Inuktitut facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Inuktitut
Eastern Canadian Inuktitut ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ, inuktitut
Native to	Canada
Region	Northwest Territories, Nunatsiavut (Newfoundland and Labrador), Nunavik (Quebec), Nunavut
Native speakers	L1: 38,000  (2021 census) L1 + L2: 42,000 (2021 census)
Language family	Eskimo–Aleut Eskimo Inuit Inuktitut
Early forms:	Proto-Eskimo–Aleut Proto-Eskimo Proto-Inuit Inuktitut
Dialects	Qikiqtaaluk nigiani (South Baffin) Nunavimmiutitut (Quebec) Inuttitut (Labrador) Inuktun (Thule)
Writing system	Inuktitut syllabics, Inuktitut Braille, Latin
Official status
Official language in	Nunavut Northwest Territories
Recognised minority language in	Quebec (Nunavik) Newfoundland and Labrador (Nunatsiavut) Yukon (Inuvialuit Settlement Region)
Regulated by	Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and various other local institutions.
Linguasphere	60-ABB
Distribution of Inuit languages across the Arctic. East Inuktitut dialects are those coloured dark blue (on the south of Baffin Island), red, pink, and brown.
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Inuktitut (ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ) is a main Inuit language spoken in Canada. Its name means "like an Inuk" or "in the manner of a person." You can hear Inuktitut in areas north of the North American tree line. This includes parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. It is one of the native languages written using Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.

Inuktitut is an official language in Nunavut, along with Inuinnaqtun. Together, they are called Inuktut. It is also one of eight official native languages in the Northwest Territories. In Nunavik, a part of Quebec, Inuktitut is legally recognized for teaching in Inuit schools. This recognition came from the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. It also has some recognition in Nunatsiavut, the Inuit area in Labrador. In 2021, about 37,570 people said Inuktitut was their first language.

The word Inuktitut can also mean a larger group of languages, including Inuvialuktun. This means it covers almost all Inuit languages in Canada. However, Statistics Canada lists all Inuit languages in the Canadian census as Inuktut.

History of Inuktitut

Inuktitut in Canadian Schools

Before Europeans arrived, Inuit children learned skills by watching and doing. The Inuktitut language had all the words needed to describe their traditional ways of life and the natural world. At this time, it was only a spoken language.

When Europeans came to Canada, they brought their school system. Missionaries from the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches were the first to teach Inuit children in schools. They used Inuktitut for teaching and created ways to write the language.

In 1928, the first residential school for Inuit opened. There, English became the main language for teaching. As the government became more interested in the North, it took over Inuit education. After World War II, English was seen as the language for everything. Officials worried that Inuit would not find jobs if they could not speak English. Inuit were expected to use English at school, work, and even during playtime. However, Inuit saw Inuktitut as a way to express their feelings and keep their identity. English was just a tool for making money.

In the 1960s, attitudes towards Inuktitut began to change. People started to see Inuktitut as a language worth saving. They argued that children learn best in their first language, especially in their early school years. This led to the start of bilingual schools. In 1969, most Inuit voted to close federal schools. They wanted new programs from the General Directorate of New Quebec [fr]. Now, school subjects were taught in Inuktitut, English, and French.

Laws Protecting Inuktitut

Inuktitut became one of the official languages in the Northwest Territories in 1984. Its status is protected by the Northwest Territories Official Language Act. When the territory split into NWT and Nunavut in 1999, both kept this Language Act.

The self-governing area of Nunatsiavut in Labrador made Inuktitut its government language in 2005. In Nunavik, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement recognizes Inuktitut in the education system.

Inuktitut Languages and Dialects

Inuktitut in Nunavut

Nunavut's main law lists four official languages: English, French, Inuktitut, and Inuinnaqtun. Sometimes, the words Inuktitut or Inuktut are used to mean both Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut together.

Nunavut is home to about 24,000 Inuit. More than 80% of them speak Inuktitut. This includes about 3,500 people who speak only Inuktitut. Data from 2001 showed that the use of Inuktitut had stopped decreasing in Canada. It might even be growing in Nunavut.

The South Baffin dialect (ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ᓂᒋᐊᓂ) is spoken across the southern part of Baffin Island. This includes Iqaluit, the capital city. Because of this, the South Baffin dialect is heard more widely, as much Inuktitut media comes from Iqaluit.

Since the early 2000s, Nunavut has started programs where children learn in Inuktitut from a young age. This helps to keep the language alive and strong. In 2012, a training center in Iqaluit aimed to teach people from different Nunavut communities how to teach Inuktitut in their own local dialects.

Inuktitut in Nunavik

Quebec has about 15,800 Inuit. Almost all of them live in Nunavik. In 2021, about 80.9% of Quebec Inuit spoke Inuktitut.

The Nunavik dialect (ᓄᓇᕕᒻᒥᐅᑎᑐᑦ) is quite similar to the South Baffin dialect. However, because Nunavik is separate from Nunavut, it has its own government and schools. This has led to the local dialect becoming more unique. In Nunavik, Inuktitut is sometimes called ᐃᓄᑦᑎᑐᑦ. This dialect is also known as ᑕᕐᕋᒥᐅᑐᑦ or ᑕᖅᕐᕋᒥᐅᑐᑦ.

Inuktitut in Labrador

The Nunatsiavut dialect (ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᒻᒥᐅᑐᑦ) was once spoken across northern Labrador. It has a special writing system. German missionaries from the Moravian Church created this system in Greenland in the 1760s. This unique writing style and the distance from other Inuit communities have made it a distinct dialect with its own literary traditions. The people of Nunatsiavut call their language ᐃᓄᑦᑐᑦ.

Nunatsiavut has over 4,000 people of Inuit background. However, in 2001, only 550 said Inuktitut was their native language. Most of these speakers lived in Nain. Inuktitut is in danger of disappearing in Labrador.

How Inuktitut Sounds

Eastern Inuktitut dialects have fifteen consonants and three vowels. These vowels can be long or short. Consonants are made using six different parts of the mouth. There are also three ways sounds are made: voiceless stops, voiced continuants, and nasals. Two extra sounds are voiceless fricatives. All Inuktitut dialects have only three basic vowels. They tell the difference between short and long versions of these vowels. In the Nunavut standard writing system, long vowels are written by doubling the vowel (like aa).

Inuktitut Grammar

Inuktitut, like other Eskimo–Aleut languages, has a very rich way of building words. Many different parts, called morphemes, are added to root words. This helps to show things that would take several words to say in English. For example, in English, you might say "I will have to go to the airport." In Inuktitut, this can be one long word!

All words start with a main root part. Then, other parts are added to the end. Inuktitut has hundreds of these added parts, called suffixes. Some dialects have as many as 700. Even though it sounds complex, the rules are very regular. They don't have many exceptions like English does, even if they can be tricky.

Here is an example of how one Inuktitut word is built: qangatasuukkuvimmuuriaqalaaqtunga (ᖃᖓᑕᓲᒃᑯᕕᒻᒨᕆᐊᖃᓛᖅᑐᖓ) means 'I'll have to go to the airport.'

Writing Inuktitut

Latin Alphabets

In the western part of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, Inuktitut is written using a Latin alphabet. This is often called Inuinnaqtun or Qaliujaaqpait. Missionaries who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s brought this way of writing.

Moravian missionaries helped create an Inuktitut alphabet in Greenland in the 1760s. This alphabet was based on the Latin script. They used it to teach Inuit about Christianity and the Bible. Later, in the 1800s, they brought this alphabet to Labrador.

The Yupik and Inupiat in Alaska, and the Siberian Yupik, also started using Latin alphabets.

Qaniujaaqpait (Syllabics)

Most Inuktitut in Nunavut and Nunavik is written using a system called Qaniujaaqpait, also known as Inuktitut syllabics. This system is based on Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.

In the 1860s, missionaries brought this system to the Eastern Canadian Inuit. They had first developed it to help convert the Cree people to Christianity. The Netsilik Inuit in Kugaaruk and northern Baffin Island began using Qaniujaaqpait by the 1920s.

In September 2019, a new, unified way of writing called Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait was adopted. It uses the Latin alphabet without special marks. This system was created by Inuit people to be used by speakers of any dialect from any region. It can be typed on computers and phones easily. It does not replace the syllabic writing system. People can still use their familiar writing systems if they prefer. This new system includes letters for sounds found in some dialects that didn't have standard symbols in syllabics. It sets a standard alphabet but not strict spelling or grammar rules. Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel (like aa).

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.

In April 2012, the first complete Bible in Inuktitut was published. It was translated by native speakers.

Famous books written in Inuktitut include Harpoon of the Hunter by Markoosie Patsauq and Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk.

The Canadian Syllabary

The Inuktitut syllabary used in Canada is based on the Cree syllabary. This system was created by the missionary James Evans. The current 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 instead.

Even though it's called a syllabary, some people say it's an abugida. This is because syllables that start with the same consonant have similar symbols, not completely different ones.

All the characters needed for the Inuktitut syllabary are available in the Unicode system. The government of Nunavut, Canada, has created special computer fonts for it. These fonts are called Pigiarniq (ᐱᒋᐊᕐᓂᖅ), Uqammaq (ᐅᖃᒻᒪᖅ), and Euphemia (ᐅᕓᒥᐊ). Apple Macintosh computers have an Inuktitut typing tool. Linux computers also support Inuktitut.

Braille for Inuktitut

In 2012, Tamara Kearney developed a Braille code for Inuktitut syllabics. This code shows the direction of the syllabic symbols. Computers can translate Inuktitut text into Braille using a special system. The book ᐃᓕᐊᕐᔪᒃ ᓇᓄᕐᓗ (The Orphan and the Polar Bear) was the first book ever translated into Inuktitut Braille. A copy is kept at the Nunavut Territorial Library in Baker Lake, Nunavut.

See also

• Indigenous Languages of the Americas
• Inuit Languages
• Thule people