Proto-Inuit language facts for kids

Proto-Inuit was a very old language. It is the original language from which all the different Inuit languages grew. Think of it as the "grandparent" language. Scientists called linguists have reconstructed it. This means they used clues from modern Inuit languages to figure out what Proto-Inuit might have sounded like.

This ancient language was probably spoken around 1,000 years ago. The people who spoke it were the Thule people. They were an ancient group of Neo-Eskimo people. Proto-Inuit itself came from an even older language called Proto-Eskimo. The Yupik languages also developed from Proto-Eskimo.

How Linguists Study Proto-Inuit

Linguists are like detectives for languages. They study how sounds and words change over time. By looking at similar words in different Inuit languages today, they can guess what the original Proto-Inuit word was. This helps them understand how the language sounded long ago.