Western Canadian Inuktitut > LINGUIST List Language Search
Name:
Western Canadian Inuktitut
Type:
Language
Alternate Names:
Inuktitut, Western Canadian; Inuvialuktun; Inuit; Eskimo; Inupiat; Canadian Eskimo; Western Canadian Eskimo; Inuktitut (Rankin Inlet); Inuinnaqtun; Western Canadian Inuit; Western Canadian Inuktun; Mackenzie Coast; Canadian Inuit; Central-Northern
Spoken in:
Canada
Number of speakers:
4,000 (1981)
(Ethnologue)
Number of speakers:
2575
(UNESCO)
Number of speakers:
4000
(World Oral Literature Project)
Code:
ikt
Code Standard:
ISO 639-3
Documentation:
SIL
Families:
Eskimo-Aleut
Parent Subgroup:
Eastern Eskimo; Inuit; Inuit-Inupiaq; Inupiaq; Iñupiaq-Inuktitut (inui)
Child Dialects:
Coppermine; Qurluqtuq (ikt-cpm)
Siglit; Sigluit (ikt-sig)
Caribou; Caribou Eskimo; Keewatin; Kivalliq (ikt-car)
Holman Island; Ulukhaqtuuq (ikt-hol)
Netsilik; Arviligjuaq (ikt-net)
Gjoa Haven; Uqsuqtuuq (ikt-gjo)
Spence Bay; Talurjuaq (ikt-spe)
Copper; Copper Inuktitut; "Copper Eskimo"; Copper Inuit; Kangiryuarmiut; Iqaluktuuttiaq; Kangormiut (ikt-cop)
Brief Description:
"Inuktitut is the collective name for the dialects of Inuit (Eastern Eskimo) spoken on the northern coast of Canada, from the Mackenzie Delta in the west to Labrador in the east. (It is also sometimes used for Eastern Eskimo dialects in general, synonymous with Inuit.) The dialects of Western Canadian Inuktitut are usually distinguished from Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, the boundary falling between the Central Arctic coast and Baffin Island, but there is no sharp discontinuity. All of the Inuktitut speakers of the newly formed territory of Nunavut, which encompasses dialects belonging to both the Western and Eastern divisions, can understand one another's speech. The Inuktitut population in Canada is about 31,000, a high proportion being speakers. In the 1996 Canadian census 26,960 people indicated Inuktitut was their first language, 18,495 of them in the Northwest Territories (and Nunavut) and 7,685 in Quebec." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 16
UNESCO Status: Severely endangered Ethnologue Status: Not listed Sutherland's Red List: Not listed
Endangerment Status
UNESCO Status: Severely endangered Ethnologue Status: Not listed Sutherland's Red List: Not listed
Map of Western Canadian Inuktitut
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