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68-524: The Belcher Islands ( Inuktitut : ᓴᓪᓚᔪᒐᐃᑦ , romanized :  Sanikiluaq ) are an archipelago in the southeast part of Hudson Bay near the centre of the Nastapoka arc . The Belcher Islands are spread out over almost 3,000 km (1,200 sq mi). Administratively, they belong to the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut , Canada. The hamlet of Sanikiluaq (where the majority of

136-721: 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

204-487: A large component of the native small shrubbery on the archipelago. These include rock willow ( Salix vestita ), bog willow ( S. pedicellaris ), and Labrador willow ( S. argyrocarpa ), as well as naturally occurring hybrids between S. arctica and S. glauca . Trees cannot grow on the islands because of a lack of adequate soil. The main wildlife consists of belugas , walrus , caribou , common eiders and snowy owls all of which can be seen on

272-728: A religious movement led by Charley Ouyerack, Peter Sala, and his sister Mina caused the death by blows or exposure of nine persons, an occurrence that came to be known as the Belcher Island Murders. In 1999, when Nunavut was separated from Northwest Territories, the Belcher Islands were included within Nunavut, along with most islands in Hudson Bay. The geologic units of the Belcher Group, which forms

340-469: 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

408-642: 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,

476-482: 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

544-468: 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

612-430: Is also used for countertops and bathroom tiling because of the ease of working the material and its property as the "quiet stone". A weathered or aged appearance occurs naturally over time as the patina is enhanced. Soapstone can be used to create molds for casting objects from soft metals, such as pewter or silver . The soft stone is easily carved and is not degraded by heating. The slick surface of soapstone allows

680-650: 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

748-439: 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 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 )

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816-404: Is formed by the metamorphism of ultramafic protoliths (e.g. dunite or serpentinite ) and the metasomatism of siliceous dolomites . By mass, "pure" steatite is roughly 63.37% silica , 31.88% magnesia , and 4.74% water. It commonly contains minor quantities of other oxides such as CaO or Al 2 O 3 . Pyrophyllite , a mineral very similar to talc, is sometimes called soapstone in

884-767: Is mined in Canada, Brazil, India, and Finland and imported into the United States. Active North American mines include one south of Quebec City with products marketed by Canadian Soapstone, the Treasure and Regal mines in Beaverhead County , Montana mined by the Barretts Minerals Company, and another in central Virginia operated by the Alberene Soapstone Company. Mining to meet worldwide demand for soapstone

952-415: Is most commonly used for architectural applications, such as counter tops, floor tiles, showerbases, and interior surfacing. Soapstone is sometimes used for construction of fireplace surrounds, cladding on wood-burning stoves , and as the preferred material for woodburning masonry heaters because it can absorb, store, and evenly radiate heat due to its high density and magnesite (MgCO 3 ) content. It

1020-499: Is notable for being a granular iron formation . The Flaherty Formation basalt that composes much of the Belcher Islands was deposited between 1.87 and 1.854 billion years ago, with the overlying Omarolluk and Loaf formations being deposited from 1.854 billion years ago until sometime after 1.83 billion years ago. The occurrence of very high-quality soapstone in the Belcher Islands supports a locally significant carving industry. These soapstone occurrences formed when sedimentary rocks of

1088-504: Is often used as an insulator for housing and electrical components, due to its durability and electrical characteristics and because it can be pressed into complex shapes before firing. Soapstone undergoes transformations when heated to temperatures of 1,000–1,200 °C (1,830–2,190 °F) into enstatite and cristobalite ; on the Mohs scale, this corresponds to an increase in hardness to 5.5–6.5. The resulting material, harder than glass,

1156-915: 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 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

1224-592: 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

1292-448: Is sold in the form of sawn slabs . "Ground soapstone" sometimes designates the ground waste product of the slab manufacturing. Petrologically , soapstone is composed predominantly of talc, with varying amounts of chlorite and amphiboles (typically tremolite , anthophyllite , and cummingtonite , hence its obsolete name, magnesiocummingtonite), and traces of minor iron-chromium oxides . It may be schistose or massive . Soapstone

1360-581: Is sometimes called "lava". Ancient Egyptian scarab signets and amulets were most commonly made from glazed steatite. The Yoruba people of West Nigeria used soapstone for several statues, most notably at Esie , where archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of male and female statues about half of life size. The Yoruba of Ife also produced a miniature soapstone obelisk with metal studs called "the staff of Oranmiyan ". Soapstone mining in Tabaka, Kenya occurs in relatively shallow and accessible quarries in

1428-442: 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 ( Qikiqtaaluk nigiani , ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ᓂᒋᐊᓂ ) is spoken across the southern part of Baffin Island , including

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1496-418: Is threatening the habitat of India's tigers. Soapstones can be put in a freezer and later used in place of ice cubes to chill alcoholic beverages without diluting. Sometimes called whiskey stones, these were first introduced around 2007. Most whiskey stones feature a semipolished finish, retaining the soft look of natural soapstone, while others are highly polished. People can be exposed to soapstone dust in

1564-407: Is used primarily for its dielectric and thermally-insulating properties in applications such as tile, substrates, washers, bushings, beads, and pigments. It is also used for high-voltage insulators, which have to stand large mechanical loads, such as insulators of mast radiators . Soapstone continues to be used for carvings and sculptures by artists and indigenous peoples. In Brazil, especially in

1632-546: 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

1700-486: The Arctic have traditionally used soapstone for carvings of both practical objects and art. The qulliq , a type of oil lamp, is carved out of soapstone and used by the Inuit and Dorset peoples. The soapstone oil lamps indicate these people had easy access to oils derived from marine mammals. In the modern period, soapstone is commonly used for carvings in Inuit art . In the United States, locally quarried soapstone

1768-471: 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

1836-637: 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 General Directorate of New Quebec  [ fr ] ( Direction générale du Nouveau-Québec, DGNQ ). Content

1904-536: 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. Though often thought to be a dialect of Greenlandic , Inuktun or Polar Eskimo is a recent arrival in Greenland from

1972-665: The 5th to 3rd millennia BC. Soapstone has been used in India as a medium for sculptures since at least the time of the Hoysala Empire , the Western Chalukya Empire and to an extent Vijayanagara Empire . Even earlier, steatite was used as the substrate for Indus-Harappan seals . After the intricate carvings of icons and (yet undeciphered) symbols, the seals were heated above 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) for several days to make them hard and durable to make

2040-560: The Belcher Group were intruded by Haig sills and dykes approximately 1.87 billion years ago. Most soapstone is quarried from a site on western Tukarak Island where dolomite of the Costello Formation was intruded by hot magma , with dolomite reacting with quartz and water under intense heat to form talc , calcite , and carbon dioxide : 3CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 + 4SiO 2 + H 2 O → [Heat] Mg 3 Si 4 O 10 (OH) 2 + 3CaCO 3 + 3CO 2 Other minerals within

2108-716: The Belcher Islands, were deposited during the Paleoproterozoic . Combined with other Paleoproterozoic units that occur along the edge of the Superior Craton , the Belcher Group forms part of the Circum-Superior Belt . From youngest to oldest, the Belcher Group is composed of: The oldest part of the Belcher Group, the Kasegalik Formation, was deposited between 2.0185 and 2.0154 billion years ago. The Kasegalik Formation also contains

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2176-545: 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 was solely an oral language . However, European colonialism brought the schooling system to Canada. The missionaries of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches were

2244-612: 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

2312-1058: The Eastern Canadian Arctic, arriving perhaps as late as the 18th century. Throughout Inuit Nunaat and Inuit Nunangat 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/ ,

2380-456: 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 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 )

2448-544: The Palace of Knossos , a steatite libation table was found. Soapstone is relatively abundant in northern Europe. Vikings hewed soapstone directly from the stone face, shaped it into cooking pots, and sold these at home and abroad. In Shetland , there is evidence that these vessels were used for processing marine and dairy fats. Several surviving medieval buildings in northern Europe are constructed with soapstone, amongst them Nidaros Cathedral . In modern times, soapstone

2516-574: 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 . Soapstone The definitions of

2584-596: The Sleeper Islands, King George Islands, and Bakers Dozen Islands. The archaeological evidence present on the islands indicates that they were inhabited by the Dorset culture between 500 BCE and 1000 CE. Centuries later, from 1200 to 1500, the Thule people made their presence on the islands. The first European to encounter the islands was English sea explorer Henry Hudson , the namesake of Hudson Bay , who sighted

2652-568: 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

2720-469: The eider. In 1998, the Belcher Island caribou ( Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus ) herd numbered 800. Inuktitut language 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 the manner of'), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut , is one of

2788-914: The final seals used for making impressions on clay. In China, during the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC), soapstone was carved into ceremonial knives. Soapstone was also used to carve Chinese seals . Soapstone was used as a writing pencil in Myanmar as early as the 11th-century Pagan period. After that, it was still used as a pencil to write on Black Parabaik until the end of the Mandalay period (19th century). Pipes and decorative carvings of local animals were made out of soapstone by Australian Aboriginal artist Erlikilyika ( c.  1865  – c.  1930 ) in Central Australia . The Minoan civilization on Crete used soapstone. At

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2856-571: The finished object to be easily removed. Welders and fabricators use soapstone as a marker due to its resistance to heat; it remains visible when heat is applied. It has also been used for many years by seamstresses, carpenters, and other craftspeople as a marking tool, because its marks are visible but not permanent. Resistance to heat made steatite suitable for manufacturing gas burner tips , spark plugs , and electrical switchboards. Steatite ceramics are low-cost biaxial porcelains of nominal composition (MgO) 3 (SiO 2 ) 4 . Steatite

2924-399: 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 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

2992-465: The generic sense, since its physical characteristics and industrial uses are similar, and because it is also commonly used as a carving material. However, this mineral typically does not have such a soapy feel as soapstone. Soapstone is relatively soft because of its high talc content—talc has a definitional value of 1 on the Mohs hardness scale . Softer grades may feel similar to soap when touched, hence

3060-597: The ground form. While the geologists logically will use "steatite" to designate both forms, in the industry, "steatite" without additional qualifications typically means the steatite that is either already ground or to be used in the ground form in the future. If the ground steatite is pressed together into blocks, these are called "synthetic block steatite", "artificial block steatite", or "artificial lava talc". In industrial applications soapstone refers to dimension stone that consists of either amphibole-chlorite-carbonate-talc rock, talc-carbonate rock, or simply talc rock and

3128-400: The inhabitants of the Belcher Islands live) is on the north coast of Flaherty Island and is the southernmost in Nunavut. Along with Flaherty Island, the other large islands are Kugong Island , Tukarak Island , and Innetalling Island . Other main islands in the 1,500–island archipelago are Moore Island , Wiegand Island, Split Island, Snape Island and Mavor Island, while island groups include

3196-500: The inhabitants of the islands sought the down of eider ducks , seaducks who nest on the island. In 1870, Rupert's Land was ceded to the Northwest Territories . Before 1914, English-speaking cartographers knew very little about the Belcher Islands, which they showed on maps as specks, much smaller than their true extent. In that year a map showing them, drawn by George Weetaltuk, came into the hands of Robert Flaherty , and cartographers began to represent them more accurately. In 1941,

3264-498: The island year round. There is also a wide variety of fish that can be caught such as Arctic char , cod , capelin , lump fish , and sculpin . The historical relationship between the Sanikiluaq community and the eider is the subject of a feature-length Canadian documentary film called People of a Feather . The director, cinematographer and biologist Joel Heath, spent seven years on the project, writing biological articles on

3332-467: The islands in 1610. In 1670, the islands and the entirety of Hudson Bay drainage basin were designated by the English king, Charles II , as Rupert's Land , managed by the Hudson's Bay Company . The islands are named after Royal Navy Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877). In the early 19th century, caribou herds which lived on the islands disappeared. In an alternative effort to find warm clothing,

3400-451: The legal limit ( permissible exposure limit ) for soapstone exposure in the workplace as 20 million particles per cubic foot over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has set a recommended exposure limit of 6 mg/m total exposure and 3 mg/m respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. At levels of 3000 mg/m , soapstone is immediately dangerous to life and health . The local names for

3468-428: The name. No fixed hardness is given for soapstone because the amount of talc it contains varies widely, from as little as 30% for architectural grades such as those used on countertops, to as much as 80% for carving grades. Soapstone is easy to carve; it is also durable and heat-resistant and has a high heat storage capacity. It has therefore been used for cooking and heating equipment for thousands of years. Soapstone

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3536-529: The oldest unambiguous Cyanobacteria microfossils. Much of the Belcher Group strata were deposited under intertidal to shallow-water conditions, although the Mavor Formation formed a platform margin stromatolite reef complex, and the overlying Costello and Laddie formations represent slope and deep basin deposits, respectively. The Kipalu Formation, deposited approximately 1.88 billion years ago,

3604-577: 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 is recognized as an official language in Nunavut alongside Inuinnaqtun and both languages are known collectively as Inuktut . Further, it

3672-484: 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 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

3740-449: 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

3808-405: The rock's thermal qualities; compared to clay or metal containers, soapstone retains heat more effectively. Use of soapstone in native American cultures continue to the modern day. Later, other cultures carved soapstone smoking pipes , a practice that continues today. The soapstone's low heat conduction allows for prolonged smoking without the pipe heating up uncomfortably. Indigenous peoples of

3876-876: 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

3944-399: The soapstone are largely calcite , dolomite , talc , and clinochlore , with minor amounts of ilmenite . Although most soapstone has been sourced from two quarries, the relatively widespread occurrence of Haig intrusions within the Belcher Islands suggests that there may be many more possible sources of high-quality soapstone not yet discovered. Several species of willow ( Salix ) form

4012-443: The state of Minas Gerais , the abundance of soapstone mines allow local artisans to craft pots, pans, wine glasses, statues, jewel boxes, coasters, and vases from soapstone. These handicrafts are commonly sold in street markets found in cities across the state. Some of the oldest towns, notably Congonhas , Tiradentes , and Ouro Preto , still have some of their streets paved with soapstone from colonial times. Architectural soapstone

4080-748: The surrounding areas of Sameta, Nyabigege and Bomware. These were at the time open to all to access provided they had the labor resources to do so. This mostly meant the men did the mining as they were custodian to the community land, meaning ancestral lands in Riamosioma, Itumbe, Nyatike etc. Native Americans have used soapstone since the Late Archaic period. During the Archaic archaeological period (8000–1000 BC), bowls, cooking slabs, and other objects were made from soapstone. The use of soapstone cooking vessels during this period has been attributed to

4148-449: The terms "steatite" and "soapstone" vary with the field of study. In geology, steatite is a rock that is, to a very large extent, composed of talc. The mining industry defines steatite as a high-purity talc rock that is suitable for the manufacturing of, for example, insulators ; the lesser grades of the mineral can be called simply " talc rock ". Steatite can be used both in lumps ("block steatite", "lava steatite", "lava grade talc"), and in

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4216-555: 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

4284-476: The workplace via inhalation and skin or eye contact. Exposure above safe limits can lead to symptoms including coughing , shortness of breath , cyanosis , crackles , and pulmonary heart disease . Due to the potential presence of tremolite and crystalline silica in the dust, precautions should be taken to avoid occupational diseases such as asbestosis , silicosis , mesothelioma , and lung cancer . The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set

4352-529: 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 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

4420-626: Was now taught in Inuktitut, English, and French. 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. The autonomous area Nunatsiavut in Labrador made Inuktitut the government language when it

4488-588: 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 Inuttut ( ᐃᓄᑦᑐᑦ ). Although Nunatsiavut claims over 4,000 inhabitants of Inuit descent, only 550 reported Inuktitut to be their native language in

4556-419: 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. 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

4624-624: Was used for gravemarkers in 19th century northeast Georgia , around Dahlonega , and Cleveland as simple field stone and "slot and tab" tombs. In Canada, soapstone was quarried in the Arctic regions like the western part of the Ungava Bay and the Appalachian Mountain System from Newfoundland. The ancient trading city of Tepe Yahya in southeastern Iran was a center for the production and distribution of soapstone in

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