northeastern Manitoba According to the 2006 Census, the largest ethnic group in Manitoba is English Canadian , but there is a significant Franco-Manitoban minority (148,370) and a growing aboriginal population (192,865, including the Métis). Other important ethnic groups include Germans (216,755 - the second-largest group), Scots (209,170), and the Irish (155,915) as well as the territories of Nunavut Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada, and most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, making it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world. The capital Iqaluit on Baffin Island, in the east, was chosen by the 1995 capital plebiscite. Other major communities include the regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay, the Northwest Territories Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south. It has a land area of 1,140,835 square kilometres and a population of 41,464 as of the 2006 census, an increase of 11.0% from 2001, and traditionally on the Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying coast of Yukon The territory was created in 1898 as the Yukon Territory. The federal government's most recent update of the Yukon Act in 2003 confirmed "Yukon", rather than "Yukon Territory", as the current usage standard.

It is recognised as an official language in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. It also has legal recognition in Nunavik Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² (171,307.62 sq mi) north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec. Almost all of the 11,627 inhabitants (2006 census) of the region, of whom 90% are Inuit, live in fourteen northern villages on the coast of Nunavik—a part of Québec—thanks in part to the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement, and is recognised in the Charter of the French Language The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province. It is the central legislative piece in Quebec's language as the official language of instruction for Inuit school districts there. It also has some recognition in Nunatsiavut Nunatsiavut is an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebec border. In 2002, the Labrador Inuit Association submitted a proposal for limited autonomy to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The constitution was ratified on 1 December—the Inuit The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada, Denmark, Russia and the United States. The Inuit language is grouped under Eskimo-Aleut languages. An Inuk is an Inuit man or person area in Labrador Labrador is a distinct, northerly region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in Atlantic Canada—following the ratification of its agreement with the government of Canada The government of Canada is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of managerial institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council. In both senses, the construct was established at Confederation, through the Constitution Act, 1867, as a and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian census The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897. This count was lower than the official July 1, 2006 population estimate of 32,623,490 people reports that there are roughly 35,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada, including roughly 200 who live regularly outside of traditionally Inuit lands.^[1]

For more information on the relationship between Inuktitut and the Inuit languages spoken in Greenland b. ^ Greenland, the Faeroes and Iceland were formally Norwegian possessions until 1814 despite 400 years of Danish monarchy beforehand and Alaska Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre . The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959, see Inuit language The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik language is spoken in western and southern Alaska and far eastern Russia, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and is spoken only in a few villages on the Chukchi.

Contents 1 Dialects and variants 1.1 Northwest Territories and Yukon 1.2 Nunavut 1.3 Nunavik 1.4 Nunatsiavut 2 Phonology and phonetics 3 Morphology and syntax 4 Writing 4.1 The Canadian syllabary 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links 8.1 Dictionaries and lexica 8.2 Webpages 8.3 Utilities

Dialects and variants

Distribution of Inuit language variants across the Arctic.

Northwest Territories and Yukon

Inuit in Canada's Northwest Territories call themselves Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit are Inuit people who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homeland - the Inuvialuit Settlement Region - covers the Arctic Ocean coastline area from the Alaskan border east to Amundsen Gulf and includes the western Canadian Arctic and live primarily in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, consisting of the northern part of the Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. It is the longest river in Canada at 1,738 kilometres (1,080 mi) and, together with its headstreams the Peace and the Finlay, the second longest river in North America at 4,241 kilometres (2,635 mi) in length. The Mackenzie and delta, the Arctic coast of the Northwest Territories and Yukon The territory was created in 1898 as the Yukon Territory. The federal government's most recent update of the Yukon Act in 2003 confirmed "Yukon", rather than "Yukon Territory", as the current usage standard, Banks Island One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Banks Island is situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies to its west. To the northeast, M'Clure Strait, a part of Victoria Island Victoria Island is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at 217,291 km2 (83,897 sq mi)1 is Canada's second largest island and nearly double the size of Newfoundland (111,390 km2 (43,008 sq mi) or slightly and some more remote and irregularly inhabited Arctic Ocean islands. The Inuit language variants of the NWT are often treated together as Inuvialuktun, but this categorisation is misleading as it is a politically motivated grouping of three quite distinct and separate dialects:

• Kangiryuarmiutun: spoken mainly in the community of Ulukhaktok. This dialect is essentially identical to the Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun , an indigenous language of Canada, is a dialect of the Inuvialuktun group of Inuit languages. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars[who?] believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut. The governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut recognise Inuinnaqtun as an spoken in western Nunavut.
• Siglitun: spoken mainly in the communities of Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour and Tuktoyaktuk. Siglitun was once the principal dialect of the Mackenzie River delta and nearby parts of the coast and Arctic islands The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, also known as just the Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago north of the Canadian mainland in the Arctic. Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about 1,424,500 km2 , this group of 36,563[citation needed] islands comprises much of the territory of Northern Canada – most of Nunavut and, but the number of speakers fell dramatically following outbreaks of new diseases in the 19th century and for many years Siglitun was believed to be completely extinct. It was only in the 1980s that outsiders realised that it was still spoken.^[2]
• Uummarmiutun: spoken mainly in the communities of Inuvik and Aklavik. This dialect is essentially the same as Alaskan Inupiatun, and is present in Canada because of migration from Alaska in the 1910s, reoccupying traditionally Siglit lands abandoned during the devastating disease outbreaks of the previous century.

The Inuvialuktun dialects are seriously endangered, as English has in recent years become the common language of the community. Surveys of Inuktitut usage in the NWT vary, but all agree that usage is not vigorous. According to the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre, only some 10% of the roughly 4,000 Inuvialuit speak any form of Inuktitut, and only some 4% use it at home.^[3] Statistics Canada Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. The bureau is commonly called StatCan or StatsCan although StatCan is the official abbreviation. It has regularly been considered the best statistical's 2001 Census report is only slightly better, reporting 765 self-identified Inuktitut speakers out of a self-reported Inuvialuit population of 3,905. Considering the large number of non-Inuit living in Inuvialuit areas and the lack of a single common dialect among the already reduced number of speakers, the future of the Inuit language in the NWT appears bleak.

Nunavut

Nunavut Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada, and most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, making it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world. The capital Iqaluit on Baffin Island, in the east, was chosen by the 1995 capital plebiscite. Other major communities include the regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay encompasses the geographically largest part of the Inuit world (not counting the uninhabitable Greenland b. ^ Greenland, the Faeroes and Iceland were formally Norwegian possessions until 1814 despite 400 years of Danish monarchy beforehand ice shield), and includes large mainland areas and numerous islands divided by rivers, straits, Hudson Bay Hudson Bay is a large body of water in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. A smaller offshoot of the bay, James Bay, lies to the south, and areas of ocean that freeze only for a part of the year. Consequently, it is unsurprising that it has a great deal of internal dialect diversity.

Nunavut's basic law lists four official languages: English English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of, French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun , an indigenous language of Canada, is a dialect of the Inuvialuktun group of Inuit languages. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars[who?] believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut. The governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut recognise Inuinnaqtun as an, but to what degree Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun can be thought of as separate languages is ambiguous in state policy. The word Inuktitut is often used to describe both.

The demographic situation of Inuktitut is quite strong in Nunavut. Nunavut is the home of some 24,000 Inuit, most of whom – over 80% according to the 2001 census – speak Inuktitut, including some 3,500 people reported as monolinguals. 2001 census data shows that the use of Inuktitut, while lower among the young than the elderly, has stopped declining in Canada as a whole and may even be increasing in Nunavut.

• Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun , an indigenous language of Canada, is a dialect of the Inuvialuktun group of Inuit languages. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars[who?] believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut. The governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut recognise Inuinnaqtun as an is an Inuit language variant spoken in the western part of the Kitikmeot Region Kitikmeot Region is an administrative region of Nunavut. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island. The regional seat is Cambridge Bay (population 1,477) of Nunavut, and at Ulukhaktok in the Northwest Territories Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south. It has a land area of 1,140,835 square kilometres and a population of 41,464 as of the 2006 census, an increase of 11.0% from 2001. Although it has a number of features distinguishing it as a specific variant of Inuktitut, the most immediately noticeable is the lack of a local tradition of Inuktitut syllabics The Inuktitut syllabary is a writing system (specifically an abugida) used by the Inuit in Nunavut and in Nunavik, Quebec. In 1976, the Language Commission of the Inuit Cultural Institute made it the co-official script for the Inuit languages, along with the Latin alphabet use. The government of Nunavut considers Inuinnaqtun an official language of the territory, but many consider it simply a Roman alphabet writing scheme for standard Inuktitut. However, the Roman alphabet writing scheme used in Inuinnaqtun uses letters in a manner distinctive to western Nunavut dialects.
• Natsilingmiutut designates variants spoken in the part of eastern Kitikmeot called Natsilik. In the Natsilik dialect, it is called Nattilingmiutut. Some people view the Utkusiksalingmiut dialect, spoken today primarily by the Netsilik Inuit in Kugaaruk Kugaaruk (Inuktitut syllabics: ᑰᒑᕐᔪᒃ) formerly known as Pelly Bay (Arviligjuaq, meaning "the great bowhead whale habitat") until 3 December 1999) is located on the shore of Pelly Bay, just off the Gulf of Boothia, Simpson Peninsula, Kitikmeot, in Canada's Nunavut Territory. Access is by air by the Kugaaruk Airport and by annual but traditionally spoken in the Franklin Lake and Chantrey Inlet area, as a separate dialect.
• Kivallirmiutut dialect is spoken in the Kivalliq Region Kivalliq Region is an administrative region of Nunavut. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island and Coats Island. The regional seat is Rankin Inlet (pop. 2,358) down to the Manitoba According to the 2006 Census, the largest ethnic group in Manitoba is English Canadian , but there is a significant Franco-Manitoban minority (148,370) and a growing aboriginal population (192,865, including the Métis). Other important ethnic groups include Germans (216,755 - the second-largest group), Scots (209,170), and the Irish (155,915) border.
• Aivilingmiutut is spoken in the area traditionally known as Aivilik: Southampton Island Southampton Island is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the island is stated as 41,214 km2 by Statistics Canada . It is the 34th largest island in the world and Canada's ninth and Repulse Bay in Kivalliq Kivalliq Region is an administrative region of Nunavut. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island and Coats Island. The regional seat is Rankin Inlet (pop. 2,358), and part of the Melville Peninsula in the Qikiqtaaluk Region. This area was settled by Inuit after the disappearance of the Sadlermiut in the late 19th and early 20th century. Some linguists consider it too close to North Baffin to merit separate treatment.^[2]
• North Baffin (Qikiqtaaluk uannangani) is spoken on the northern part of Baffin Island Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world, with an area of 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi) and has a population of 11,000 (2006). Named after English explorer William Baffin, it is likely that the island was, at Iglulik and the adjacent part of the Melville Peninsula, and in Inuit communities in the far north of Nunavut, like Resolute and Grise Fiord. This dialect is the one heard in the film Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner.
• South Baffin (Qikiqtaaluk nigiani) is the dialect of the southern part of Baffin Island, including the territorial capital Iqaluit Iqaluit is the territorial capital and the largest community of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Iqaluit is located on the south coast of Baffin Island at the head of Frobisher Bay. As of the 2006 census the population was 6,184, an increase of 18.1 percent from the 2001 census; it has the lowest population of any capital city in Canada. This has in recent years made it a much more widely heard dialect, since a great deal of Inuktitut media originates in Iqaluit Iqaluit is the territorial capital and the largest community of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Iqaluit is located on the south coast of Baffin Island at the head of Frobisher Bay. As of the 2006 census the population was 6,184, an increase of 18.1 percent from the 2001 census; it has the lowest population of any capital city in Canada. Some linguists also distinguish an East Baffin dialect from either North or South Baffin.

Nunavik

Québec Quebec is the second most populous province, after Ontario. Most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. English-speaking communities and English-language institutions are concentrated in the west of the island of Montreal but are also significantly present in the Outaouais, the is home to roughly 12,000 Inuit, nearly all of whom live in Nunavik Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² (171,307.62 sq mi) north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec. Almost all of the 11,627 inhabitants (2006 census) of the region, of whom 90% are Inuit, live in fourteen northern villages on the coast of Nunavik. According to the 2001 census, 90% of Québec Inuit speak Inuktitut.

The Nunavik dialect (Nunavimmiutitut) is relatively close to the South Baffin dialect, but not identical. Because of the political and physical boundary between Nunavik and Nunavut, Nunavik has separate government and educational institutions from those in the rest of the Inuktitut-speaking world, resulting in a growing standardisation of the local dialect as something separate from other forms of Inuktitut. In the Nunavik dialect, Inuktitut is called Inuttitut. This dialect is also sometimes called Tarramiutut or Taqramiutut.

Nunatsiavut

The Nunatsiavut Nunatsiavut is an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebec border. In 2002, the Labrador Inuit Association submitted a proposal for limited autonomy to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The constitution was ratified on 1 December dialect (Nunatsiavummiutut, or often in government documents Labradorimiutut) was once spoken across northern Labrador. It has a distinct writing system, created by German missionaries from the Moravian Church in Greenland in the 1760s. This separate writing tradition, and the remoteness of Nunatsiavut from other Inuit communities, has made it into a distinct dialect with a separate literary tradition. The Nunatsiavummiut call their language Inuttut.

Although Nunatsiavut claims over 4,000 inhabitants of Inuit descent, only 550 reported Inuktitut to be their mother tongue in the 2001 census, mostly in the town of Nain. Inuktitut is seriously endangered in Labrador.

Nunatsiavut also had a separate dialect reputedly much closer to western Inuktitut dialects, spoken in the area around Rigolet. According to news reports, in 1999 it had only three very elderly speakers.^[4]

Phonology and phonetics

Main article: Inuit language phonology and phonetics

Eastern Canadian dialects of Inuktitut have fifteen consonants and three vowels (which can be long or short). Consonants are arranged with five places of articulation: bilabial, alveolar, palatal, velar and uvular; and three manners of articulation: voiceless stops, voiced continuants and nasals, as well as two additional sounds — voiceless fricatives. Natsalingmiutut has an additional consonant /ɟ/, a vestige of the Retroflex consonants that were present in Proto-Inuit. Inuinnaqtun has one fewer consonant, as /s/ and /ɬ/ have merged into /h/. All dialects of Inuktitut have only three basic vowels and make a phonological distinction between short and long forms of all vowels. In Inuujingajut – Nunavut standard Roman orthography – long vowels are written as a double vowel.

Inuktitut vowels

	IPA	Inuujingajut	Notes
Short open front unrounded	/a/	a
Long open front unrounded	/aː/	aa
Short closed front unrounded	/i/	i	Short i is sometimes realised as [e] or [ɛ]
Long closed front unrounded	/iː/	ii
Short closed back rounded	/u/	u	Short u is sometimes realised as [o] or [ɔ]
Long closed back rounded	/uː/	uu

Inuktitut consonants in Inuujingajut and IPA notation

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Notes
Voiceless stop	p /p/	t /t/		k /k/	q /q/	All plosives are unaspirated /q/ is sometimes represented with an r
Voiceless fricative		s /s/ ł /ɬ/ (h /h/)				h replaces s in Kivallirmiutut and Natsilingmiutut and replaces both s and ɬ in Inuinnaqtun ɬ is often written as &, or simply as l
Voiced	v /v/	l /l/	j /j/ (j /ɟ/)	g /ɡ/	r /ɢ/	/ɟ/, being absent from most dialects, is not written with a separate letter /ɡ/ is replaced by [ɣ] in Siglitun, and may be realised as [ɣ] between vowels or vowels and approximants in other dialects /ɢ/ assimilated to [ɴ] before nasals
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/		ng /ŋ/		A geminated ng is written nng

Morphology and syntax

Main article: Inuit grammar

Inuktitut, like other Eskimo-Aleut languages, has a very rich morphological system, in which a succession of different morphemes are added to root words to indicate things that, in languages like English, would require several words to express. (See also: Agglutinative language and Polysynthetic language). All words begin with a root morpheme to which other morphemes are suffixed. Inuktitut has hundreds of distinct suffixes, in some dialects as many as 700. Fortunately for the learners, the language has a highly regular morphology. Although the rules are sometimes very complicated, they do not have exceptions in the sense that English and other Indo-European languages do.

Writing

Inuktitut is written in several different ways, depending on the dialect and region, but also on historical and political factors.

Moravian missionaries, with the purpose of introducing the Inuit peoples to Christianity and the Bible, contributed to the development of an Inuktitut writing system in Greenland during the 1760s that was based on Roman orthography. They later travelled to Labrador in the 1800s, bringing the written Inuktitut with them. This roman alphabet writing scheme is distinguished by its inclusion of the letter kra.

The Alaskan Yupik and Inupiat (who, in addition, developed their own system of hieroglyphics) and the Siberian Yupik also adopted the system of Roman orthography.

Eastern Canadian Inuit were the last to adopt the written word when, in the 1860s, missionaries imported the written system Qaniujaaqpait they had developed in their efforts to convert the Cree to Christianity. The very last Inuit peoples introduced to missionaries and writing were the Netsilik Inuit in Kugaaruk and north Baffin Island. The Netsilik adopted Qaniujaaqpait by the 1920s.

The "Greenlandic" system has been substantially reformed in recent years, making Labrador writing unique to Nunatsiavummiutut at this time. Most Inuktitut in Nunavut and Nunavik is written using a scheme called Qaniujaaqpait or Inuktitut syllabics, based on Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. The western part of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories use a Roman orthography (alphabet scheme) usually identified as Inuinnaqtun or Qaliujaaqpait, reflecting the predispositions of the missionaries who reached this area in the late 19th century and early 20th.

In Siberia they use a Cyrillic script.

The Canadian syllabary

Main article: Inuktitut syllabics The syllabary used to write Inuktitut (titirausiq nutaaq). The extra characters with the dots represent long vowels; in the Latin transcription, the vowel would be doubled.

The Inuktitut syllabary used in Canada is based on the Cree syllabary devised by the missionary James Evans. The present form of the syllabary for Canadian Inuktitut was adopted by the Inuit Cultural Institute in Canada in the 1970s. The Inuit in Alaska, the Inuvialuit, Inuinnaqtun speakers, and Inuit in Greenland and Labrador use the Roman alphabet, although it has been adapted for their use in different ways.

Though conventionally called a syllabary, the writing system has been classified by some observers as an abugida, since syllables starting with the same consonant have related glyphs rather than unrelated ones.

All of the characters needed for the Inuktitut syllabary are available in the Unicode character repertoire. (See Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Unicode block.) The territorial government of Nunavut, Canada has developed a TrueType font called Pigiarniq for computer displays. It was designed by Vancouver-based Tiro Typeworks.

See also

Aboriginal peoples in Canada portal

• Inuktitut writing
• Eskimo words for snow

References

• Mallon, Mick, Inuktitut Linguistics for Technocrats.
• Mallon, Mick (1991). Introductory Inuktitut and Introductory Inuktitut Reference Grammar. ISBN 0-7717-0230-2 and ISBN 0-7717-0235-3
• Spalding, Alex (1998). Inuktitut: A multi-dialectal outline dictionary (with an Aivilingmiutaq base), ISBN 1-896204-29-5
• Spalding, Alex (1992). Inuktitut: a Grammar of North Baffin Dialects, ISBN 0-920063-43-8
• "The Inuktitut Language" in Project Naming, the identification of Inuit portrayed in photographic collections at Library and Archives Canada
• Arctic Languages: An AwakeningPDF (2.68 MB), ed: Dirmid R. F. Collis. ISBN 92-3-102661-5.

Although as many of the examples as possible are novel or extracted from Inuktitut texts, some of the examples in this article are drawn from Introductory Inuktitut and Inuktitut Linguistics for Technocrats.

1. ^ ^{a b} Various Languages Spoken (147), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census – 20% Sample Data and Selected Language Characteristics (165), Aboriginal Identity (8), Age Groups (7), Sex (3) and Area of Residence (6) for the Population of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2006 Census – 20% Sample Data (Total – Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal identity population
2. ^ ^{a b} Dorais, Arctic languages: an awakeningPDF (2.68 MB), pg. 194)
3. ^ Aboriginal Languages Initiative Evaluation – Site Visit – Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik N.W.T.
4. ^ A precious Inuktitut dialect slowly dies in Rigolet

Further reading

• Allen, Shanley. Aspects of Argument Structure Acquisition in Inuktitut. Language acquisition & language disorders, v. 13. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub, 1996. ISBN 1556197764
• Balt, Peter. Inuktitut Affixes. Rankin Inlet? N.W.T.: s.n, 1978.
• Kalmar, Ivan Davidson. Case and Context in Inuktitut (Eskimo). Mercury series. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1979.
• Nowak, Elke. Transforming the Images Ergativity and Transitivity in Inuktitut (Eskimo). Empirical approaches to language typology, 15. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996. ISBN 311014980X
• Schneider, Lucien. Ulirnaisigutiit An Inuktitut-English Dictionary of Northern Québec, Labrador, and Eastern Arctic Dialects (with an English-Inuktitut Index). Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1985.
• Spalding, Alex, and Thomas Kusugaq. Inuktitut A Multi-Dialectal Outline Dictionary (with an Aivilingmiutaq Base). Iqaluit, NT: Nunavut Arctic College, 1998. ISBN 1896204295
• Swift, Mary D. Time in Child Inuktitut A Developmental Study of an Eskimo-Aleut Language. Studies on language acquisition, 24. Berlin: M. de Gruyter, 2004. ISBN 3110181207
• Thibert, Arthur. Eskimo-English, English-Eskimo Dictionary = Inuktitut-English, English-Inuktitut Dictionary. Ottawa: Laurier Books, 1997. ISBN 1895959128

External links

Inuktitut edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dictionaries and lexica

• Inuktitut – English Dictionary
• Nunavut Living Dictionary
• Inuktitut Morphology ListPDF (133 KB)

Webpages

• A Brief History of Inuktitut Writing Culture
• Inuktitut Syllabarium (Languagegeek)
• Our Language, Our Selves
• Government of Nunavut font download
• Inuktitut-friendly website hosting and development
• Tusaalanga ("Let me hear it"), a website with Inuktitut online lessons with sound files

Utilities

• Microsoft Transliteration Utility – Powerful, free tool for transliterating text between different scripts. Includes a module for transliterating back and forth between Inuktitut syllabary and Inuktitut romanization.
• NANIVARA – Inuktitut Search Engine. – NANIVARA means "I've found it!" in Inuktitut.

Eskimo-Aleut languages and dialects Italics indicate extinct languages Aleut Aleut Inuit* Greenlandic Eastern Greenlandic, Inuktun Inuinnaqtun Inuktitut Nunatsiavummiutut, Inuttitut Inupiaq Inuvialuktun Kangiryuarmiutun, Natsilingmiutut, Siglitun, Uummarmiutun Yupik Alutiiq Central Alaskan Yugtun Central Siberian Qawiaraq Naukan Sirenik** See also; Proto-Eskimo, Proto-Eskimo-Aleut, Inuktitut writing *The Inuit language 'family' is a continuum of dialects, but while people can understand the dialects closest to them, it becomes harder the further away they are. **Some linguists classify Sirenik as under a separate Eskimo branch, and not under Yupik.

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Categories: Inuit language | Indigenous languages of the North American Arctic | Languages of Canada | Languages of Greenland | Languages of the United States | Eskimo-Aleut languages | Agglutinative languages | Inuktitut words and phrases

 

 

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