Netsilik dialect

Natsilik
Nattiliŋmiutut
Spoken in Canada
Region North America
Ethnicity Netsilik Inuit
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Linguist List ikt-net
Inuit dialects. (Broader) Netsilik is the dark green in the center.
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Natsilik, Netsilik,[1] Nattilik, Netsilingmiut, Natsilingmiutut ,[2] Nattilingmiutut ,[3] Nattiliŋmiutut[4] is a dialect of Inuvialuktun (Western Canadian Inuit or Inuktitut) language once spoken in the Nattilik area of Nunavut, Canada by Netsilik Inuit people.

Natsilingmiut ( ᓇᑦᓯᓕᖕᒥᐅᑦ 'people from Natsilik') came from natsik “seal” + -lik “place with something” + -miut “inhabitants of” .

Contents

Classification

Special letters

Natsilik dialect have special letters: š ř ŋ

These special characters are used by some Nattiliŋmiut speakers to document their dialect.[6]

š – sounds like ‘shr’ and is distinct from both the s sound that is used in words borrowed from English and the more common h sound.

Uqšuqtuuq Gjoa Haven
hikšik ground squirrel, marmot
mikšaanut about

ř [ɉ] (in Inuktitut syllabics ᖬ řa ᖨ ři ᖪ řu ᖭ řaa ᖩ řii ᖫ řuu) – sounds like an English (retroflex) r. It is distinct from the r sound used by other dialects, which is closer to the r [ʁ] sound made in French at the back of the throat.

ᐃᖨ iři eye (cf. Inuktitut ᐃᔨ iji)
ᐅᒡᖪᒃ ugřuk bearded seal (cf. Inuktitut ᐅᒡᔪᒃ ugjuq)
ᑭᐅᖪᖅ kiuřuq s/he replies, answers (cf. Inuktitut ᑭᐅᔪᖅ kiujuq)
ᐊᐱᕆᖪᖅ apiriřuq s/he asks (cf. Inuktitut ᐊᐱᕆᔪᖅ apirijuq)

ŋ – A small number of Inuktitut speakers use this character instead of ng. The use of ng is a little deceiving because it makes use of two letters to represent what is actually a single sound. In syllabics this sound is represented by a single character ᖕ.

avinŋuaq lemming
kiŋŋaq mountain

Comparison

Inuinnaqtun Nattiliŋmiut Kivallirmiut Aggurmiut
(North Baffin)		 Uqqurmiut
(South Baffin)		 meaning
niriyuq niriřuq nirijuq s/he eats
ihumayuq ihumařuq ihumajuq isumajuq isumajuq s/he thinks
pingahut piŋahut pingahut pingasut pingasut knife
akhunaaq akłunaaq akłunaaq akłunaaq atsunaaq rope
quana qujanaqqutit ma’na qujannamiik nakurmiik thank you
imannaq iiq nauk aakka aagga no
hiqiniq hiqiniq hiqiniq siqiniq siqiniq sun
ublaaq ublaaq ublaaq ullaaq ullaaq morning
qablu qablu qablu qallu qallu eyebrow

References

  1. ^ http://multitree.org/codes/ikt-net
  2. ^ Preserving Inuit Dialects in Nunavut, January 2005
  3. ^ Teacher devises special syllabics for Nattilingmiutut
  4. ^ http://www.tusaalanga.ca
  5. ^ "Iñuvialuktun/Inuvialuktun/Inuinnaqtun". languagegeek.com. http://www.languagegeek.com/inu/inuvialuktun.html. Retrieved 2011-03-17. 
  6. ^ Why does Nattiliŋmiut have special letters?