Inuit language phonology and phonetics

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Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.

This article makes reference primarily to the Inuktitut dialects of Canada, although it provides some discussion of other dialects.

Following standard notation, phonemes are written between two slashes, e.g. /p/; and phonetic transcriptions are written between square brackets, e.g. [ɬ].

Most Canadian dialects of Inuktitut have fifteen consonants and three vowels (which can be long or short). Consonants are arranged with five places of articulation: bilabial, alveolar, palatal, velar and uvular; and three manners of articulation: voiceless stops, voiced continuants and nasals, as well as two additional sounds – voiceless fricatives. Inupiatun has an additional place of articulation – retroflex – which adds two consonants to it, or three in the Qawiaraq variety. Retroflexes have disappeared in all the Canadian and Greenlandic dialects, except for the phoneme /ɟ/ in Natsilingmiutut, which derives from a former retroflex.

Contents

[edit] Vowels

Almost all dialects of Inuktitut have only three basic vowels and make a phonemic distinction between short and long forms of all vowels. In Inuujingajut (Nunavut standard Roman orthography) long vowels are written as a double vowel.

IPA Inuujingajut Notes
Short open front unrounded /a/ a
Long open front unrounded /aː/ aa
Short closed front unrounded /i/ i Short i is sometimes realised as [e] or [ɛ]
Long closed front unrounded /iː/ ii
Short closed back rounded /u/ u Short u is sometimes realised as [o] or [ɔ]
Long closed back rounded /uː/ uu

In western Alaska, Qawiaraq and to some degree the Malimiutun variant of Inupiatun retains an additional vowel which was present in proto-Inuit and is still present in Yupik, but which has become /i/ or sometimes /a/ in all other dialects. Thus, the common Inuktitut word for water – imiq – is emeq (/əməq/) in Qawiaraq. (L.D. Kaplan, Arctic languages: an awakening, pg. 145)

Furthermore, many diphthongs in the Alaskan dialects have merged, suggesting the beginnings of a new more complex vowel scheme with more than three distinct vowels. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the Kobuk area, where the diphthongs /ua/ and /au/ are now both pronounced [ɔ]. Other diphthongs are also affected.

In contrast to the larger number of vowel contrasts in Alaskan dialects, in the dialect of northwest Greenland (particularly Upernavik), the phoneme /u/ has been replaced by /i/ in many contexts.

Otherwise, the three-vowel scheme described above holds for all of the Inuktitut dialects.

[edit] Consonants

The Nunavut dialects of Inuktitut have fifteen distinct consonants, except for Natsilingmiutut, which has the additional phoneme /ɟ/.

IPA notation:

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Notes
Voiceless stop p t k q All plosives are unaspirated
Voiceless fricative s ɬ
Voiced v l j ɟ g ɢ /ɟ/ only present in Natsilingmiutut
/g/ is replaced by the voiced velar fricative [ɣ] in Siglitun, and may be realised as [ɣ] between vowels or vowels and approximants in other dialects
/ɢ/ assimilated to the uvular nasal [ɴ] before nasals
Nasal m n ŋ

This same table with Inuujingajut spellings for comparison:

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Notes
Voiceless stop p t k q
Voiceless fricative s ɫ ɫ is often written simply as l
Voiced v l j g r /ɟ/, being absent from most dialects,
is not written with a separate letter
Nasal m n ng A geminated ng is written nng

[edit] Intonation

In Inuktitut, intonation is important in distinguishing some words – particularly interrogatives – but it is not generally marked in writing. There are some minimal pairs in Inuktitut where only pitch distinguishes between two different words, but they are rare enough that context usually disambiguates them in writing. One common case, however is suva. A high pitch on the first syllable followed by a falling pitch on the second syllable means "What did you say?". A middle pitch on the first syllable followed by a rising pitch on the second means "What did he do?"

In general, Inuktitut uses intonation to mark questions in much the way English does. When an interrogative pronoun is used, pitch falls at the end of a question. When there is no interrogative pronoun, pitch rises on the last syllable.

Inuktitut speakers tend to lengthen vowels with a rising intonation. So, a rising tone is sometimes indicated indirectly by writing a double vowel:

She can speak Inuktitut.       Inuktitut uqaqtuq.
Does she speak Inuktitut? Inuktitut uqaqtuuq?

[edit] Syllables

An Inuktitut syllable can begin with a single consonant or a vowel. Consonant clusters at the beginning of a syllable, like [st] or [pl], are impossible in Inuktitut. Syllables must also end in either a vowel or a stop consonant – /p/, /t/, /k/, or /q/ – except where consonant sandhi rules or other constraints on syllables within words modify the ending.

The nucleus of an Inuktitut syllable can contain a single short vowel, a single long vowel or a diphthong. Triple length nuclei are not permitted in Inuktitut. For example, the Inuktitut word for a person is inuk in the singular, inuuk in the dual number and inuit in the plural. But words like *inuuit or *inuiat are phonetically impossible in Inuktitut.

[edit] Consonant sandhi

Inuktitut syllables can start or end with a single consonant. This means that when morphemes are joined together, a double consonant can appear. Triple consonants are not possible in Inuktitut, and any morphological rule that could place three consonants together includes a rule about deleting one of the consonants.

Inuktitut generally allows double consonants only where the manner of articulation is the same. For that purpose, we can group Inuktitut consonants into three groups: voiceless, voiced and nasals:

           Voiceless: p t k q s ɫ
Voiced: v l j g r
Nasal: m n ng

This means that double consonants like [tp], [vl], and [mŋ] are permitted, but [nt], [qg] and [kr] are not. Where the morphology of Inuktitut places two incompatible consonants together, they are either replaced by a geminated consonant – in effect, one of the two consonants becomes an extra long consonant and the other is assimilated – or as a single fully assimilated consonant that takes its manner of articulation from one of the two, and its place of articulation from the other. Clusters of three consonants in a row are forbidden in Inuktitut, and wherever three consonants are forced to appear together, one of them disappears or is assimilated into another one. As a general rule, assimilation in Inuktitut is regressive – the first consonant takes its manner of articulation from the second consonant. But, this is to some extent dialect-dependent. The West Greenland dialect in particular tends to use progressive assimilation – the second consonant takes the manner of articulation from the first.

This limitation on consonant clusters is not quite universal across Inuit areas. One of the distinguishing features of western Alaskan dialects like Qawariaq and Malimiut Inupiaqtun is that nasal consonants can appear after consonants with other manners of articulation, as they could in Proto-Inuit and still can in modern Yupik. Some examples include the Malimiut word qipmiq – dog – pronounced qimmiq in Inupiatun and all other dialects; and iqniq in Qawariaq – fire – which is inniq in other Inuktitut dialects.

Otherwise, different dialects add additional restrictions on what consonants can appear together and whether the first or the second consonant is assimilated. In all forms of Inuktitut the combination [qk] is impossible. In Inupiatun, Siglitun and Inuinnaqtun – the far western dialects – all other consonant pairs are possible. Moving further east, the general rule is that more and more double consonants are assimilated into geminated consonants. Determining which double consonants are assimilated depends on the point of articulation of the first consonant in the pair:

           Labial: p v m
Alveolar: t l n
Velar: k g ng
Uvular: q r

[edit] Alveolars

In Aivilimmiutut, North and South Baffin, and all dialects spoken further south and east, all double consonants starting with an alveolar consonant are geminated:

English Inupiatun Siglitun Inuinnaqtun Natsilingmiutut Kivallirmiutut Aivilimmiutut North Baffin South Baffin Kalaallisut
you (sg) ilvich ilvit ilvit ilvit ilvit ivvit ivvit ivvit illit

[edit] Labials

In the North and South Baffin dialects, as well as the dialects to the south and east of Baffin Island, double consonants starting with a labial consonant are also geminated:

English Aivilimmiutut North Baffin
because I see her takugapku takugakku

[edit] Velars

In South Baffin, Nunavik, Greenland and Labrador, double consonants starting with a velar consonant are also geminated:

English Inupiatun Inuinnaqtun Aivilimmiutut North Baffin South Baffin Nunatsiavummiutut Kalaallisut
house iglu iglu iglu iglu illu illuK1 [illuq] illu

[edit] Uvulars

Only the Nunatsiavut dialect systematically geminates double consonants beginning with a uvular consonant.

English North Baffin Nunatsiavummiutut
middle finger qitiqɫiq qitilliK1 [qitiɫɫiq]

[edit] Non-phonemic voiced labials

In addition, some dialects of Inuktitut pronounce [bl] ([vl] in Inupiatun) in place of the geminated lateral approximant /ll/. The phonological status of this distinction is uncertain – some dialects have both [bl] and [ll]. This feature is generally characteristic of western and central dialects as opposed to eastern ones.

English Inupiatun Inuinnaqtun Aivilimmiutut North Baffin South Baffin Nunatsiavummiutut Kalaallisut
thumb kuvlu kublu kublu kullu kullu kulluK1 [kulluq] kulloq1 [kulluq]


Note 1 qitilliK, kulluK, kulloq: In Nunatsiavummiutut writing, a capital K indicates the same uvular plosive as q in Inupiatun, Inuinnaqtun, Kalaallisut and Nunavut Roman orthography. Furthermore, o in Kalaallisut writing represents the same phoneme as u in the writing systems used for other Inuktitut variants. Contrasts in writing schemes are described below.

[edit] Fricatives

Double consonants where the second consonant is /s/ undergo more complex changes across dialects. In some cases assimilation is progressive (from the first consonant to the second), in others regressive, and in still others double consonants are neutralised into a single form.

Western dialects North Baffin South Baffin & Nunavik
ps ss ts
ts tt ts
ks ks ts


[edit] Other systematic dialectical variations

[edit] Consonant weakening in Qawariaq

Many phonemes in the Qawariaq dialect have undergone a process of consonant weakening, although to what degree varies somewhat between villages. This process is motivated in part by prosody and parallels the consonant weakening processes at work in Yupik. As a result, many stops have become fricatives and many fricatives have become glides or completely disappeared. For example, the word meat – niqi in most dialects – is rendered as nigi in Qawariaq – the stop /q/ has become the fricative /ɣ/.

Consonant weakening is most noticeable in the area adjacent to the Bering Strait in the westernmost part of Alaska.

[edit] Palatalization in Inupiatun

The historical fourth vowel of Inuktitut – the schwa /ə/ – had an impact on the pronunciation of alveolar consonants following it. Where an /i/ was present in proto-Inuktitut, the following vowel is palatalized in modern Inupiatun (except where it has been assibilated – see assibilation below). Thus, for example, /t/ becomes /tʃ/ , spelled ch alone and tch when geminated, after some i's but not others. For example, the second person singular pronoun ilvit – you – in more easterly dialects of Inuktitut becomes ilvich in Inupiatun. In contrast, iqit (fist, iqitii in Canadian Inuktitut), which was pronounced [əqət] in proto-Inuktitut, retains its plosive /t/.

Similar processes affect other alveolar consonants:

Alveolar consonant Palatal consonant Inupiatun spelling Example
/t/ /tʃ/ ch (tch when geminated) ilvit => ilvich (you sg.)
/n/ /ɲ/ ñ inuk => iñuk (person)
/l/ /ʎ/ ḷ silami => siḷami (outside)

In the Malimiut variant of Inupiatun, this process is extended to some velar consonants, like /k/ and /g/.

[edit] Assibilation

In a number of dialects, /t/ preceded by an /i/ derived from an /i/ in Proto-Inuktitut rather than an /ə/ may become an /s/ (or an /h/ in dialects that use "h" in place of "s") when followed by another vowel:

English Inupiatun Siglitun Natsilingmiutut Kivallirmiutut North Baffin Kalaallisut
he/she comes in isiqtuq itiqtuaq ihiqtuq itiqtuq isiqtuq isirpuq

This feature varies from dialect to dialect and does not follow a consistent east/west pattern, as assibilation is present in some words in both Alaskan Inupiatun and Greenlandic Kalaallisut. The exact conditions in which Proto-Inuktitut consonants have been assibilated vary from dialect to dialect, often determined by the following vowel and other factors.

[edit] Fricative substitution in western Nunavut

Many of the western and central dialects of Nunavut – including Inuinnaqtun, Kivallirmiutut and Natsilingmiutut – express the phoneme /s/ as [h]. Inuinnaqtun also pronounces /ɬ/ as [h]. This leads to an additional constraint on double consonants in Inuinnaqtun: A plosive followed by the fricative [h] becomes a fricative at the same point of articulation. This feature does not extend west of Inuinnaqtun and is not present in Siglitun or Inupiatun.

English Inuinnaqtun Kivallirmiutut North Baffin
egg ikhi ([ixhi]) ikhi ([ikhi]) iksi
blubber uqhuq ({{IPA|[uχhuq]) uqhuq ([uqhuq]) uqsuq
walking (3p. sg) pihukhuni ([pihuxhuni]) pihukhuni ([pihukhuni]) pisukɫuni

[edit] Nasalization of word-final consonants in western dialects

In western dialects, particularly Inuinnaqtun, Siglitun and Inupiatun, final consonants tend to be replaced by [n] at the ends of words. Thus, inuit becomes inuin in many western dialects. In central Nunavut, this tendency is more noticeable among older speakers at present, but in Inuinnaqtun and dialects further west, it is pervasive.

This is the reason why the names of eastern and central dialects generally end in the morpheme -tut , which means like a something, while western ones end in -tun. The two are the same suffix, but the final /t/ in this morpheme becomes [n] in western dialects and remains [t] in eastern ones.

English Inuinnaqtun North Baffin
Inuit Inuin Inuit
snow apun aput

[edit] Retroflex consonants in western dialects

Natsilingmiutut retains as a phoneme the plosive, and often retroflex, palatal consonant /ɟ/. This consonant has merged with /j/ in all other Nunavut and eastern dialects of Inuktitut. In Inupiatun, the /ɟ/ of Natsilingmiutut and the /j/ in some central Inuktitut words has become [ʐ] (written r).

English Inupiatun Natsilingmiutut North Baffin
eye iri [iʐi] iji [iji] iji
kayak qayaq [qajaq] qajaq [qajaq] qajaq
big aŋiruq [aŋiʐuq] angijuq [aŋiɟuq] angijuq [aŋijuq]

In addition to the voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ (written "r"), Inupiatun also has a voiceless retroflex fricative /ʂ/ written as "sr". This additional manner of articulation is largely distinctive to Inupiatun – it is absent from the more easterly dialects, except for the /ɟ/ of Natsilingmiutut.

English Inupiatun Siglitun Natsilingmiutut North Baffin
spider aasrivak aasivak aahivak aasivaq
penis usruk usuk uhuk usuk

The Qawiaraq dialect of Inupiatun, furthermore, has a third retroflex consonant in addition to the two present in other varieties of Inupiatun: the retroflex approximant /ɻ/.

[edit] Double consonant clusters in Nunavimmiutut

Nunavik Inuktitut, in contrast to other dialects, does not allow two double consonants to appear with only one syllable between them. Wherever this occurs, the first consonant in the second consonant pair is deleted.

English North Baffin Nunavimmiutut
calendar ulluqsiut ullusiut
he is coughing quiqtuqtuq quiqtutuq

[edit] Glottal stops

In a number of dialects, uvular consonants and ordinary stops are replaced with glottal stops in some contexts. Which uvular consonants and which contexts varies to some degree across dialects. Most frequently, a /q/ or in some cases an /r/ before another consonant is transformed into a glottal stop. Thus, the Inuktitut name of the hamlet of Baker Lake is pronounced Qamaniqtuaq or Qamanittuaq by most Inuktitut speakers, but is rendered Qamani'tuaq in Baker Lake itself. This phenomenon occurs in a number of dialects, but is particularly noticeable in Nunavimmiutut and in central Nunavut dialects like Kivallirmiutut.

In Natsilingmiutut, the velar nasal consonant /ŋ/ sometimes becomes a glottal stop when followed by another consonant, but not in all cases.

[edit] References


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