Negative Yes/No Questions

Negative Y/N questions.

A) nigingngilâng    ‘Isn’t she (or he) eating?’

nigi-ngngi-lâng
eat-negative-neg.interrogative.3sg

A) is a negative yes/no question and the following only applies to this type of questions.

In English we would answer the question in A) either by:

B) Yes, she is eating.

OR

C) No, she isn’t eating.

BUT in Inuktitut (like Japanese and Korean)

the parallel answers to B) and C) above are:

B) auka    nigijuk (No, she’s eating)

C) â    nigingngituk (Yes, she’s not eating)

Remember: this difference only applies to negative yes/no questions

The Inuktitut Word and English Sentences: A Comparison

We know that Inuttitut can have very long words.

KalliliagijauKattalaujummijut

‘At that time, pants were also made’

In many ways, they are very similar to English sentences.

BUT an Inuktitut long word usually has only one base or root element at the left edge of the word. Everything else (postbases, endings) to the right is fairly grammatical. By grammatical, we mean that it is more abstract, more difficult to define and is a member of a fixed set of elements.

A fixed set of elements means that we can’t make up new ones up or borrow them from others languages.

Bases, on the other hand, are rich in meaning. We can get more of an image in our mind’s eye when we hear the base Kimmik ‘dog’ than we get when we hear the postbase
-Katta- ‘usually, often’. Inuttitut speakers can borrow words from other languages and use them as bases – if they wish. One example is the base used in Labrador for dumpling topaik. There are many such examples, though Inuttitut does not borrow words as much as English does. Notice that Inuttitut has never borrowed a postbase.

So bases are essentially an expandable set of elements.

If you want to compare an English sentence and an Inuktitut word sentence, we might proceed as follows (the following is based on Compton and Pittman 2007).

‘I was going to try to board the horse.’                   English words: 9

iki ‘to board’ and hotsi ‘horse’ are both base elements so they cannot be in the same word – only one base per word. They must therefore be separate words.

[iki  ]   [ hotsi ]

-giattu- ‘go to do something’
-gasua- ‘try’
‘niaC- ‘going to’

These element naturally get added to the action base, giving…..

iki-giattu-gasua-niak-Kunga  hotsi-mut           Inuttitut words: 2

So an English sentence can have a number of bases within the sentence but an Inuttitut word sentence can only have one. If there are more bases in Inuttitut, there must be more words.

Alex Spalding’s Dictionary

For those of you who don’t know, Alex Spalding’s Dictionary is online at:

http://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Spalding/en/spalding.shtml

I have put a permanent link to it on this blog.

It’s not Labrador dialect but it is still interesting and useful.

It was compiled by Alex Spalding with the help of Thomas Kusugaq.

Nunavut Arctic College allowed the National Research Council Inuktitut Computing Group to put it online.

Thanks you guys!

You can search through it for a word. I am hoping that Rose Jeddore will put her dictionary online some day.

The Word in Inuttitut

The Word in Inuttitut: Introduction

A word is the smallest complete utterance that has a meaning. The term for word in Inuttitut is uKausik. As we will see, words can be simple or complex inside. We will also see that Inuttitut words differ from those in English because Inuttitut words can sometimes be very long and have the same meaning as an English sentence.

Simple words

Both Inuttitut and English can have simple words. Kimmik ‘dog’ and the English word dog are simple basic words. They cannot be broken down any more.

The words Kimmet ‘dogs’ and the English word dogs are a little more complex. These words can be broken down into:

Kimmi + it
(dog)    (plural)

dog + s

More Complex Words

English words do not get very complex but Inuttitut ones do. Some Inuttitut words are as long and as complex as an English sentence.

ilinniatitaulauKunga ‘I was taught’

Note that this is one word in Inuttitut but three words in English. The Inuttitut word can be broken down into:

ilinnia + ti + tau + lauC + Kunga

(learn)  (make) (be X-ed) (past) (I)

Sentences

A sentence is a complete thought spoken out loud in language. Usually in English you cannot walk up to someone and make a complete thought with one word. In English you need more than one word.

In Inuttitut though one word is often a complete sentence.

IKalunniasonguKattalauttut ‘They would catch char’

Here we see one word in Inuttitut and four words to translate the meaning into English.

What this means is that when we study Inuttitut words, we are studying part of the grammar of Inuttitut, how sentences are put together. They are composed differently from English words so we need to study what is inside them if we want to learn how they work.

Fluent speakers do not need to study or learn about Inuttitut words because they already know how to use them. They learned as a child and make words without even thinking about it. They might want to study about Inuttitut words if they want to teach their language to adults or teenagers who are learning to speak. Unlike children, older learners often have questions about language.

The Three Inuttitut Word Domains

Roughly we can divide the Inuttitut word into three regions or domains.

Base + (Postbase) + ending

(  ) around Postbase means that it is optional. We don’t have to have one.

We will take a look at each one of these three domains.

dout or Kamik – put out a flame

Katie Winters was visiting me this week and at one point asked “Where can I dout my smoke?” I didn’t know the word dout and asked what it meant. It turns out it means to extinguish or put out a flame. I have never heard of this word before but I know that Labrador English has some old English words sometimes. We asked Elan Dresher who looked the word up in the Oxford English Dictionary. At first we thought it must be related to douse which has sort of the same meaning. Instead it turns out dout is is its own word and goes back at least to 1526 and comes from do + out and of course means ‘to extinguish a flame’. In my English we can say put out a cigarette.

Kamik is the verb to put out a flame in Inuktitut so Katie could have asked:

sikarega namut Kamigajattagaa

Thanks to Katie and Elan for all the info.

Message from Lydia – Lydia’s jewelry making

Alaana-ngai,
Inuktitut allavigigasuavagit sumangaama.  Maanali sanangnguagalavunga siutimiutanik, ujamitsajannik, bukallannillu.  SanagiasilaukKunga tallimannik jaariulauttuni.  ilinniatitaulaukKunga najagannut, Cornelia-iap, nuletuKutingannullu, Harry.  SanangnguaKatavunga, Ulu-ngnguaKulunnik, pamiuligaup pamiungannik, Inukshunguanik, ilangani nanungnguanillu.  Ipasaani sanangualaukKunga siutimmiutanik ulu-nguakulunnik sitamanik.  sananguagatsaka aullaiKattajakka twenti daallatut siutimmiutait, ammalu bukallait, ujamitsajait fifteen daalatut.
unutunnik aullaisimalikKunga imaKaa thousanditut ungataani sananguagiasilauningani.

Bums in the news

This is not a Labrador issue but has attracted a lot of media attention. It has to do with the capital of Nunavut and the problem that word processors and English writers will automatically stick a u after every q because in English spelling, q is always followed by u.

As Saila Michael pointed out to me, iquq is a noun that simply refers to stuff (feces/shit) hanging down around the anus (dingleberries in some varieties of English). Saila also told me that children sometimes tease each other by calling each other iquq (in English we also say “Dirty bum!”)

The addition of -aluk would intensify the noun, adding the meaning ‘large, impressive.’ Then of course it is pluralized with the plural marker -it.

iqu(q )+ alu(k) + it ‘quite dirty bums’ = iqualuit

BUT iqaluit (the name of the capital of Nunavut) is

iqalu(k) ‘fish, normally char’ + it plural = iqaluit

This issue attracts a lot of attention among southerners. Inuit have stated publicly in the past that they are more concerned about serious matters, such as housing, education, jobs, etc.

underlined ng or ngng? It’s all the same to me

Some years ago Nunatsiavummiut started making a writing distinction between their single and double (or long) ng. Even though all fluent speakers made the distinction in speaking, no one had been making it in writing. Nunvummiut and Nunavimmiut make the distinction as follows.

single: ng     double: nng

The school board in Nunatsiavut started using:

single: ng     double: underlined ng

Lately there have been some publications in Nunatsiavut that used:

single: ng   double: ngng

I personally don’t care whether it is the underlined ng or the ngng that is used to represent the double version. The most important thing is that it be marked. People can use nng, underlined ng, or ngng. Not marking it does cause a problem though. Learners will not speak properly.

I do note that I can’t figure out how to make an underlined ng on this blog – yet.

Inuttitut language forum

Sarah Clarke, a PhD student at UofT, had the good idea to make a language forum where speakers and learners of Inuttitut can write to each other in Inuttitut – not English! She created this forum and it has been up for over a year now. It has not been used much and every once and a while we have to clear it out of spam or advertising that has crept in. We’re hoping that some speakers/learners might still want to use it. You have to make a password for yourself to log in. Ate!

Inuttitut or Inuttut?

Jean Briggs asked me today – Why are you using the name Inuttitut? Isn’t the dialect Inuttut?

A good question. To the best of my understanding, the name Inuttitut is used in English to refer to the dialects spoken in Nunatsiavut (northern Labrador) of Inuktitut. Since kt is not possible in the northern dialect of Nunatsiavut (Rigolet is another story), people have changed Inuktitut -> Inuttitut.

BUT some speakers of this dialect have told me that when they are speaking the language, they still use Inuttut as the name for their language.

If this is correct, the situation is thus. For Nunatsiavut:

when speaking English, call it: Inuttitut
when speaking in Inuttitut, call it: Inuttut

For Nunavut:

when speaking English or Inuktitut, call it: Inuktitut

I wonder if Nunatsiavut speakers are using Inuttitut to refer to the language in general, i.e. all the dialects from Alaska across Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut to Kalallit Nunaat (Greenland)? These regions are sometimes refered to these days as a single region – Inuit Nunaat (Inuit – their land). ITK has recently decided to call all the Inuit regions within Canada Inuit Nunangat. The ng in Nunangat is a minor dialect difference. In Canada, eastern dialects usually have ng in third person possessors (his, her, their) but western Canadian dialects usually don’t have it. So both nunaat and nunangat are good Canadian Inuit words  – just different dialects.