Inuvialuk Language - Dialects

Dialects

The Inuvialuktun dialects are seriously endangered, as English has in recent years become the common language of the community. Surveys of Inuktitut usage in the NWT vary, but all agree that usage is not vigorous. According to the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre, only some 10% of the roughly 4,000 Inuvialuit speak any form of Inuktitut, and only some 4% use it at home. Statistics Canada's 2001 Census report is only slightly better, reporting 765 self-identified Inuktitut speakers out of a self-reported Inuvialuit population of 3,905. Considering the large number of non-Inuit living in Inuvialuit areas and the lack of a single common dialect among the already reduced number of speakers, the future of the Inuit language in the NWT appears bleak.

From east to west, the dialects are:

• Natsilingmiutut consists of 3 subdialects: Natsilik, Arviligjuaq, Utkuhiksalik. Because it is spoken in Nunavut, it is often counted as Inuktitut.
• Inuinnaqtun is transitional with Inuktitut, and is sometimes classified as Inuktitut. It consists of 4 subdialects: Kangiryuarmiutun, Coppermine, Bathurst, Cambridge. The Kangiryuarmiutun subdialect is spoken in the small community of Ulukhaktok. Essentially the same as Natsilingmiutut, and also often counted as Inuktitut.
• Siglitun: Until the 1980s, it was believed that the Siglitun dialect was extinct, but it is still spoken by people in Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour and Tuktoyaktuk.

In addition, Uummarmiutun, the dialect of the Uummarmiut which is essentially identical to the Inupiatun dialect spoken in Alaska and so considered an Iñupiaq language, has conventionally been grouped with Inuvialuktun because it's spoken in Canada. Uummarmiutun is found in the communities of Inuvik and Aklavik.