Inuktut or Inuktitut?
Keep Inuktitut Strong is the message of this poster next to the Inuksuk High School gym, in a photo from October 2024. (File photo by Daron Letts)
Updated on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 at 10 a.m. ET.
Are you confused about the difference between the words Inuktut and Inuktitut? About which one to use? And why we increasingly see Inuktut in print when we used to usually see Inuktitut?
Here is the way it used to be.
Inuit were said to speak Inuktitut in the eastern part of Nunavut and in Nunavik. They speak Inuinnaqtun in the western Kitikmeot.
In Labrador, their language was described as Inuttitut (sometimes Inuttut). And Inuit of the western Canadian Arctic were said to speak Inuvialuktun.
None of those designators were really dialects. They were more like convenient terms to describe regional groupings, but within each of those groups there were dialects.
In the western Arctic, three dialects are lumped together as Inuvialuktun. Sallirmiutun is spoken generally in Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, and Inuvik.
Uummarmiutun, spoken in Aklavik and Inuvik, is an imported dialect of Alaskan Inupiaq.
And Kangiryuarmiutun, spoken in Ulukhaktok, is an Inuinnaqtun dialect but gets inconveniently lumped in with Inuvialuktun because it remained part of N.W.T. when the rest of Inuinnaqtun speakers became part of Nunavut.
Nunavik has two major dialects: Tarramiutut (Ungava Bay and Hudson Strait) and Itivimiutut (Hudson Bay).
Labrador Inuttitut, sometimes called Labradorimiutut, is somewhat distinct from its neighbouring dialect in Nunavik. There are sub-dialects, but with minimal differences.
Inuinnaqtun is spoken in Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay, as well as the previously mentioned Ulukhaktok. It has some sub-dialects, but their differences are minimal.
In Nunavut, the Nattilingmiutut dialect is spoken in the western Kitikmeot region. The rest of Nunavut can be simplistically divided into the Aivilik dialect (northwestern Hudson Bay communities) and a Kivalliq dialect formerly spoken by Inuit in inland communities but now spoken in Baker Lake and Arviat, and North and South Baffin dialects. Each of these has sub-dialects.
But a problem eventually arose in Nunavut.
The Inuinnaqtun-speakers of the western Kitikmeot objected whenever their dialect was called a dialect of Inuktitut, and insisted it was so distinct from eastern Nunavut Inuktitut that it constituted a separate language.
Linguists and administrators in government were not prepared to go that far. The made-in-Nunavut solution was to come up with an over-arching term to describe both Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun. The term chosen was Inuktut.
Here is how that happened.
When Nunavut was created in 1999, it adopted the Official Languages Act which had been in place in N.W.T., which recognized Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun and a number of other Indigenous languages as well as English and French. It was 2008 before Nunavut got its own Official Languages Act, which recognized Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun as well as Canada’s two official languages. It had to be approved by Parliament, so only came into force in 2009.
Meanwhile, the Inuit Language Protection Act, a piece of territorial legislation, had already passed the Nunavut legislature in 2008. That act also mandated the creation of Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit, a group whose job was “to establish language standards.”
In 2007, during a review of the drafts of the Official Languages Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act, MLA Joe Allen Evyagotailak, from Kugluktuk, recommended Inuktut be used as a unifying term to encompass both Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun.
Finally, in November 2015, Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit formally adopted his recommendation.
Meanwhile in Ottawa …
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a body representing all Inuit in Canada, began a major initiative in 2012 — the Atausiq Inuktut Titirausiq (AIT) Task Group.
Its daunting title may most simply be translated as the Unified Writing System Task Force. Please note the mandate of that body was to create a writing system, which is a completely different task than determining what to call a language when you are speaking or writing about it, not writing in it.
But they too needed an overarching term to describe all the dialects of the Inuit language used within Canada. I’ve said “used” purposely, to include spoken and written dialects.
Since the creation of the AIT task Force, ITK has used the term Inuktut to refer to all dialects used in Inuit Nunangat, which is their term (and a now widely accepted term) for all the Inuit regions in Canada which have settled a land claim.
In 2016, ITK adopted a resolution “that Inuktut encompass all of the dialects of the Inuit language in Inuit Nunangat and is the most appropriate term to describe the Inuit language as a whole in Canada.”
ITK proclaimed “Inuktut is the language of Inuit spoken across Inuit Nunangat” and clarified its statement by saying, “The term ‘Inuktut’ is a broad term encompassing a number of other terms for Inuit languages, including Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and Inuvialuktun.”
So the term Inuktut has not replaced Inuktitut, except as a term used to describe all the dialects in Canada.
Inuit in most of Nunavut, Nunavik and Labrador still speak Inuktitut (or in Labrador’s case, Inuttitut) which is a branch of Inuktut. I said “branch,” because Inuktitut in this case is a number of dialects.
And Inuit in the eastern Kitikmeot still speak Inuinnaqtun, another branch of Inuktut. And Inuit west of Nunavut still speak Inuvialuktun, another branch of Inuktut.
And what do the two terms mean? What is the difference in meaning between Inuktut and Inuktitut? Nothing, really. One is singular, the other is plural. Inuktut means “like an Inuk” or “in the manner of an Inuk.” Inuktitut means “like Inuit” or “in the manner of Inuit.”
Some people have tried to claim a bigger difference, saying that one refers to speaking — speaking like an Inuk — and the other refers to actions, or acting like an Inuk. But that’s not the case.
The difference is only that one is singular and the other plural.
This entire article is about the terms used to refer to the Inuit language — in speech or in print. I have avoided completely the question of writing in the Inuit language, except to refer to it in passing in the title of ITK’s orthography initiative. That’s a completely different topic and a big one.
It’s for another time.
Taissumani is an occasional column that recalls events of historical interest. Kenn Harper is a historian and writer who lived in the Arctic for over 50 years. He is the author of Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs: Knud Rasmussen and the Fifth Thule Expedition, and Thou Shalt Do No Murder, among other books. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.
Correction: This article has been updated from its originally published version to say that Inuinnaqtun is still spoken in the eastern Kitikmeot region.
Thank you for the wonderful deep dive. More columns like this please!
Thank you for this Kenn. It was very informative for not only we non-Inuit, but, I suspect, for many Inuit/Inuinnaqtun. as well
Do we have to know all this for the exam?
That, and much more, Graham.
Thanks Ken. I lived in Frobisher Bay for 3 years in 1973-4-5. Loved it. Was small about 800 mostly Inuits. Loved the Inuit people. It was a great amazing experience. I love reading about Baffin Island. Many fond memories. Mike Chapman
Hello Mike Chapman, I see you lived in Ftobisher Bay the year of 1973/1975, I have a personal question, is there a way for you to contact me?
Another absolute gem from Kenn Harper.
Clarification at it’s finest thank you, Ken Harper this column clarified alot for myself anyway!!.
This non-Inuit is always speaking for Inuit for some reason. ITK did not do a survey nor did they ask the elders about this “Inuktut” and they nre writing system they adopted. ITK comprises of non Inuktitut speaking inuit so they were not impacted when ITk adopted the new writing system where they killed the syllabics. Elders were the most impacted and ITK did not care. Elders in the Nunavut communities had no say. ITK had a committee that consisted ofnhow many people that decided on a writing system that had no consoderstion for the elders that grew up with the oldInuktitut system. Shame on you ITK!
Inuktut is a verb. Inuit who likes to use proper grammer in Inuktitut have objected to the term Inuktut. Considering we are all Inuit from different regions of Canada why change it?
-tut is a noun ending, not a verb ending.
Well done Kenn! And ‘the other topic’ is indeed a big one, and ITK in ill advised initiative only clouded the picture.
‘ the Nattilingmiutut dialect is spoken in the western Kitikmeot region. ‘ As a Nettinlingmiut speaker, I’d like to point out a small error here. The dialect is spoken in the Eastern Qitiqmiut region as opposed to the Western region.
Your articles are very informative and interesting with and wonderful to read.
You’re right. My error. The Nattilingmiut dialect is spoken in the eastern Kitikmeot region.
‘ the Nattilingmiutut dialect is spoken in the western Kitikmeot region. ‘
A small error here. The Nattilingmiut dialect is spoken in the Eastern Qitirmiut and not the Western Kitikmeot region.
Otherwise, always informative and interesting articles that I look forward to.
The GN continues to do such a terrible job with Inuktut and the standards keep dropping and our language continues to decline because our government refuses to do any meaningful work and make it priority.
Continually delaying the education act to strengthen Inuktut, it’s like our own government is actually a southern government with token heads. The policies at our government is not for Nunavut but it’s made for the south and we see this very clearly, our useless MLAs just go along with this instead of putting legislation that will work for Nunavut not the transient people that come here for a few years,
What a mess at our government.
Language uses our brain for memory our mother tounge where we taught and learnt.
What about protecting our language. In today’s society protecting our language is to use it learn it.
But most make decisions on their own and watching our language in children and Inuit today is important.
Why are there so many non-Inuit experts on Inuit?
There have been so many debates around this issue and I feel like you have explained it well. I hope you are mentoring Inuit Kenn, We need more non-Inuit willing to pass the torch and create succession plans for themselves to ensure that this type of active listening, learning, retention of information, advocacy and knowledge sharing is passed down to the next generations. There may be people confused as to why a non=Inuk is saying it and some non Inuit only listen to Non-Inuit so we need allies like you.