Last Updated: 2020-06-30
Background
Language Family: Eskimo-Aleut / Eskimo / Inuit
- Where dialects diverge, this analysis will be preferring Eastern Canadian Inuktitut.
- Inuktitut is spoken in Canada, specifically in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, and Quebec.
Phonology
Consonants
- /r/ survives in a small number of dialects (Dorais 1990, 215).
- /h/ is not normally included in the phonemic inventory given that it is quite infrequent and only appears in some dialects (Dorais 1986, 29). I have chosen not to include it in the inventory here, and likewise it will not be represented in the rules.
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Uvular
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Stops
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p
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t
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k
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q
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Fricatives
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v
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s ɬ
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ɣ
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ʁ
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Nasals
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m
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n
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ŋ
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Approximants
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l
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j
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Note: The alveolar fricative on the right is lateral.
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Vowels
- Vowel length is contrastive (Dorais 1990, 214).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- Regarding the transcription, there are two rulesets (and, accordingly, two verify files): one for the Latin-alphabet orthography of Inuktitut, and one for the Inuktitut syllabary.
- Long vowels in the Roman alphabet are indicated by doubling the vowel character (Dorais 2010, 56).
- Long vowels in the Inuit syllabary are indicated by a dot appended above a character (Dorais 1990, 241).
Inuit Syllabary
| ᐱ - /pi/ |
ᐳ - /pu/ |
ᐸ - /pa/ |
ᐯ - /pai/ |
ᑉ - /p/ |
| ᑎ - /ti/ |
ᑐ - /tu/ |
ᑕ - /ta/ |
ᑌ - /tai/ |
ᑦ - /t/ |
| ᑭ - /ki/ |
ᑯ - /ku/ |
ᑲ - /ka/ |
ᑫ - /kai/ |
ᒃ - /k/ |
| ᒋ - /ɣi/ |
ᒍ - /ɣu/ |
ᒐ - /ɣa/ |
ᒉ - /ɣai/ |
ᒡ - /ɣ/ |
| ᒥ - /mi/ |
ᒧ - /mu/ |
ᒪ - /ma/ |
ᒣ - /mai/ |
ᒻ - /m/ |
| ᓂ - /ni/ |
ᓄ - /nu/ |
ᓇ - /na/ |
ᓀ - /nai/ |
ᓐ - /n/ |
| ᓯ - /si/ |
ᓱ - /su/ |
ᓴ - /sa/ |
ᓭ - /sai/ |
ᔅ - /s/ |
| ᓕ - /li/ |
ᓗ - /lu/ |
ᓚ - /la/ |
ᓓ - /lai/ |
ᓪ - /l/ |
| ᔨ - /ji/ |
ᔪ - /ju/ |
ᔭ - /ja/ |
ᔦ - /jai/ |
ᔾ - /j/ |
| ᕕ - /vi/ |
ᕗ - /vu/ |
ᕙ - /va/ |
ᕓ - /vai/ |
ᕝ - /v/ |
| ᕆ - /ʁi/ |
ᕈ - /ʁu/ |
ᕋ - /ʁa/ |
ᕃ - /ʁai/ |
ᕐ - /ʁ/ |
| ᕿ - /qi/ |
ᖁ - /qu/ |
ᖃ - /qa/ |
ᙯ - /qai/ |
ᖅ - /q/ |
| ᖏ - /ŋi/ |
ᖑ - /ŋu/ |
ᖓ - /ŋa/ |
ᙰ - /ŋai/ |
ᖕ - /ŋ/ |
| ᖠ - /ɬi/ |
ᖢ - /ɬu/ |
ᖤ - /ɬa/ |
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ᖦ - /ɬ/ |
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Roman Alphabet
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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a
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/a/
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g
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/ɣ/
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i
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/i/
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j
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/j/
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k
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/k/
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l
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/l/
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&
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/ɬ/
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m
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/m/
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n
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/n/
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p
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/p/
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q
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/q/
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r
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/ʁ/
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s
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/s/
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t
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/t/
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u
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/u/
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v
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/v/
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Digraph
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ng
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/ŋ/
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Lenition Rules
- In some dialects, /s/ debuccalizes to [h] (Dorais 1990, 215–16).
- In some Alaskan dialects, /p/ spirantizes to [v] and /v/ approximantizes to [w] when preceded by unstressed syllables (Dorais 1986, 25).
- In some dialects, /q/ spirantizes to [χ] or [ʁ] (ibid.).
- In some Greenlandic dialects, intervocalic /ŋ/ deletes (Dorais 1986, 27)
Misc. Rules
- Regressive assimilation occurs in consonant clusters, with the extent of the assimilation varying based on dialect (Dorais 1986, 34–35).
- In dialects in Greenland and western Canada, word-final /i/ deletes (Dorais 1986, 31).
- In some dialects, /t/ spirantizes to [s] (or reduces even farther to [h]) when preceded by /i/ (Dorais 1990, 216–17).
References
Dorais, Louis-Jacques. 1986. “Inuktitut Surface Phonology: A Trans-Dialectal Survey.” International Journal of American Linguistics 52: 20–53.
———. 1990. “The Canadian Inuit and Their Language.” In Arctic Languages: An Awakening, edited by Dirmid R. F. Collis, 185–290. Cambridge University Press.
———. 2010. Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic. McGill-Queen’s University Press.