The Inuvialuktun group of dialects is spoken along the coast of the Northwest Territories. Uummarmiutun, spoken in Aklavik and in Inuvik, is considered a dialect of Iñupiaq, but is typically included with the other Inuvialuktun dialects. The language is spoken into Nunavut as far as ᓇᐅᔭᑦ Naujat (Repulse Bay). Much of the information on this page is from Dorais (1990). The dialects of InuvialuktunThere are three main dialect divisions:
The Siglitun and Inuinnaqtun dialects us a Roman orthography, while Natsilingmiutut speakers generally write in syllabics. The Roman orthography is given on this page. Note: There are several Roman Orthography conventions on this site that may require further explanation. On the charts below, there is lots of phonetic terminology that may not be familiar to everyone. This page uses no characters outside the Unicode standard. |
The Canadian Census counts 575 Inuinnaqtun speakers in 2006. In the 1980s, there were about 2050 speakers in Canada (Dorais 1990). According to the 2001 census, there are 32,775 speakers of all dialects (Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Inupiaq) in Canada.
Inuvialuktun Syllabics
Community Names:Siglitun: Tuktuujaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), Paulatuuq (Paulatuk), Ikaasuk (Sachs Harbour), Inuuvik (Inuvik) Inuinnaqtun: Kangiryuaq (Holman Island), Qurluqtuq (Coppermine), Umingmaktuuq (Bathurst Inlet), Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay) Natsilingmiutut: ᐅᖅᓱᖅᑑᖅ (Uqsuqtuuq/Gjoa Haven), ᑕᓗᕐᔪᐊᑦ (Talurjuat/Spence Bay), ᐊᕐᕕᓕᒡᔪᐊᖅ (Arviligjuaq/Pelly Bay), ᓇᐅᔭᑦ (Naujat/Repulse Bay). |
bilabial | alveolar | alveolar lateral | palatal | retroflex | velar | uvular | glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
voiceless stop | p | t | tch1 | k | q | |||
voiced stop | b2 | dj1 | ||||||
voiceless fricative | f3 | ł | s4 | h4 | ||||
voiced fricative | v | l | r*5 | g | r | |||
approximant | j | |||||||
nasal | m | n | ng |
front | central | back | |
---|---|---|---|
high | i | u | |
low | a |
Notes:
|
bilabial | alveolar | palatal | retroflex | velar | uvular | glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
voiceless stop | p | t | ch | k | q | ||
voiceless lateral | ł | ||||||
voiced lateral | l | ||||||
voiceless fricative | f | s | kh | qh | h | ||
voiced fricative | v | r̂ | g | r | |||
approximant | y | ||||||
nasal | m | n | ñ | ng |
front | central | back | |
---|---|---|---|
high | i | u | |
low | a |
Notes:
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Last Update:
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