Inuktitut syllabics, used in canada, is based on cree syllabics, which was devised by the missionary james evans based on devanagari a brahmi script. Inuktut writing systems indigenous peoples atlas of canada. Oct 17, 2018 inuktitut uses a writing system called syllabics, created originally for the cree language, which represent combinations of consonants and vowels. Inuktitut syllabics is an abugidatype writing system used in canada by the inuktitutspeaking inuit of the territory of nunavut and the nunavik region in quebec. Euphemia, which includes the entire range of canadian syllabics in several different aboriginal languages, was licensed by microsoft and apple and is now standard on computers. Cree syllabics were developed by james evans, a missionary in what is now manitoba in the 1830s for ojibwe.
It is the first time in history the inuktitut language was spoken at the winners podium at the cannes. Inuktut uqausiit inuit languages in canada history and. Because of that, the syllabics in the book are different from the modern system. Inuktitut definition is the group of inuit dialects spoken by the inuit people chiefly of central and eastern arctic canada. Originally, evans system of syllabics were created for the swampy cree and ojibwe languages but quickly spread to other language groups such as other cree dialects, naskapi, blackfoot, inuktitut, inuinnaqtun, slavey, denesuline chipewyan, carrier, and tsek. The sound of the inuktitut language numbers, greetings. I used the syllabics chart located on wikipedia, but this chart is likely somewhat lacking. This video is part of a series to teach the fundamentals of inuktitut in the. Sanaaq is a novel by mitiarjuk nappaaluk, a canadian inuk educator and author from the. Roman orthography was used to translate the holy bible by otto frabricius in 1794. Ontario amicus 853827 for more information on canadian aboriginal syllabic scripts, please check out the following resources.
The first novel ever written in inuttitut syllabics, it is the story of an inuit family as. Ipa no typing this is the best way to learn the inuktitut syllabics. One tiny book contains a big piece of inuit history nunatsiaq news. The first efforts to write inuktitut came from moravian missionaries in greenland and labrador in the mid18th century. One tiny book contains a big piece of inuit history. Manager of braille research and development at the commonwealth braille and talking book cooperative, developed a braille code for the inuktitut language syllabics. Nonetheless, roman orthography the latin alphabet used to write english and french has an even longer history among inuit. Choose from 81 different sets of inuktitut flashcards on quizlet. The northern quebec inuit association was founded two. For more information and to download fonts, visit this information page from the department of culture and heritage.
Free resources for community language projects, including unipkausivut. In 1741 inuktitut syllabics were created by hans egede. This code is based on representing the syllabics orientation. In fonts, go to the pull down menu and choose canadian syllabics. A rich textual history in english followed by an extensive bilingual photo history in both english and inuktitut syllabics, this account tracks the regions boom and bust periods, beginning in the mid 1700s through to the start of the james bay hydroelectric project of the 1970s that either isolated the inuit and cree peoples, one from. While an interesting look into the daily life of the inuit, this book was not my favourite. Using this tool you can easily develop materials in syllabics as well as standard roman orthography sro even if you do not have access to a syllabic keyboard layout. The inuktitut group of dialects is spoken throughout nunavut except for the inuvialuktun areas, and in northern quebec and labrador. Therefore, if you have a different chart that you would like me to implement, please let me know. Thus syllabics can still be seen in use a little for ojibwe on both sides. Dec 06, 2018 inuktitut inuktitut is an inuit language spoken in mainly in northern canada, specifically in parts of newfoundland and labrador, quebec, the northwest territories, and nunavut. Sanaaq is an intimate story of an inuit family negotiating the changes broug.
He got the inspiration after watching a video about inuktitut, and seeing a comment of a nahuatl speaker from mexico who liked the script and wished for her language to be written in it. The other way to write inuktitut is by using an abugida, which is a kind of alphabet which has letters based on syllables. Jun 15, 2009 in part 1 of the lesson, to be completed in the classroom, students will be introduced to the language of inuktitut and will practice pronouncing and writing selected words using inuktitut syllabics. Press any key for characters at the bottom of the keys. There are two main varieties of syllabics for cree. Of these 172000 inuit, 2000 live in russia, 50000 in alaska, 65000 in canada. This book was his first and only book to be published in inuktitut. Canadian aboriginal syllabics were conceived by james evans a missionary to norway house in what is now canada in the 1840s. Syllabics were later adapted to several other languages. Beneath it are printed the inuktitut syllabics and the english text of one to four. This video is part of the inuktitut podcast project. The author would like to thank heather campbell, language and culture coordinator, inuit. Building language and literacy through oral history available in inuktitut and english. Cree syllabics are the versions of canadian aboriginal syllabics used to write cree dialects, including the original syllabics system created for cree and ojibwe.
The contents of this site was developed by benoit farley at the national research council of canada. Long vowels are marked by a dot accent, so laa is long consonants are shown by the appropriate final preceding the syllabic, so ttu is the various dialects of the language handle the consonant clusters differently, and some writers may omit the first element of the cluster altogether in their writing. They are valued for their distinctiveness from the latin script of the dominant. This effectively enables inuktitut speakers to sit down at virtually any computer around the world and start typing in their own language. In 1976, the language commission of the inuit cultural institute made it the coofficial script for the inuit languages, along with the latin script. The first draft of sanaaq was written in inuktitut syllabics by nappaaluk. The syllabary used to write inuktitut titirausiq nutaaq. It is estimated that over 70,000 algonquianspeaking people use the script, from saskatchewan in the west to hudson bay in. Much of the information on this page is from dorais 1990. Inuktitut definition of inuktitut by merriamwebster. Inuktitut is the language spoken by inuit living in the eastern part of the canadian arctic. Inuktitut the course gives students rudimentary knowledge of the language and, through an exploration of traditions, philosophies and histories, an understanding of the rich inuit cultures.
Inuktitut department of languages, literatures and cultures. Canadian aboriginal syllabics atlas of endangered alphabets. It is an eskimoaleut language that known for being a language with lots of very long agglutinative words, owing to the fact that there are a very large number of infixes parts of speech which modify the meaning of a word, but it does not have the same irregularities as indoeuropean languages. The extra characters with the dots represent long vowels. The first book written and published in syllabics was. Looking to collect inuktitut stories from nunatsiavummiut, with the goal of turning these stories into childrens. For this course to work properly you will need the newly developed pigiarniq ttf font which is made available for download by the government of nunavut website. If you are experiencing this problem, please do the following. Books in native languages, history of the book in canada, volume 1. Nahuatl syllabics is a way to write nahuatl with inuktitut syllabics devised by alexander r. Inuktitut is just one part of what is known as the inuit language, spoken from alaska in the west to greenland in the east.
Inuktitut inuktitut is an inuit language spoken in mainly in northern canada, specifically in parts of newfoundland and labrador, quebec, the northwest territories, and nunavut. Complete with audio as well as ipa and romanization. Aboriginal syllabic scripts library and archives canada blog. The inuktitut syllabary uses a small part of the unified canadian aboriginal syllabics, a set of letters made up for writing down many of the languages of the first nations people in canada. Machine translation from unicode utf8 and utf16 can be performed using. Inuktitut the language of the inuit of nunavut lesson isumatv. Inuktitut canadian aboriginal syllabics transliteration. Inuit from siberia to greenland share a similar cultural history at least up to the. When most people think about writing in inuktitut, syllabics come immediately to mind. He had a font for cree syllabics on his printing press and so horden applied that system to the inuktitut gospel translations.
While almost everyone in iqaluit speaks english, we encourage our guests from the south to embrace the culture and preserve the inuktitut language. This is the best way to learn the inuktitut syllabics. Download free nunacom font for inuktitut syllabics nunacom is a new 7bit font designed for reading inuktitut syllabic web pages for both windows and mac computers. With nine written versions and two alphabets, inuit language finally getting much needed makeover inuit leaders have been discussing a unified script since the 1970. Inuktitut unicode font pigiarniq aipainutaaq uqammaq text to transcode from unicode. Ojibwe syllabics is primarily used by ojibwe communities located in northern ontario and manitoba. The clunky translations made it difficult to get through, and i felt the dialogue and train of thought parts of the book made the characters nonrelatable. In part 1 of the lesson, to be completed in the classroom, students will be introduced to the language of inuktitut and will practice pronouncing and writing selected words using inuktitut syllabics.
Canadian syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas writing systems based on consonantvowel pairs created by james evans to write a number of indigenous canadian languages of the algonquian, inuit, and formerly athabaskan language families, which had no formal writing system previously. Then, using the internet, small groups of students will create an inuktitut english abc book, complete with illustrations. The present form of canadian inuktitut syllabics was adopted by the inuit cultural institute in canada in the 1970s. In 1976, the language commission of the inuit cultural institute made it the coofficial script for the inuit. The health and usage of the syllabics varies greatly across canada and across the languages that use it, a very general rule of thumb being that the farther north a language community is, the more likely it is to still use the syllabics, if it has a history of doing so. Inuktitut is the name for the varieties of inuit spoken in canada.
Nunacom was designed by nortext, developers of this web site, an online information and news service for nunavut. Mar 17, 2012 this is a video podcast for the inuit cultural online resource. This is a video podcast for the inuit cultural online resource. Inuktitut syllabics is an abugidatype writing system used in canada by the inuktitut speaking inuit of the territory of nunavut and the nunavik region in quebec. Inuktut uqausiit inuit languages in canada history and contemporary developments by nadine c. Free educators guides for inhabit media inuktut books are available on the inhabit media website. Inuktitut syllabics when using inuktitut syllabics, writing the character with a dot above it s represents long vowels. This effectively enables inuktitut speakers to sit down at virtually any computer around the world and start typing in. Evans had originally adapted the latin script to ojibwe see evans system, but after learning of the success of the cherokee syllabary, he experimented with invented scripts based on his familiarity with shorthand and devanagari. At the very beginning we learn that he could not hear the difference between k and q even though he acknowledges the help of the moravian brethren, who gave us the letter kra. Inuktitut the language of the inuit of nunavut lesson. Puukammaluk bookstore download all inhabit media and nunavut bilingual education society books in inuktut for free from this online store. To say that the author mastered inuktitut is putting it a bit strongly. With nine written versions and two alphabets, inuit.
The cape hope islands project a short history of inuit in southern james bay. The muskox and the caribou inuktitut kiviuq and the bee woman inuktitut. The first book written and published in syllabics was the autobiography of john ayaruaq published in 1968. Inuktitut roughly means in the way of the inuk inuk being the singular of inuit. Inuktitut uses a writing system called syllabics, created originally for the cree language, which represent combinations of consonants and vowels.
A subset of the canadian aboriginal syllabics is used to represent the inuktitut syllabary, and more precisely, the written form of the inuktitut language used in northern canada in both nunavut and nunavik. This book was written in inuktitut, then translated to french, then english. Canadian aboriginal syllabics wikimili, the free encyclopedia. Inuktitut is the language of the inuit in canada and refers to the inuit language across the northern part of the country though there are different names for the language in some of the regions. To read syllabics on your computer, you must install a syllabics font. The first book printed in inuktitut using cree script were selections from the gospels in the dialect of the inuit of little whale river. Inuktitut simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.