Inuktitut

This article contains Canadian Aboriginal syllabic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of syllabics.
Not to be confused with Western Canadian Inuktitut.
Inuktitut
Eastern Canadian Inuktitut
ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ, inuktitut
Native toCanada
RegionNorthwest Territories, NunatuKavut, Nunatsiavut (Newfoundland and Labrador), Nunavik (Quebec), Nunavut
SpeakersL1: 38,000 (2021 census)[1]
L1 + L2: 42,000 (2021 census)[2]
Early forms
Dialects
Inuktitut syllabics, Inuktitut Braille, Latin
Official status
Official language in
Nunavut
Northwest Territories
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byInuit Tapiriit Kanatami and various other local institutions.
Language codes
ISO 639-1iu Inuktitut
ISO 639-2iku Inuktitut
ISO 639-3iku – inclusive code Inuktitut
Individual codes:
ike – Eastern Canadian Inuktitut
ikt – Inuinnaqtun
Glottologeast2534  Eastern Canadian Inuktitut
ELPInuktitut
Linguasphere60-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 article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
PersonInuk, ᐃᓄᒃ
Dual: Inuuk, ᐃᓅᒃ
PeopleInuit, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ
LanguageInuit languages
CountryInuit Nunangat, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ

Inuktitut (/ɪˈnʊktətʊt/ ih-NUUK-tə-tuut;[3] Inuktitut: [inuktiˈtut], syllabics ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ; from inuk, 'person' + -titut, 'like', 'in 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.[4]

It is recognised 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.[5] It also has legal recognition in Nunavik—a part of Quebec—thanks in part to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and is recognised 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.[1][6]

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.[7] However, Statistics Canada lists all Inuit languages in the Canadian census as Inuktut.[6]

  1. ^ a b "Mother tongue by geography, 2021 Census". Statistics Canada. 2022-08-17.
  2. ^ "Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions". Statistics Canada. 2022-08-17.
  3. ^ "Inuktitut". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  4. ^ "field to show translation -> 10 facts about Canadian Aboriginal Languages". Wintranslation.com. 2014-02-12. Archived from the original on 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population, Comprehensive download files, Canada, provinces and territories" (CSV). Statistics Canada. August 5, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  7. ^ "Inuktitut | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 2023-08-30.