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An Understanding of The Inuvialuktun Writing System

The standardized Inuvialuktun writing system has been established for over two decades, but it has not received total acceptance yet, especially by the older generations. The writing system can be learnt from three dictionaries available from the ICRC (Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Center). Inuvialuktun is made up of three dialects spoken in the six ISR communities – Ummarmiut (Aklavik, Inuvik), Siglit (Tuktoyaktuk, Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk) and Kangiryuarmuit (Ulukhaktok). We speak to those involved with language promotion about this.

Cathy Cockney is manager of the ICRC, an organization with the mandate to promote and preserve the Inuvialuktun language. She believes a standardized writing system is integral to achieving her mission. “There is resistance to the writing system developed by the COPE language commission in the

1980s,” she said. “We lose a lot of our history because we had a oral tradition, and if we wrote our stories and legends down in a unified way, it will help us pass it on to our children.”

Emily Kudlak, who works for the ICRC out of Ulukhaktok, said that elders are used to the Holman Orthography writing system, created by the oblates. “Elders have approached me more than once to say what they want to see, but we can only publish books with the standardized writing system,” Emily said. “I feel for them; if I was never educated in the new writing system, I would find it hard to change over.”

Helen Kitekudlak remembers being part of the language commission and why they decided to standardize spelling,

“The missionaries wrote down Inuit words the way they heard them, and the written words varied depending on where the oblates came from, especially the way they sounded their vowels. It is a lot easier for students now, to learn to read and write by sticking to the vowels we have defined.”

Helen added the dictionaries had to be created because “the language was starting to go pretty fast. We found ourselves speaking English even at home. A lot of our elders who were our “encyclopedias” and “dictionaries” passed away.”

Although it was hard for them to transition to the new writing system at first, both Helen Kitekudlak and Renie Arey said they now accept and prefer using it. Renie said, “I started using the new writing system when I began teaching in 1993. We were told to use it. To me it is easier to use the new system, because the words are easier to pronounce. The new way was used in the six communities then. With children and babies, because they had no resistance, they picked up the words and sounds really quickly. I also went to some communities with Beverly Amos when I was working at the ICRC, to explain the new writing system.” She remembers talking about the silent ‘r’ in ‘Kittigaruit’ with people in Tuktoyaktuk.

Cathy explains, “There are some sounds that can’t be represented by English pronunciation. That is why we developed the slash ‘l’ and the ‘r’ with an accent. We have fewer letters in the Inuvialuktun alphabet.” The Inuvialuktun writing system only has three vowels, ‘a’, ‘i’, and ‘u’. There is often confusion about when to use ‘o’ or ‘u’ to spell certain words, and dispensing of the English vowel ‘o’ resolves the problem.

Renie believes “I think the writing system should be kept the way it is now, and if people want to learn how to use it, they should go to someone like Rosie Albert, who is good at speaking and writing with the system. I learnt a lot through her.”

Toher, “It took so much effort to get the language back, we should treasure it and not argue about it. Because we went to residential school and we got married when we were young, we lost our language and we didn’t pass it to our children. I am glad we are teaching children the language in our schools now.”

Some have issues with how “k” sounds similar to “q”, and “g” to “r”. “The sound for ‘q’ is pronounced more from the back of your throat. ‘Qimmik’ means dog and ‘kimmik’ means heel. You really have to listen and to work with your tongue,” Renie explained. Cathy said the ICRC is arranging to make more trips into the communities again, to promote understanding of the language system.

AnnaPingo teaches Inuvialuktun at Inuvik's high school, and believes getting the students to listen to fluent speakers is also key. “We have three dialects, and sometimes I have students from Tuk who find the different ways of saying words confusing. The writing system is nice, but I think listening more to oral stories will also help them absorb the information better.”

In Greenland, voting for one dialect and developing a writing system for it standardized their language. Having three Inuvialuktun dialects in the ISR poses challenges when it comes to creating language resources. “When we publish materials, we do it in all three dialects or try not to favor just one. If a person really wants to learn all the dialects, they can," Cathy said.

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