Uummarmiutun (Inupiaq: [uːm.mɑʁ.mi.u.tun]), Uummaġmiutun or Canadian Iñupiaq is the variant of Iñupiaq (or Inuvialuktun) spoken by the Uummarmiut, part of the Inuvialuit, who live mainly in the communities of Inuvik and Aklavik in the Northwest Territories of Canada.[1]
Uummarmiutun | |
---|---|
Native to | Canada |
Ethnicity | Uummarmiut |
Language family | Eskimo–Aleut
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | None |
![]() Inuit dialects. Uummarmiut is the orange within Canada. |
This dialect is essentially the same as that spoken by the Inupiat of Alaska, and is present in Canada because of migration from Alaska in the 1910s, reoccupying traditionally Siglit Inuit lands abandoned during the devastating disease outbreaks of the previous century.[2]
Because Inuvik and Aklavik are ethnically mixed communities where English is the near exclusive language of communication, few young people speak Uummarmiutun and the language is very endangered.
It is one of the three dialects, Kangiryuarmiutun and Siglitun are the other two, of the Inuit language grouped together under the label Inuvialuktun.
Uummartmiutun has 31 phonemes, 6 of which are vowels, 3 short and 3 long, 5 of which are diphthongs, the rest being consonants:
The comparison of some animal names in the two dialects of Iñupiatun:
Alaskan Iñupiaq[3] | Canadian Iñupiaq[4] | meaning |
---|---|---|
Uummaġmiutun | Uummarmiutun | Uummarmiut dialect |
siksrik | hikr̂ik/sikr̂ik | ground squirrel |
qugruk | qugr̂uk | tundra swan |
aaġlu | arlu | killer whale |
amaġuq | amaruq | gray wolf |
isuŋŋaġluk | ihun’ngaq | Pomarine jaeger |
kaŋuq | kanguq | snow goose |
qunŋiq | qun’ngiq | reindeer[lower-alpha 1] |
tiġiganniaq | tiriganiaq | Arctic fox |
umiŋmak | umingmak | muskox |
Eskaleut languages | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aleut | |||||
Eskimoan |
| ||||
See also |
| ||||
|
This article related to indigenous languages of the Americas is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |