The Inuktitut dialect of Inuit, a member of the Eskimo-Aleut language family, is spoken by over 30,000 natives of eastern Canada, including Quebec and Nunavut. It is easily understood throughout the Inuit communities of Canada, Greenland, and northern Alaska. This unique dictionary encompasses almost every word spoken by the Inuit peoples of North America, including a good many ways to say snow, though fewer than rumoured. Care had been taken to include terms unique to particular Inuit communities. Readers will also find special grammar appendices, a introduction to the language's writing system, and sections with family terms and geographic names. All entries have been romanised for easy use.

This volume is the first comprehensive comparative dictionary to cover the whole of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family. The genealogical status of this family (whether from a common source or due to convergence) has long been controversial, but its coherence as a family can now be taken as proven. Its geographical position between Siberia and northernmost America renders it crucial in any attempt to relate the languages and peoples of these large linguistic regions. The dictionary consists of cognate sets arranged alphabetically according to reconstructed proto-forms and covers all published lexical sources for the languages concerned (plus a good deal of unpublished material). The criterion for setting up Proto-Chukotian sets is the existence of clear cognates in at least two of the four languages: Chukchi, Koryak, Alutor, and (now extinct) Kerek, and for Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan sets cognates in at least one of these plus Itelmen. Internal loans between the two branches of the family are indicated - this is particularly important in the case of the many loans from Koryak to modern western Itelmen. Proto-Itelmen sets without clear cognates in Chukotian are listed separately, without reconstructions. The data is presented in a reader-friendly format, with each set divided into separate lines for the individual languages concerned and with a common orthography for all reliable modern forms (given as full word stems, not just 'roots'). The introduction contains information on the distribution of the individual languages and dialects and all sound correspondences relating them, plus a sketch of what is known of their (pre)historical background. Inflections and derivational affixes are treated in separate sections, and Chukchi and English proto-form indexes allows multiple routes of access to the data. A full reference list of sources is included.

Contains a collection of twenty-three essays originally appearing in the journal "Natural Language and Linguistic Theory."

Words of the Inuit is an important compendium of Inuit culture illustrated through Inuit words. It brings the sum of the author’s decades of experience and engagement with Inuit and Inuktitut to bear on what he fashions as an amiable, leisurely stroll through words and meanings. Inuit words are often more complex than English words and frequently contain small units of meaning that add up to convey a larger sensibility. Dorais’ lexical and semantic analyses and reconstructions are not overly technical, yet they reliably evince connections and underlying significations that allow for an in-depth reflection on the richness of Inuit linguistic and cultural heritage and identity. An appendix on the polysynthetic character of Inuit languages includes more detailed grammatical description of interest to more specialist readers. Organized thematically, the book tours the histories and meanings of the words to illuminate numerous aspects of Inuit culture, including environment and the land; animals and subsistence activities; humans and spirits; family, kinship, and naming; the human body; and socializing with other people in the contemporary world. It concludes with a reflection on the usefulness for modern Inuit—especially youth and others looking to strengthen their cultural identity—to know about the underlying meanings embedded in their language and culture. With recent reports alerting us to the declining use of the Inuit language in the North, Words of the Inuit is a timely contribution to understanding one of the world’s most resilient Indigenous languages.

"Compares cognates found in the modern Eskimo languages ranging from northeastern Siberia, across Alaska and Canada, to East Greenland. Includes five Inuit dialect groups, the four Yupik languages, and Sirenikski. Aleut cognates are added when available"--Provided by publisher.

The culmination of forty years of research, The Language of the Inuit maps the geographical distribution and linguistic differences between the Eskaleut and Inuit languages and dialects. Providing details about aspects of comparative phonology, grammar, and lexicon as well as Inuit prehistory and historical evolution, Louis-Jacques Dorais shows the effects of bilingualism, literacy, and formal education on Inuit language and considers its present status and future. An enormous task, masterfully accomplished, The Language of the Inuit is not only an anthropological and linguistic study of a language and the broad social and cultural contexts where it is spoken but a history of the language's speakers.

Dictionary of Inuit language used in Alaska--includes approximately 3,400 entries in the Barrow (North Slope of Alaska) dialect. Three sections: Inupiaq noun and verb stems with English trnaslations, Inupiaq post bases with English trnaslations, and English words with Inupiaq translations. Intended for classroom and general use.

This is a comprehensive treatment of one of Alaska’s oldest ancestral languages. Through its 19,000 entries and thirty-one appendices—with categories such as kin terms, names of constellations, and a list of explanations—the dictionary is an exceptional blend of linguistic and cultural references.