Inuktitut syllabics ( Inuktitut : ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ , romanized : qaniujaaqpait , or ᑎᑎᕋᐅᓯᖅ ᓄᑖᖅ , titirausiq nutaaq ) is an abugida -type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut -speaking Inuit of the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik and Nunatsiavut regions of Quebec and Labrador , respectively. In 1976, the Language Commission of the Inuit Cultural Institute made it the co-official script for the Inuit languages , along with the Latin script .
41-454: Boothia Peninsula ( / ˈ b uː θ i ə / ; formerly Boothia Felix , Inuktitut Kingngailap Nunanga ) is a large peninsula in Nunavut 's northern Canadian Arctic , south of Somerset Island . The northern part, Murchison Promontory , is the northernmost point of mainland Canada. Bellot Strait (Ikirahaq) separates the peninsula from Somerset Island to the north. Babbage Bay is on
82-721: A glottal stop when after a vowel (e.g., maꞌna ), or separates an n from an ng (e.g., avin'ngaq ) or an r from an rh (e.g., qar'rhuk ). In April 2012, with the completion of the Old Testament , the first complete Bible in Inuktitut, translated by native speakers, was published. Noted literature in Inuktitut has included the novels Harpoon of the Hunter by Markoosie Patsauq , and Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk . The Inuktitut syllabary used in Canada
123-469: A root morpheme to which other morphemes are suffixed. Inuktitut has hundreds of distinct suffixes, in some dialects as many as 700. However, it is highly regular, with rules that do not have exceptions like in English and other Indo-European languages , though they are sometimes very complicated. One example is the word qangatasuukkuvimmuuriaqalaaqtunga ( ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕕᒻᒨᕆᐊᖃᓛᖅᑐᖓ ) meaning 'I'll have to go to
164-642: A scheme called Qaniujaaqpait 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 Qaniujaaqpait by the 1920s. In September 2019,
205-562: 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. 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. Throughout Inuit Nunaat and Inuit Nunangat
246-482: 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
287-468: A vestige of the retroflex consonants of 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. All voiceless stops are unaspirated, like in many other languages. The voiceless uvular stop
328-515: Is also the name of a macrolanguage and, in that context, also includes Inuvialuktun , and thus nearly all Inuit dialects of Canada. However, Statistics Canada lists all Inuit languages in the Canadian census as Inuktut. 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. Up to this point, it
369-459: 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. 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
410-477: 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. As of 2012 , "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." Quebec
451-467: Is associated with Inukjuak , Quebec, and there is an Itivimuit River near the town. The Nunatsiavut dialect ( Inuttitut ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᒻᒥᐅᑐᑦ or, often in government documents, Labradorimiutut ) 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,
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#1732757154418492-650: 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. 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
533-533: 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. The Nunavik dialect ( Nunavimmiutitut , ᓄᓇᕕᒻᒥᐅᑎᑐᑦ ) 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
574-718: 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. 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
615-761: 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. 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. Nunavut's basic law lists four official languages: English, French, Inuktitut, and Inuinnaqtun . It
656-546: 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. 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
697-993: The District of Franklin in the then Northwest Territories . The balance of the District of Franklin was all situated within the Arctic Archipelago . On the peninsula there are outcrops of Early Ordovician rocks, over which Late Ordovician and Silurian rocks are identified ( Middle Ordovician is not exposed). Over 1000 conodont fossils of 37 species in 28 genera were collected from these strata. Genera include Teridontus , Cordylodus , Rossodus , Variabiloconus , Semiacontiodus , Drepanoistodus , Parapanderodus , Ulrichodina , Acodus , Colaptoconus , Polyplacognathus , Pteracontiodus , Milaculum and Phosphannulus . Conodont zones are distinguished in Lower and Upper Ordovician. John Ross
738-858: The Inuktut is used to refer to Inuktitut and all other dialects. It is used by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami , the Inuit Circumpolar Council , and the Government of Nunavut throughout Inuit Nunaat and Inuit Nunangat . 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 /ɟ/ ,
779-717: The Northwest Passage passed through the Bellot Strait. Larsen deemed the strait too shallow for larger vessels and described how his vessel was almost crushed by ice floes when there was a change in the wind's direction. On his return voyage Larsen passed north of Somerset Island. 71°N 94°W / 71°N 94°W / 71; -94 Inuktitut Inuktitut ( / ɪ ˈ n ʊ k t ə t ʊ t / ih- NUUK -tə-tuut ; Inuktitut: [inuktiˈtut] , syllabics ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ ; from inuk , 'person' + -titut , 'like', 'in
820-471: 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. Most Inuktitut in Nunavut and Nunavik is written using
861-538: The 1870s, Edmund Peck , another Anglican missionary, started printing according to that standard. Other missionaries, and later linguists in the employ of the Canadian and American governments, adapted the Latin alphabet to the dialects of the Mackenzie River delta, the western Arctic islands and Alaska . The Inuktitut script ( titirausiq nutaaq ) is commonly presented as a syllabary . The dots on
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#1732757154418902-612: 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>{{Cite web|url= https://liblouis.io/ |title=Liblouis |access-date= which includes an Inuktitut Braille translation table. The book ᐃᓕᐊᕐᔪᒃ ᓇᓄᕐᓗ ( The Orphan and
943-637: 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 . 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 . Inuktitut syllabics The name qaniujaaqpait [qaniujaːqpaˈit] derives from
984-568: The airport: The western part of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories use a Latin alphabet usually called Inuinnaqtun or Qaliujaaqpait , 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
1025-492: The east coast, as is Abernethy Bay, just to the south. The community of Taloyoak lies in the far south and is the peninsula's only significant population centre. Paisley Bay is on the west coast, as is Wrottesley Inlet (between Paisley Bay and Bellot Strait). Prior to the detachment of Nunavut in 1999, the Boothia Peninsula and the nearby Melville Peninsula were the only parts of mainland Canada that belonged to
1066-418: 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
1107-484: The letters in the table mark long vowels ; in the Latin transcription, the vowel is doubled. For geminate consonants , the final consonant symbol is placed before the CV syllabic, for instance - kk u-, - nnu - are rendered ᒃ ᑯ and ᓐ ᓄ respectively. The Makivik Corporation expanded the official version of the script to restore the ai-pai-tai column. The common diphthong ai has generally been represented by combining
1148-505: The manner of'), 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 . It
1189-496: 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 General Directorate of New Quebec [ fr ] ( Direction générale du Nouveau-Québec, DGNQ ). Content was now taught in Inuktitut, English, and French. Inuktitut became one of the official languages in the Northwest Territories in 1984. Its status
1230-629: 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. The term Inuktitut
1271-459: The playground. 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. 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
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1312-499: The reforms of 1976. Inuktitut is one variation on Canadian Aboriginal syllabics , and can be digitally encoded using the Unicode standard. The Unicode block for Inuktitut characters is called Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics . The first efforts to write Inuktitut came from Moravian missionaries in Greenland and Labrador in the mid-19th century using Latin script. The first book printed in Inuktitut using Cree script
1353-449: 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. Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel (e.g., aa , ii , uu ). The apostrophe represents
1394-443: 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 ( ᐃᓄᑦᑐᑦ ). 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
1435-546: 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 Nunavimmiutut ( ᐃᓄᑦᑎᑐᑦ ). This dialect is also sometimes called Tarramiutut or Taqramiutut ( ᑕᕐᕋᒥᐅᑐᑦ or ᑕᖅᕐᕋᒥᐅᑐᑦ ). Sub dialects of Inuktitut in this region include Tarrarmiut and Itivimuit. Itivimuit
1476-415: The root qaniq , meaning "mouth". The alternative, Latin-based writing system is named qaliujaaqpait ( ᖃᓕᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ ), and it derives from qaliit , a word describing the markings or the grain in rocks. Titirausiq nutaaq [titiʁauˈsiq nuˈtaːq] meaning "new writing system" is to be seen in contrast to titirausiit nutaunngittut ( ᑎᑎᕋᐅᓰᑦ ᓄᑕᐅᓐᖏᑦᑐᑦ ), the "old syllabics" used before
1517-822: 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 Pigiarniq ( ᐱᒋᐊᕐᓂᖅ [pi.ɡi.aʁ.ˈniq] ), Uqammaq ( ᐅᖃᒻᒪᖅ [u.qam.maq] ), and Euphemia ( ᐅᕓᒥᐊ [u.vai.mi.a] ) 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. Linux distributions provide locale and language support for Iñupiaq , Kalaallisut and Inuktitut. In 2012 Tamara Kearney, Manager of Braille Research and Development at
1558-618: 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 ( Qikiqtaaluk nigiani , ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ᓂᒋᐊᓂ ) 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
1599-634: Was an 8-page pamphlet known as Selections from the Gospels in the dialect of the Inuit of Little Whale River ( ᒋᓴᓯᑊ ᐅᑲᐤᓯᐣᑭᐟ , "Jesus' words"), printed by John Horden in 1855–56 at Moose Factory for Edwin Arthur Watkins to use among the Inuit at Fort George . In November 1865, Horden and Watkins met in London under Henry Venn 's direction to adapt Cree syllabics to the Inuktitut language. In
1640-565: Was forced by ice to stop for four years at its easternmost point starting in 1829. He named it after his patron Sir Felix Booth . Ross encountered a large Inuit community whom he described as living in "snow cottages" (i.e., igloos ) and immortalized in Ross's painting North Hendon . In 1831, his nephew James Clark Ross went overland and reached the north magnetic pole which was then on its western side. He also crossed west to King William Island . Henry Larsen 's second successful traverse of
1681-455: 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. In 1928 the first residential school for Inuit opened, and English became