Inuktitut

Facts

  • Language: Inuktitut
  • Alternate names: ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ, Inuit, Eastern Arctic Eskimo, Eastern Canadian Eskimo
  • Language code: ike
  • Language family: Eskimo-Aleut, Eskimo, Inuit-Inupiaq (SIL classification)
  • Number of speakers: ~30,000
  • Vulnerability: Vulnerable
  • Script: Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics script, uses eastern finals.

More information:

    In Northern Quebec and the Northwest Territories to the Central Arctic, it is spoken by over 90% of the population. Inuit is the name of the people, Inuktitut of the language.

    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.