Inuktitut

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Canadian English {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Main other Template:Infobox ethnonym Template:Contains special characters Inuktitut (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref>Template:Cite Merriam-Webster</ref> {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, syllabics {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}Template:Notetag), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, to some extent in northeastern Manitoba as well as the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. It is one of the aboriginal languages written with Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It is recognized as an official language in Nunavut alongside Inuinnaqtun and both languages are known collectively as Inuktut. Further, it is recognized as one of eight official native tongues in the Northwest Territories.<ref name=":2" /> It also has legal recognition in Nunavik—a part of Quebec—thanks in part to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and is recognized in the Charter of the French Language as the official language of instruction for Inuit school districts there. It also has some recognition in NunatuKavut and Nunatsiavut—the Inuit area in Labrador—following the ratification of its agreement with the government of Canada and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The 2016 Canadian census reports that 70,540 individuals identify themselves as Inuit, of whom 37,570 self-reported Inuktitut as their mother tongue.<ref name="2021 census L1"/><ref name="2021census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The term Inuktitut is also the name of a macrolanguage and, in that context, also includes Inuvialuktun, and thus nearly all Inuit dialects of Canada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, Statistics Canada lists all Inuit languages in the Canadian census as Inuktut.<ref name="2021census"/>

HistoryEdit

Inuktitut in the Canadian school systemEdit

Before contact with Europeans, Inuit learned skills by example and participation. The Inuktitut language provided them with all the vocabulary required to describe traditional practices and natural features.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Up to this point, it was solely an oral language. However, European colonialism brought the schooling system to Canada. The missionaries of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches were the first ones to deliver formal education to Inuit in schools. The teachers used the Inuktitut language for instruction and developed writing systems.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1928 the first residential school for Inuit opened, and English became the language of instruction. As the government's interests in the north increased, it started taking over the education of Inuit. After the end of World War II, English was seen as the language of communication in all domains. Officials expressed concerns about the difficulty for Inuit to find employment if they were not able to communicate in English. Inuit were supposed to use English at school, work, and even on the playground.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> Inuit themselves viewed Inuktitut as the way to express their feelings and be linked to their identity, while English was a tool for making money.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1960s, the European attitude towards the Inuktitut language started to change. Inuktitut was seen as a language worth preserving, and it was argued that knowledge, particularly in the first years of school, is best transmitted in the mother tongue. This set off the beginning of bilingual schools. In 1969, most Inuit voted to eliminate federal schools and replace them with programs by the Template:Ill ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Content was now taught in Inuktitut, English, and French.<ref name=":1" />

LegislationEdit

Inuktitut became one of the official languages in the Northwest Territories in 1984. Its status is secured in the Northwest Territories Official Language Act. With the split of the territory into the NWT and Nunavut in 1999, both territories kept the Language Act.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> The autonomous area Nunatsiavut in Labrador made Inuktitut the government language when it was formed in 2005. In Nunavik, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement recognizes Inuktitut in the education system.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Languages and dialectsEdit

NunavutEdit

Nunavut's basic law lists four official languages: English, French, Inuktitut, and Inuinnaqtun. It is ambiguous in state policy to what degree Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun can be thought of as separate languages. The words Inuktitut, or more correctly Inuktut ('Inuit language') are increasingly used to refer to both Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut together, or "Inuit languages" in English.<ref name="lang">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} and {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Nunavut is the home of some 24,000 Inuit, over 80% of whom speak Inuktitut. This includes some 3,500 people reported as monolinguals. The 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.

The South Baffin dialect ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is spoken across the southern part of Baffin Island, including the territorial capital Iqaluit. This has in recent years made it a much more widely heard dialect, since a great deal of Inuktitut media originates in Iqaluit. Some linguists also distinguish an East Baffin dialect from either South Baffin or North Baffin dialect, which is an Inuvialuktun dialect.

As of the early 2000s, Nunavut has gradually implemented early childhood, elementary, and secondary school-level immersion programs within its education system to further preserve and promote the Inuktitut language. Template:As of, "Pirurvik, Iqaluit's Inuktitut language training centre, has a new goal: to train instructors from Nunavut communities to teach Inuktitut in different ways and in their own dialects when they return home."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

NunavikEdit

Quebec is home to roughly 15,800 Inuit, nearly all of whom live in Nunavik. According to the 2021 census, 80.9% of Quebec Inuit speak Inuktitut.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Nunavik dialect ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) 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 standardization of the local dialect as something separate from other forms of Inuktitut. In the Nunavik dialect, Inuktitut is called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). This dialect is also sometimes called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).

Sub dialects of Inuktitut in this region include Tarrarmiut and Itivimuit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Itivimuit is associated with Inukjuak, Quebec, and there is an Itivimuit River near the town.

LabradorEdit

The Nunatsiavut dialect ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or, often in government documents, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) was once spoken across northern Labrador. It has a distinct writing system, developed in Greenland in the 1760s by German missionaries from the Moravian Church. This separate writing tradition, 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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).

Although Nunatsiavut claims over 4,000 inhabitants of Inuit descent, only 550 reported Inuktitut to be their native language 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GreenlandEdit

Though often thought to be a dialect of Greenlandic, Inuktun or Polar Eskimo is a recent arrival in Greenland from the Eastern Canadian Arctic, arriving perhaps as late as the 18th century.

Inuit Nunaat and Inuit NunangatEdit

Throughout Inuit Nunaat and Inuit Nunangat the Inuktut is used to refer to Inuktitut and all other dialects.<ref name=ITH1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It is used by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and the Government of Nunavut throughout Inuit Nunaat and Inuit Nunangat.<ref name=ITH1/><ref name=ICC1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=ICC2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=OLC1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=OLC2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

PhonologyEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Eastern dialects of Inuktitut have fifteen consonants and three vowels (which can be long or short). Consonants are arranged with six places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, palatal, velar and uvular; and three manners of articulation: voiceless stops, voiced continuants and nasals, as well as two additional sounds—voiceless fricatives. Natsilingmiutut has an additional consonant {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, a vestige of the retroflex consonants of Proto-Inuit. Inuinnaqtun has one fewer consonant, as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} have merged into {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. All dialects of Inuktitut have only three basic vowels and make a phonological distinction between short and long forms of all vowels. In {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}—Nunavut standard Roman orthography—long vowels are written as a double vowel.

**Inuktitut vowels**
		IPA	Inuujingajut	Notes
open front unrounded	Short	Template:IPAslink	a
open front unrounded	Long	Template:IPAslink	aa
closed front unrounded	Short	Template:IPAslink	i	Short i is realized as {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} before uvular consonants {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA\|main}}
closed front unrounded	Long	Template:IPAslink	ii
closed back rounded	Short	Template:IPAslink	u	Short u is realized as {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} before uvular consonants {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA\|main}}
closed back rounded	Long	Template:IPAslink	uu

**Inuktitut consonants in *Inuujingajut* and IPA notation**
		Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar		Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Stop		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Efn	Template:IPAlink
Fricative	plain	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Efn
Fricative	lateral		Template:IPAlink
Approximant			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink

Template:Notelist

All voiceless stops are unaspirated, like in many other languages. The voiceless uvular stop is usually written as q, but sometimes written as r. The voiceless lateral fricative is romanized as ɬ, but is often written as &, or simply as l.

/ŋ/ is spelt as ng, and geminated /ŋ/ is spelt as nng.

GrammarEdit

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Inuktitut, like other Eskaleut 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. Inuktitut's morphological system is highly regular.

One example is the word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) meaning 'I'll have to go to the airport:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Morpheme		Meaning	Morphophonological changes
lang}}	verbal root	to raise/to be raised in the air
lang}}	verb-to-noun suffix	lang}}: airplane	-q is deleted
lang}}	noun-to-noun suffix	group	-t is deleted
lang}}	noun-to-noun suffix	lang}}: airport	-k changes to -m
lang}}	noun ending	dative singular, to	-t+a changes to -u
lang}}	noun-to-verb suffix	arrival at a place; to go	-q+ja is deleted
lang}}	verb-to-noun suffix	the obligation to perform an action	-q is deleted
lang}}	noun-to-verb suffix	to have	-q is deleted
lang}}	verb-to-verb suffix	future tense, will	-q+j changes to -q+t
lang}}	verb ending	participle, first person singular, I

WritingEdit

Latin alphabetsEdit

The western part of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories use a Latin alphabet usually called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, reflecting the predispositions of the missionaries who reached this area in the late 19th century and early 20th.

Moravian missionaries, with the purpose of introducing Inuit to Christianity and the Bible, contributed to the development of an Inuktitut alphabet in Greenland during the 1760s that was based on the Latin script. (This alphabet is distinguished by its inclusion of the letter kra, ĸ.) They later travelled to Labrador in the 1800s, bringing the Inuktitut alphabet with them.

The Alaskan Yupik and Inupiat (who additionally developed their own syllabary) and the Siberian Yupik also adopted Latin alphabets.

QaniujaaqpaitEdit

Most Inuktitut in Nunavut and Nunavik is written using a scheme called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or Inuktitut syllabics, based on Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.

In the 1860s, missionaries imported this system of Qaniujaaqpait, which they had developed in their efforts to convert the Cree to Christianity, to the Eastern Canadian Inuit. The Netsilik Inuit in Kugaaruk and north Baffin Island adopted {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} by the 1920s.

In September 2019, a unified orthography called Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait, based on the Latin alphabet without diacritics, was adopted for all varieties of Inuktitut by the national organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, after eight years of work. It was developed by Inuit to be used by speakers of any dialect from any region, and can be typed on electronic devices without specialized keyboard layouts. It does not replace syllabics, and people from the regions are not required to stop using their familiar writing systems. Implementation plans are to be established for each region. It includes letters such as ff, ch, and rh, the sounds for which exist in some dialects but do not have standard equivalents in syllabics. It establishes a standard alphabet but not spelling or grammar rules.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel (e.g., aa, ii, uu). The apostrophe represents a glottal stop when after a vowel (e.g., {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), or separates an n from an ng (e.g., {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or an r from an rh (e.g., {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait<ref name=":3" />
IPA	Consonant	a	i	u
p	p	pa	pi	pu
t	t	ta	ti	tu
k	k	ka	ki	ku
q	q	qa	qi	qu
s	s	sa	si	su
ɬ	hl	hla	hli	hlu
ʂ	shr	shra	shri	shru
h	h	ha	hi	hu
v	v	va	vi	vu
l	l	la	li	lu
ɟ	rh	rha	rhi	rhu
j	j	ja	ji	ju
g	g	ga	gi	gu
ʁ	r	ra	ri	ru
m	m	ma	mi	mu
n	n	na	ni	nu
ŋ	ng	nga	ngi	ngu
ŋŋ	nng	nnga	nngi	nngu
ʔ	Template:Saltillo	aTemplate:Saltillo	iTemplate:Saltillo	uTemplate:Saltillo

File:Inuktitut.svg

lang}}). The extra characters with the dots represent long vowels; in the Latin transcription, the vowel would be doubled.

In April 2012, with the completion of the Old Testament, the first complete Bible in Inuktitut, translated by native speakers, was published.<ref>Hebrew Bible published in Eskimo language Template:Webarchive, News/North Nunavut, 23 April 2012</ref>

Noted literature in Inuktitut has included the novels Harpoon of the Hunter by Markoosie Patsauq,<ref name="collections">"MARKOOSIE, 1942-: LMS-0017" Template:Webarchive. Collections Canada.</ref> and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk.<ref name="southern">Template:Cite news</ref>

The Canadian syllabaryEdit

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The Inuktitut syllabary used in Canada is based on the Cree syllabary devised by the missionary James Evans.<ref>Aboriginal syllabic scripts Library and Archives Canada</ref> The present form of the syllabary for Canadian Inuktitut was adopted by the Inuit Cultural Institute in Canada in the 1970s. Inuit in Alaska, Inuvialuit, Inuinnaqtun speakers, and Inuit in Greenland and Labrador use Latin alphabets.

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 block Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. The territorial government of Nunavut, Canada, has developed TrueType fonts called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref name="Tiro">Tiro Typeworks: Syllabics Resources</ref><ref name="Pigiarniq">Pigiarniq Font Download</ref> (ᐱᒋᐊᕐᓂᖅ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref name="Tiro"/><ref name="Uqammaq">Uqammaq Font Download</ref> (ᐅᖃᒻᒪᖅ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref name="Tiro"/><ref name="Euphemia">Euphemia Font Download</ref> (ᐅᕓᒥᐊ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) for computer displays. They were designed by Vancouver-based Tiro Typeworks. Apple Macintosh computers include an Inuktitut IME (Input Method Editor) as part of keyboard language options.<ref name="fonts">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Linux distributions provide locale and language support for Iñupiaq, Kalaallisut and Inuktitut.

BrailleEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 2012 Tamara Kearney, Manager of Braille Research and Development at the Commonwealth Braille and Talking Book Cooperative, developed a Braille code for the Inuktitut language syllabics. This code is based on representing the syllabics' orientation. Machine translation from Unicode UTF-8 and UTF-16 can be performed using the Liblouis Braille translation system<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which includes an Inuktitut Braille translation table. The book {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (The Orphan and the Polar Bear) became the first work ever translated into Inuktitut Braille, and a copy is held at the headquarters of the Nunavut Public Library Services at Baker Lake.

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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BibliographyEdit

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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. Template:Refend

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project Template:OldWikisource Template:Wikivoyage

Dictionaries and lexicaEdit

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|CitationClass=web }} Template:Small

WebpagesEdit

A Brief History of Inuktitut Writing Culture
Inuktitut Syllabarium (Languagegeek)
Our Language, Our Selves Template:Webarchive
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

UtilitiesEdit

NANIVARA – Inuktitut Search Engine. – NANIVARA means "I've found it!" in Inuktitut.

Template:Eskimo-Aleut languages Template:Languages of Nunavut Template:Languages of Quebec Template:Languages of Canada Template:Authority control