Iñupiaq or Inupiaq ( , ), also known as Iñupiat, Inupiat ( ), Iñupiatun or Alaskan Inuit, is an Inuit language, or perhaps group of languages, spoken by the Iñupiat people in northern and northwestern Alaska, as well as a small adjacent part of the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Iñupiat language is a member of the Inuit–Yupik–Unangan language family, and is closely related and, to varying degrees, mutually intelligible with other Inuit languages of Canada and Greenland. There are roughly 2,000 speakers. Iñupiaq is considered to be a threatened language, with most speakers at or above the age of 40. Iñupiaq is an official language of the State of Alaska, along with several other indigenous languages.
The major varieties of the Iñupiaq language are the North Slope Iñupiaq and Seward Peninsula Iñupiaq dialects.
The Iñupiaq language has been in decline since contact with English in the late 19th century. American territorial acquisition and the legacy of boarding schools have created a situation today where a small minority of Iñupiat speak the Iñupiaq language. There is, however, revitalization work underway today in several communities.
History The Iñupiaq language is an Inuit language, the ancestors of which may have been spoken in the northern regions of Alaska for as long as 5,000 years. Between 1,000 and 800 years ago, Inuit migrated east from Alaska to Canada and Greenland, eventually occupying the entire Arctic coast and much of the surrounding inland areas. The Iñupiaq dialects are the most conservative forms of the Inuit language, with less linguistic change than the other Inuit languages.
In the mid to late 19th century, Russian, British, and American colonists made contact with Iñupiat people. In 1885, the American territorial government appointed Rev. Sheldon Jackson as General Agent of Education. Under his administration, Iñupiat people (and all Alaska Natives) were educated in English-only environments, forbidding the use of Iñupiaq and other indigenous languages of Alaska. After decades of English-only education, with strict punishment if heard speaking Iñupiaq, after the 1970s, most Iñupiat did not pass the Iñupiaq language on to their children, for fear of them being punished for speaking their language.
In 1972, the Alaska Legislature passed legislation mandating that if "a [school is attended] by at least 15 pupils whose primary language is other than English, [then the school] shall have at least one teacher who is fluent in the native language".Krauss, Michael E. 1974. Alaska Native language legislation. International Journal of American Linguistics 40(2).150-52.
Today, the University of Alaska Fairbanks offers bachelor's degrees in Iñupiaq language and culture, while a preschool/kindergarten-level Iñupiaq immersion school named Nikaitchuat Iḷisaġviat teaches grades PreK–1st grade in Kotzebue.
In 2014, Iñupiaq became an official language of the State of Alaska, alongside English and nineteen other indigenous languages. In the same year, Iñupiat linguist and educator Edna Ahgeak MacLean published an Iñupiaq–English grammar and dictionary with over 19,000 entries. An online version was later released by her.
In 2018, Facebook added Iñupiaq as a language option on their website. In 2022, an Iñupiaq version of Wordle was created.
Dialects There are four main dialect divisions and these can be organized within two larger dialect collections:
Iñupiaq Seward Peninsula Iñupiaq is spoken on the Seward Peninsula. It has a possible Yupik substrate and is divergent from other Inuit languages. Qawiaraq Bering Strait Northern Alaskan Iñupiaq is spoken from the Northwest Arctic and North Slope regions of Alaska to the Mackenzie Delta in Northwest Territories, Canada. Malimiut North Slope Iñupiaq
Dialect collectionDialectSubdialectTribal nation(s)Populated areasSeward Peninsula IñupiaqBering StraitDiomedeIŋalitLittle Diomede Island, Big Diomede Island until the late 1940sWalesKiŋikmiut, TapqaġmiutWales, Shishmaref, Brevig MissionKing IslandUgiuvaŋmiutKing Island until the early 1960s, NomeQawiaraqTellerSiñiġaġmiut, QawiaraġmiutTeller, ShaktoolikFish RiverIġałuiŋmiutWhite Mountain, GolovinNorthern Alaskan IñupiaqMalimiutunKobukKuuŋmiut, Kiitaaŋmiut [Kiitaaġmiut], Siilim Kaŋianiġmiut, Nuurviŋmiut, Kuuvaum Kaŋiaġmiut, Akuniġmiut, Nuataaġmiut, Napaaqtuġmiut, KivalliñiġmiutBurch 1980 Ernest S. Burch, Jr., Traditional Eskimo Societies in Northwest Alaska. Senri Ethnological Studies 4:253-304Kobuk River Valley, SelawikCoastalPittaġmiut, Kaŋiġmiut, QikiqtaġruŋmiutKotzebue, NoatakNorth Slope / SiḷaliñiġmiutunCommon North SlopeUtuqqaġmiut, Siliñaġmiut [Kuukpaaġruŋmiut and Kuuŋmiut], Kakligmiut [Sitarumiut, Utqiaġviŋmiut and Nuvuŋmiut], Kuulugruaġmiut, Ikpikpagmiut, Kuukpiŋmiut [Kañianermiut, Killinermiut and Kagmalirmiut]Spencer 1959 Robert F. Spencer, The North Alaskan Eskimo: A study in ecology and society, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, 171 : 1-490Barrow, Coleville River (Nuiqsut, Umiat)Point HopeTikiġaġmiutPoint HopePoint BarrowNuvuŋmiutAnaktuvuk PassNunamiutAnaktuvuk PassUummarmiutun (Uummaġmiutun)Uummarmiut (Uummaġmiut)Aklavik (Canada), Inuvik (Canada) Extra geographical information:
Bering Strait dialect:
The Native population of the Big Diomede Island was moved to the Siberian mainland after World War II. The following generation of the population spoke Central Siberian Yupik or Russian. The entire population of King Island moved to Nome in the early 1960s. The Bering Strait dialect might also be spoken in Teller on the Seward Peninsula.
Qawiaraq dialect:
A dialect of Qawiaraq is spoken in Nome. A dialect of Qawariaq may also be spoken in Koyuk, Mary's Igloo, Council, and Elim. The Teller sub-dialect may be spoken in Unalakleet.
Malimiutun dialect:
Both sub-dialects can be found in Buckland, Koyuk, Shaktoolik, and Unalakleet. A dialect of Malimiutun may be spoken in Deering, Kiana, Noorvik, Shungnak, and Ambler. The Malimiutun sub-dialects have also been classified as "Southern Malimiut" (found in Koyuk, Shaktoolik, and Unalakleet) and "Northern Malimiut" found in "other villages".
North Slope dialect:
Common North Slope is "a mix of the various speech forms formerly used in the area". The Point Barrow dialect was "spoken only by a few elders" in 2010. A dialect of North Slope is also spoken in Kivalina, Point Lay, Wainwright, Atqasuk, Utqiaġvik, Nuiqsut, and Barter Island.
Phonology Vowels All Iñupiaq dialects have three basic vowel qualities: . There is currently no instrumental work to determine what allophones may be linked to these vowels. All three vowels can be long or short, giving rise to a system of six phonemic vowels . Long vowels are represented by double letters in the orthography: ⟨aa⟩, ⟨ii⟩, ⟨uu⟩. The following diphthongs occur: . No more than two vowels occur in a sequence in Iñupiaq.
The Bering strait (Seward Peninsula) dialect has a fourth vowel , which preserves the fourth proto-Eskimo vowel reconstructed as */ə/.
Strong and weak ⟨i⟩ In the dialects without , proto-Eskimo */e/ has merged with the closed front vowel . The merged is referred to as the "strong ", which causes palatalization when preceding consonant clusters in the North Slope dialect (see section on palatalization below). The other is referred to as "the weak ". Weak and strong s are not differentiated in orthography, making it impossible to tell which ⟨i⟩ represents palatalization "short of looking at other processes which depend on the distinction between two i's or else examining data from other Eskimo languages". However, it can be assumed that, within a word, if a palatal consonant is preceded by an ⟨i⟩, it is strong. If an alveolar consonant is preceded by an ⟨i⟩, it is weak.
According to , the strong i can be paired with a vowel. The weak i on the other hand cannot. The weak i will become an a if it is paired with another vowel, or if the consonant before the i becomes geminate. This rule may or may not apply to other dialects. Therefore: Type of Exampleweakstrongweak
Consonants Iñupiaq dialects differ widely between consonants used. However, consonant clusters of more than two consonants in a row do not occur. A word may not begin nor end with a consonant cluster.
Words may begin with a stop (with the exception of the palatal stop ), the fricative , nasals , with a vowel, or the semivowel . Loanwords, proper names, and exclamations may begin with any segment in both the Seward Peninsula dialects and the North Slope dialects. In the Uummarmiutun dialect words can also begin with . For example, the word for "ear" in North Slope and Little Diomede Island dialects is whereas in Uummarmiutun it is .
A word may end in any nasal sound (except for the found in North Slope), in the stops or in a vowel. In the North Slope dialect if a word ends with an , and the next word begins with a stop, the is pronounced , as in , pronounced
North Slope Iñupiaq The consonant inventory for North Slope Iñupiaq:
LabialAlveolarRetroflex/PalatalVelarUvularGlottalNasalStop()FricativeApproximant
The voiceless stops and are not aspirated. This may or may not be true for other dialects as well.
argues that is derived from a palatalized and unreleased . However, notes that there are words such as in which -palatalization could not have occurred, so that must be phonemic. also notes that is often pronounced as , particularly by younger speakers and learners, and is thus a case of affrication rather than simply palatalization.
Assimilation This section is supported by .
Two consonants cannot appear together unless they share the manner of articulation (in this case treating the lateral and approximant consonants as fricatives). The only exception to this rule is having a voiced fricative consonant appear with a nasal consonant. Since all stops in North Slope are voiceless, a lot of needed assimilation arises from having to assimilate a voiceless stop to a voiced consonant.
This process is realized by assimilating the first consonant in the cluster to a consonant that: 1) has the same (or closest possible) area of articulation as the consonant being assimilated to; and 2) has the same manner of articulation as the second consonant that it is assimilating to. If the second consonant is a lateral or approximant, the first consonant will assimilate to a lateral or approximant if possible. If not the first consonant will assimilate to a fricative. Therefore: +IPAExample → or → → or → * → → → * The sound is not represented in the orthography. Therefore the spelling can be pronounced as or . In both examples 1 and 2, since voiced fricatives can appear with nasal consonants, both consonant clusters are possible.
The stops and do not have a corresponding voiced fricative, therefore they will assimilate to the closest possible area of articulation. In this case, the will assimilate to the voiced approximant . The will assimilate into a . Therefore: IPAExample → →
(In the first example above note that denotes a single consonant, as shown in the alphabet section below, so the constraint of at most two consonants in a cluster, as mentioned above, is not violated.)
In the case of the second consonant being a lateral, the lateral will again be treated as a fricative. Therefore: IPAExample → or → → or → Since voiced fricatives can appear with nasal consonants, both consonant clusters are possible.
The sounds and are not represented in the orthography (unless they occur alone between vowels). Therefore, like the example shown above, assimilation still occurs while the spelling remains the same. Therefore: IPA (pronunciation)Example → → →
These general features of assimilation are not shared with Uummarmiut, Malimiutun, or the Seward Peninsula dialects. Malimiutun and the Seward Peninsula dialects "preserve voiceless stops (k, p, q, t) when they are etymological (i.e. when they belong to the original word-base)". Compare: