Inupiat language

Inupiat /ɪˈnjuːpiæt/, or Alaskan Inuit, is a group of dialects of the Inuit language, spoken by the Inupiat people in northern and northwestern Alaska. The Inupiat language is a member of the Eskimo languages. There are roughly 7,000–9,000 speakers.^[1]

The name is also rendered Inupiatun, Inupiaq, Iñupiaq, Inyupiaq,^[3] Inyupiat,^[3] Inyupeat,^[4] Inyupik,^[5] and Inupik.

The Iñupiaq category of number distinguishes singular, plural, and dual. Iñupiaq does not have a category of gender and articles. An Iñupiaq word consists of a base or stem, which is followed by postbases, endings, and enclitics.

Dialects

There are four main dialect divisions and these can be organized within two larger dialect collections:^[6]

• Seward Peninsula Iñupiaq, consisting of:
  • Bering Strait: spoken on King Island and the Diomede Islands and in the villages north of Nome, Alaska. It can be subdivided into:
    • Diomede (tribe: Ingalikmiut)
    • Wales (tribes: Kiŋikmiut, Tapqaġmiut)
    • King Island (tribe: Ukiuvaŋmiut)
  • Qawiaraq: spoken in Teller, near the original village of Qawiaraq, and in the villages south of Nome as far as Unalakleet. It can be subdivided into:
    • Teller (tribes: Siñġaġmiut, Qaviaraġmiut)
    • Fish River (tribe: Iġałuiŋmiut)

• Northern Alaskan Iñupiaq: spoken south of Kivalina and around Kotzebue, along the Kobuk River and at the head of the Norton Sound, in Koyuk and Unalakleet, which can be divided into:
  • Malimiutun, which can be subdivided into:
    • Kobuk (tribes: Kuuŋmiut, Kiitaaŋmiut [Kiitaaġmiut], Siiḷviim Kaŋianiġmiut, Nuurvinmiut, Kuuvaum Kaŋiaġmiut, Akuniġmiut, Nuataaġmiut, Napaaqtuġmiut, Kivalliñiġmiut^[7])
    • Kotzebue (tribes: Pittaġmiut, Kaŋiġmiut, Qikiqtaġruŋmiut)
  • North Slope: spoken along the Arctic coast as far south as Kivalina. It can be subdivided into:
    • Common North Slope (tribes: Utuqqaġmiut, Siḷaliñaġmiut [Kukparungmiut and Kunmiut], Kakligmiut [Sidarumiut, Utkiavinmuit and Nuwukmiut], Kuulugruaġmiut, Ikpikpagmiut, Kuukpigmiut [Kañianermiut, Killinermiut and Kagmalirmiut]^[7][8])
    • Point Hope (tribe: Tikiġaġmiut)
    • Anaktuvuk Pass (tribe: Nunamiut)
    • Uummarmiutun (tribe: Uummarmiut): spoken in the Mackenzie Delta (Aklavik and Inuvik) in the Northwest Territories, Canada

Linguistics

The Inupiaq dialects, like other Eskimo–Aleut languages, represent a particular type of agglutinative language called a polysynthetic language: it "synthesizes" a root and various grammatical affixes to create long words with sentence-like meanings.

Inupiaq has three basic vowels: a i u, phonemically /a i u/, phonetically [ɐ i u].^{[nb 1]} The vowels can also appear long: aa ii uu /aː iː uː/. When adjacent to the uvular consonants q ġ /q ʁ/, short vowels are lowered allophonically to [ɔ e o] respectively.^{[nb 2]} Length is important in distinguishing meaning in Inupiaq. Short vowels may be joined to produce the diphthongs ai ia au iu ui.

The vowel i /i/ is derived historically from the merger of Proto-Inuit /i/ and /ǝ/; only the former causes palatalization of the following consonant. Only in pedagogical texts are the two kinds of i written differently.

Inupiaq has around 21 consonants. All stops are voiceless. The following consonants are found:

• Stops: /p t k q/
• Sibilant fricatives/affricates: /s ʂ ʐ tʃ/
• Other voiced fricatives: /v ɣ ʁ/
• Laterals: /l ʎ ʎ̥ ɬ/
• Nasals: /m n ɲ ŋ/
• Approximants: /h j/

The Iñupiaq letter ñ [ɲ] is pronounced close to English ny in "canyon".

Writing systems

Inupiaq was first written when explorers first arrived in Alaska and began recording words in the native languages. They wrote by adapting the letters of their own language to writing the sounds they were recording. Spelling was often inconsistent, since the writers invented it as they wrote. Unfamiliar sounds were often confused with other sounds, so that, for example, 'q' was often not distinguished from 'k' and long consonants or vowels were not distinguished from short ones.

Along with the Alaskan and Siberian Yupik, the Inupiat eventually adopted the Latin script (Qaliujaaqpait) that Moravian missionaries developed in Greenland and Labrador. Native Alaskans also developed a system of pictographs, which, however, died with its creators.^[9]

In 1946, Roy Ahmaogak, an Inupiaq Presbyterian minister from Barrow, worked with Eugene Nida, a member of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, to develop the current Iñupiaq alphabet based on the Latin script. Although some changes have been made since its origin—most notably the change from 'dotted-k' to 'q'—the essential system was accurate and is still in use.

Extra letters for Alaskan dialectic usage:

• Diomede: e
• Bering: w, z, zr
• Kobuk: ’
• Seward: b

Text sample

This is a sample of the Inupiaq language of the Kobuk river Eskimos (re-transcribed with q for ḳ).

Kayuqtuq ukiaġmi. Sikulġmiu-rami pisruktuaq tamaani. Qaluŋmik niġiruak tikiññiġaa iyyaġrim apiq-srukługu-aasriiñ, "Nakiñ taamna qa-lik piviuŋ?"

"Kanakŋa sikuiḷḷiġumun pamium-nik niksiksuqługu niksiksikkaġa," itnaġniġaa.^[11]

This is the English translation, from the same source:

Fox and Blackbear were around at fall time as the first ice was forming. Bear came upon Fox eating a fish and asked him, "Where did you get that fish?"

"I hooked the fish with my tail down there where the river has open spots," said Fox.

Vocabulary comparison

The comparison of number names in the three dialects:

Notes

References

1. 1 2 http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/SupplementaryTable1_ACSBR10-10.xls
2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Inupiatun". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 
3. 1 2 "SILEWP 1997-002". Sil.org. Retrieved 2012-08-23. 
4. ↑ "Inyupeat Language of the Arctic, 1970, Point Hope dialect". Language-archives.org. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2012-08-23. 
5. ↑ Frederick A. Milan (1959), The acculturation of the contemporary Eskimo of Wainwright Alaska
6. ↑ "Iñupiaq/Inupiaq". languagegeek.com. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
7. 1 2 Burch 1980 Ernest S. Burch, Jr., Traditional Eskimo Societies in Northwest Alaska. Senri Ethnological Studies 4:253-304
8. ↑ Spencer 1959 Robert F. Spencer, The North Alaskan Eskimo: A study in ecology and society, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, 171 : 1-490
9. ↑ Project Naming, the identification of Inuit portrayed in photographic collections at Library and Archives Canada
10. ↑ Kaplan, Lawrence (2000). "L'Inupiaq et les contacts linguistiques en Alaska". In Tersis, Nicole and Michèle Therrien (eds.), Les langues eskaléoutes: Sibérie, Alaska, Canada, Groënland, pages 91-108. Paris: CNRS Éditions. For an overview of Inupiaq phonology, see pages 92-94.
11. ↑ Unipchaat 2: Animal stories of the Kobuk River Eskimos 1969. Fairbanks: Summer Institute of Linguistics. Booklet, 26 p.
12. 1 2 "Interactive IñupiaQ Dictionary". Alaskool.org. Retrieved 2012-08-23. 
13. ↑ "Ugiuvaŋmiuraaqtuaksrat / Future King Island Speakers". Ankn.uaf.edu. 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2012-08-23. 

Further reading

External links

Inupiaq edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Alaskool Inupiaq Language Resources
• Endangered Alaskan Language Goes Digital from National Public Radio
• Online Iñupiaq morphological analyser
• The dialects of Inupiaq- From Languagegeek.com, includes Northern Alaskan Consonants (US alphabet), Northern Alaskan Vowels, Seward Peninsula Consonants, Seward Peninsula Vowels

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