Endangered Languages Project

Inuktitut is the collective name for the dialects of Inuit (Eastern Eskimo) spoken on the northern coast of Canada, from the Mackenzie Delta in the west to Labrador in the east. The dialects of Western Canadian Inuktitut are usually distinguished from Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, the boundary falling between the Central Arctic coast and Baffin Island, but there is no sharp discontinuity. All of the Inuktitut speakers of the newly formed territory of Nunavut, which encompasses dialects belonging to both the Western and Eastern divisions, can understand one another’s speech.

ALSO KNOWN AS		ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ, Inuit, Eastern Arctic Eskimo, Eastern Canadian Eskimo
CLASSIFICATION		Eskimo-Aleut, Eskimo, Inuit
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		ike
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		Arctic Quebec Saglouc Itivimmiut Point Harrison Great Whale River Belcher Island Wakeham Bay Tarramiut North Baffin Iglulik Grise Fiord Pond Inlet Clyde River Arctic Bay Resolute Bay Repulse Bay Rigolet South Baffin Cape Dorset Frobisher Bay Coral Harbour Labrador Chesterfield Inlet Aivilik
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Information from: “North America” (7-41) . Victor Golla and Ives Goddard and Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun and Mauricio Mixco (2008) , Chris Moseley and Ron Asher · Routledge

Vulnerable

40 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~30,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Inuktitut is the collective name for the dialects of Inuit (Eastern Eskimo) spoken on the northern coast of Canada, from the Mackenzie Delta in the west to Labrador in the east. (It is also sometimes used for Eastern Eskimo dialects in general, synonymous with Inuit.) The dialects of Western Canadian Inuktitut are usually distinguished from Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, the boundary falling between the Central Arctic coast and Baffin Island, but there is no sharp discontinuity. All of the Inuktitut speakers of the newly formed territory of Nunavut, which
encompasses dialects belonging to both the Western and Eastern divisions, can understand one another’s speech. The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. In the 1996 Canadian census 26,960 people indicated Inuktitut was their first language, 18,495 of them in the Northwest Territories (and Nunavut) and 7,685 in Québec.

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

MORE ON VITALITY

The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. I

PLACES: Canada;

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Inuktitut is the collective name for the dialects of Inuit (Eastern Eskimo) spoken on the northern coast of Canada, from the Mackenzie Delta in the west to Labrador in the east. (It is also sometimes used for Eastern Eskimo dialects in general, synonymous with Inuit.) The dialects of Western Canadian Inuktitut are usually distinguished from Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, the boundary falling between the Central Arctic coast and Baffin Island, but there is no sharp discontinuity. All of the Inuktitut speakers of the newly formed territory of Nunavut, which
encompasses dialects belonging to both the Western and Eastern divisions, can understand one another’s speech.

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
14,000
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
17,500
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
All Inuktitut varieties 32,775. Ethnic population: 17,500.

34,100 (2011 census) (2013).

DATE OF INFO: 1991 (Kaplan)

PLACES: Canada;

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Hudson Strait areas, east through Nunavut, southern Baffin Island, and northern coastal settlements of Quebec, continuing along North Atlantic coast, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
26,890
Native speakers worldwide

PLACES: Canada;

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
14,000
Native speakers worldwide

PLACES: Canada;

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
26,960
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
31,000
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. In the 1996 Canadian census 26,960 people indicated Inuktitut was their first language, 18,495 of them in the Northwest Territories (and Nunavut) and 7,685 in Quebec.

DATE OF INFO: 1996

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

Since the establishment of Nunavut as a preponderantly aboriginal territory within Canada in 1999, Inuktitut has enjoyed official status in that jurisdiction. It is government policy to insure that Inuktitut is used in all public offices and is taught from grades K to 12 in all Nunavut schools. The government of Nunavut also offers Inuktitut language classes to new employees from other parts of the country.

More on Orthography

A syllabic writing system, introduced by Anglican missionaries in the late nineteenth century and modeled on the syllabary earlier developed for Cree, is now the preferred writing of Inuktitut in much of the central Canadian area, with a roman orthography in common use only in Labrador and from Cambridge Bay westward. In Nunavut, the Inuinnaqtun dialect of the western Kitikmeot region is written in a roman orthography, while in the rest of the territory syllabics are used, and this distinction more than phonological or lexical dialect differences is the principal obstacle to standardization.

Literacy is high, both in roman and syllabic orthographies.

PLACES: Canada;

		2007	North America	Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages	1-96	C. Moseley	London & New York: Routledge					Victor Golla	Golla, Victor. 2007. "North America." In Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by C. Moseley. 1-96. London & New York: Routledge.	HHOLD	31,000	26,960	1996	10000-99999	The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. In the 1996 Canadian census 26,960 people indicated Inuktitut was their first language, 18,495 of them in the Northwest Territories (and Nunavut) and 7,685 in Quebec.	Since the establishment of Nunavut as a preponderantly aboriginal territory within Canada in 1999, Inuktitut has enjoyed official status in that jurisdiction. It is government policy to insure that Inuktitut is used in all public offices and is taught from grades K to 12 in all Nunavut schools. The government of Nunavut also offers Inuktitut language classes to new employees from other parts of the country.	Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)			Canada;
0199255911		2005	The World Atlas of Language Structures			Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer	Oxford University Press	New York					2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.													62.0,-73.0
	16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)			M. Paul Lewis	SIL International	Dallas, TX			http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub	17,500	14,000	1991 (Kaplan)	10000-99999	All Inuktitut varieties 32,775. Ethnic population: 17,500. 34,100 (2011 census) (2013).		Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)			Canada;	Hudson Strait areas, east through Nunavut, southern Baffin Island, and northern coastal settlements of Quebec, continuing along North Atlantic coast, Newfoundland and Labrador.
		2012	LL-MAP (Language and Location: A Map Accessibility Project)						Institute for Language Information and Technology	Eastern Michigan University	http://llmap.org	Anthony Aristar and Helen Aristar-Dry and Yichun Xie	Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry and Yichun Xie. 2012. "LL-MAP (Language and Location: A Map Accessibility Project)." Online: http://llmap.org.											Canada;		58.102769,-68.461464
	3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing	Paris			http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub		26,890		10000-99999			Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)			Canada;		54.1772,-58.4218
		2008	North America	Atlas of the World's Languages	7-41	Chris Moseley and Ron Asher	Routledge	London				Victor Golla and Ives Goddard and Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun and Mauricio Mixco	Victor Golla, Ives Goddard, Lyle Campbell, Marianne Mithun and Mauricio Mixco. 2008. "North America." In Atlas of the World's Languages, edited by Chris Moseley and Ron Asher. 7-41. Routledge.			~30,000		10000-99999	Inuktitut is the collective name for the dialects of Inuit (Eastern Eskimo) spoken on the northern coast of Canada, from the Mackenzie Delta in the west to Labrador in the east. (It is also sometimes used for Eastern Eskimo dialects in general, synonymous with Inuit.) The dialects of Western Canadian Inuktitut are usually distinguished from Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, the boundary falling between the Central Arctic coast and Baffin Island, but there is no sharp discontinuity. All of the Inuktitut speakers of the newly formed territory of Nunavut, which encompasses dialects belonging to both the Western and Eastern divisions, can understand one another’s speech. The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. In the 1996 Canadian census 26,960 people indicated Inuktitut was their first language, 18,495 of them in the Northwest Territories (and Nunavut) and 7,685 in Québec.		Vulnerable (40 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. I	11	Canada;	Inuktitut is the collective name for the dialects of Inuit (Eastern Eskimo) spoken on the northern coast of Canada, from the Mackenzie Delta in the west to Labrador in the east. (It is also sometimes used for Eastern Eskimo dialects in general, synonymous with Inuit.) The dialects of Western Canadian Inuktitut are usually distinguished from Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, the boundary falling between the Central Arctic coast and Baffin Island, but there is no sharp discontinuity. All of the Inuktitut speakers of the newly formed territory of Nunavut, which encompasses dialects belonging to both the Western and Eastern divisions, can understand one another’s speech.
			World Oral Literature Project								http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.			14,000		10000-99999			Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)

Inuktitut

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

40 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~30,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

14,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

26,890

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

14,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

26,960

Discussion

Inuktitut

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

40 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~30,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

14,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

26,890

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

14,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

26,960

Discussion

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