Netsilik dialect

Natsilik
Nattiliŋmiutut
Native to	Canada
Region	North America
Ethnicity	Netsilik Inuit
Language family	Eskimo–Aleut Eskimo Inuit Inuvialuktun Natsilik
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	nets1241[1]
Inuit dialects. (Broader) Netsilik is the dark green in the center.

Netsilik /ˌnɛtˈsɪlɪk/,^[2] Natsilik,Nattilik, Netsilingmiut, Natsilingmiutut,^[3] Nattilingmiutut,^[4] Nattiliŋmiutut^[5] is a dialect of Inuvialuktun (Western Canadian Inuit or Inuktitut) language once spoken in the Nattilik area of Nunavut, Canada by Netsilik Inuit people.

Natsilingmiut (ᓇᑦᓯᓕᖕᒥᐅᑦ “people from Natsilik”) came from natsik “seal” + postbase -lik “place with something” + postbase -miut “inhabitants of”.

Classification

• There are three main dialect divisions of Natsilingmiutut dialect:^[6]
  • Natsilik subdialect, or Natsilik/Netsilik proper
  • Arviligjuaq subdialect
  • Utkuhiksalik subdialect

Special letters

Natsilik dialect has the special letters: š ř ŋ

These special characters are used by some Nattiliŋmiut speakers to document their dialect.^[7]

š [ʂ] – sounds like ‘shr’ and is distinct from both the s sound that is used in words borrowed from English and the more common h sound.

Uqšuqtuuq Gjoa Haven

hikšik ground squirrel, marmot

mikšaanut about

ř [ɟ] (in Inuktitut syllabics ᖬ řa ᖨ ři ᖪ řu ᖭ řaa ᖩ řii ᖫ řuu) – sounds like an English (retroflex) r. It is distinct from the r sound used by other dialects, which is closer to the r [ʁ] sound made in French at the back of the throat.

ᐃᖨ iři eye (cf. Inuktitut ᐃᔨ iji)

ᐅᒡᖪᒃ ugřuk bearded seal (cf. Inuktitut ᐅᒡᔪᒃ ugjuq)

ᑭᐅᖪᖅ kiuřuq s/he replies, answers (cf. Inuktitut ᑭᐅᔪᖅ kiujuq)

ᐊᐱᕆᖪᖅ apiriřuq s/he asks (cf. Inuktitut ᐊᐱᕆᔪᖅ apirijuq)

ŋ – A small number of Inuktitut speakers use this character instead of ng. The use of ng is deceiving because it makes use of two letters to represent what is actually a single sound. In syllabics this sound is represented by a single character ᖕ.

Using this letter also makes the distinction between the sequence [nŋ] and long [ŋː] clearer, the first being spelled ‘nŋ’ and the latter ‘ŋŋ’. In eastern varieties of Inuktitut which do not have the sequence [nŋ], long [ŋː] is spelled ‘nng’ rather than ‘ngng’.

When the letter ‘ŋ’ is not used, the distinction may be made by spelling [nŋ] ‘n'ng’ and [ŋː] ‘nng’.

avinŋuaq lemming

kiŋŋaq mountain

Comparison

Inuinnaqtun	Nattiliŋmiut	Kivallirmiut	Aggurmiut (North Baffin)	Uqqurmiut (South Baffin)	meaning
niriyuq	niriřuq	nirijuq	nirijuq	nirijuq	s/he eats
ihumayuq	ihumařuq	ihumajuq	isumajuq	isumajuq	s/he thinks
pingahut	piŋahut	pingahut	pingasut	pingasut	three
akhunaaq	akłunaaq	akłunaaq	akłunaaq	atsunaaq	rope
quana	qujanaqqutit	ma’na	qujannamiik	nakurmiik	thank you
imannaq	iiq	nauk	aakka	aagga	no
hiqiniq	hiqiniq	hiqiniq	siqiniq	siqiniq	sun
ublaaq	ublaaq	ublaaq	ullaaq	ullaaq	morning
qablu	qablu	qablu	qallu	qallu	eyebrow

References

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Netsilik". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
2. "Netsilik". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Preserving Inuit Dialects in Nunavut, January 2005
4. Teacher devises special syllabics for Nattilingmiutut
5. http://www.tusaalanga.ca
6. "Iñuvialuktun/Inuvialuktun/Inuinnaqtun". languagegeek.com. Retrieved 2011-03-17.
7. Why does Nattiliŋmiut have special letters?