Natsilik
Nattiliŋmiutut
Native to	Canada
Region	Western Nunavut
Ethnicity	Netsilik Inuit
Language family	Eskaleut Eskimo Inuit Inuvialuktun Natsilik
Early forms	Proto-Eskimo–Aleut Proto-Eskimo Proto-Inuit
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	nets1241
Inuit dialects. (Broader) Netsilik is the dark green in the center.
Natsilingmiutut is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Netsilik /ˌnɛtˈsɪlɪk/,^[1] Natsilik, Nattilik, Netsilingmiut, Natsilingmiutut,^[2] Nattilingmiutut,^[3] or Nattiliŋmiutut^[4] is an Inuit language variety spoken in western Nunavut, Canada, by Netsilik Inuit.

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:
  • Natsilik subdialect, or Natsilik/Netsilik proper
  • Arviligjuaq subdialect
  • Illuiliq subdialect

Special letters

Natsilik dialect has the special letters: ⟨š ř ŋ⟩, used by some Nattiliŋmiut speakers.^[5]

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

ᐅᖅᓱᖅᑑᖅ Uqšuqtuuq 'Gjoa Haven'

ᒥᒃᓵᓄᑦ mikšaanut 'about'

ᓯᒃᓯᒃ hikšik 'ground squirrel, marmot'

New encodings in Unicode were proposed for the Inuktitut syllabics corresponding to š and h.^[6] These 12 syllabic characters for Nattilingmiutut were included in version 14.0 of the Unicode Standard on 14 September 2021, are now formally part of the Standard and are stable to use for digital text exchange. However, updates to system level syllabics fonts and keyboards to access the characters are underway and forthcoming.

ř [ɟ]^{[citation needed]} (in Inuktitut syllabics ᖬ řa ᖨ ři ᖪ řu ᖭ řaa ᖩ řii ᖫ řuu) – sounds like an English (retroflex) r.^{[citation needed][this contradicts the IPA transcription]} 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 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 (ᓐᖕ) and the latter ŋŋ (ᖖ). In eastern varieties of Inuktitut which do not have the sequence [nŋ], long [ŋː] is spelled nng (ᖖ) rather than ngng (ᖕᖕ). When the letter ŋ is not used, the distinction may be made by spelling [nŋ] n'ng and [ŋː] nng.

ᐊᕕᓐᖓᖅ avinŋuaq (avin'nguaq) 'lemming'

ᑭᙵᖅ kiŋŋaq (kinngaq) 'mountain'

Comparison