mallon-inuktitut linguistics for technocrats

8/6/2019 Mallon-Inuktitut Linguistics for Technocrats

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Inuktitut Linguistics for Technocrats

Franais www.inuktitutcomputing.ca contact

by

Mick Mallon

Ittukuluuk Language Programs

Iqaluit 2000

Contents

A: History of Syllabics

B: Linguistic De nitions

C: Static Phonolog y

D: Syllabic Struct ure

E: Morphology

F: Morphophonol ogy

G: Systematic Dia lectal Differences

H: My Blunder

A: HISTORY OF SYLLABICS

I can give you all the dates and personalities by cribbing from Kenn Harper's work, but themost important detail to remember is that the syllabic system was originally devised by Englishclergymen in the last century. They were Godly men, but they weren't trained linguists. Thesystem they developed ltered Inuit sounds through English ears, and we are still strugglingwith the infelicities that owed from that.

They could not hear the vital difference between the sound k and the sound q (they aretwo different phonemes ... see below), and when they did try to remedy that omissionthey produced the digraph , whose clumsiness still creates confusion.

They also were misled by the English use of the digraph ng to represent the single
http://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#my_blunderhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#systematic_dialectal_differenceshttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#morphophonologyhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#syllabic_structurehttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#static_phonologyhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#my_blunderhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#systematic_dialectal_differenceshttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#morphophonologyhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#morphologyhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#syllabic_structurehttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#static_phonologyhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#linguistic_definitionshttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#linguistic_definitionshttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#history_of_syllabicsmailto:[email protected]://altlangpath%28%29/


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phoneme , thus giving us the awkward series .

Finally, they were misled by the geometrical quadruplicity of the syllabic system tothink that there were four vowels in Inuktitut. There are only three: logically we needonly three columns plus the nals.

So much for the last century. Then in 1976 came the meeting at the ICI (Inuit Cultural Institute)

in Arviat (then called Eskimo Point). That's when we produced the new, modern, low-fat salt-free dual orthography. We missed a few opportunities, mostly through ignorance.

We didn't know that the Natsilingmiut dialect had an extra phoneme . (That's a j with astrikethrough: it's a kind of a curled tongue y)

We thought that nobody had the sequence n . We were wrong, and later you'll see theproblem that created.

We knew that several Keewatin and Western dialects use the sound h instead of thesound s. We thought this didn't matter. They think it does.

And then there is the use of q in the middle of words. That's my fault. I'll explain itlater, right at the very end.

B: LINGUISTIC DEFINITIONS

Phonetics is simply the study of the sounds themselves. The phonetician wants to knowprecisely how the sounds are produced, or what their precise audio qualities are.

Phonology is the study of the sound system of a language. The phonologist takes the results of the phonetician's work and uses it to see how these sounds interact. To the phonetician allsounds are equal. The phonologist considers phonemes (the basic sounds of the particularlanguage: see below) to be of greater import than allophones (variants of phonemes).

Morphology is the study of the word-building processes of the language. English has acomplicated, rather illogical morphology, but the bulk of meaning in English communication istransferred by the way we arrange words in sentences. Inuktitut has a logically simplemorphology, which carries a far greater load in communication in Inuktitut than morphologydoes in English. An Inuktitut word can replace a whole English sentence.Parimunngauniralauqsimanngittunga I never said I wanted to go to Paris.

A morpheme is "a minimal unit of meaning". There are three morphemes in the English wordunwarlike . There are eight (or so) morphemes in the Inuktitut word above: Paris + mut +nngau + niraq + lauq + sima + nngit + junga (Inuit morphemes often change shape slightlyas they get tacked on).

Morphophonology is the study of how the rules of the sound system (the phonology) affectthe word-building process (the morphology). In many languages you don't just jam the bitstogether: you have to modify them to t the sound pattern of that particular language. Even inEnglish we say a situation that is not "tolerable" is " in tolerable", but one that is not "possible"is " im possible", ( m and p are both formed in the same part of the mouth: English likesgeographical propinquity in its sounds.) The morphophonology of Inuktitut is much moredeveloped than that of English. The fontographer has to be aware of this. It's not enough for


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him to know the sounds of the language: he should be aware of their possible combinations.

C: STATIC PHONOLOGY

We'll start with static phonology, a simple listing of the phonemes of something I'll callStandard Inuktitut, in other words, Inuktitut without the dialectal variations.

The layout is pretty standard.

Across the top is the Place of Articulation , i.e. , the place in the mouth where the sound isproduced. The Inuktitut table differs from the English table in one particularly important point:Inuktitut has uvular sounds; English doesn't. That difference is why, as explained in the historysection above, we have that awkward syllabic digraph for qi qu qa q : .

Along the side is the Manner of Articulation , i.e. , the manner in which we modify the air as itemerges. (This is all explained much more clearly in the PowerPoint presentation you have, the

one on Phonology.) The three manners are voiceless , voiced , and nasal . This is of much morethan academic interest, because in Inuktitut in any cluster of two consonants ... and you can'thave more than two (see next section) ... both consonants must have the same manner. Bothmust be voiceless, or voiced, or nasal. A sequence like the mp of the English word impossible is impossible in Inuktitut, because m is nasal, and p is voiced. This has an enormous effect onhow the nals behave when writing in syllabics, with additional dialectal subtleties, such asgemination (see ... below).

So far we have followed the standard linguistic approach to any language. However, I willeventually be adding another dimension: Flow of Articulation : i.e. , is the sound a continuousone, like f s v or l, or is it a stop, like p t k q . We'll get into that later.

Now for the table, on the next page. If my colour printer is still working, you will see thevoiceless sounds in green, the voiced sounds in red, and the nasal in blue. That way you canthink of the consonant clusters as having to be in matching colours ... rather twee, but it works.

CONSONANT PHONEMES OF INUKTITUT

Place of Articulation

labial

alveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

Voiceless stops p t

k q


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Manner of Articulation

fricatives

s

Voiced v l j g r

Nasal m n []

Rules of syllable nals in their basic form

My belief is that in its basic form, every syllable in Inuktitut ends either in:

one of the three vowels: i u a one of the four voiceless stops: p t k q

Rules of Combination: Colour with colour

Voiceless with Voiceless:

ps kp qq tq but not m p q v

Voiced with Voiced: vv rl gj gg but not vp m j

Nasal with Nasal: m nm nm but not vn m lThis simple feature affects many of the combinations of morphemes.

inu k + lu

inu glu and a person

+

inu k + m ut

inu m ut to a person

+

D: SYLLABIC STRUCTURE

An open syllable is one that ends in a vowel.

I've been told that Hawaian is a language where all the syllables are open. No syllable ends in aconsonant. Oahu lei

Japanese is also fond of open syllables: arimasu kimono fujiyama

English is anything but an open-syllabled language. Even when you allow for our awkward


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spelling system, we abound in closed syllables, often with a cluster of consonants doing theclosing instead of just one: strength enchantment switch Christlike

Now let's cut to the chase for Inuktitut. Here is the formula. Brackets mark options.

(C)V(V)(C)

The essential element in a syllable is a single vowel: V una this one That essential vowel may be doubled: VV uuma this one's The syllable may begin with a consonant: CV siku ice CVV taina that one

And the syllable may end with a consonant: VC iglu house VVC uattiaq that's it (nished) CVC tuktu caribou CVVC quaq frozen food We've already made the classic schoolmarm's distinction between open and closed syllables.For the sake of our discussion on syllabics, I'm going to add these terms:

a headless syllable is one that does not begin with a consonant, i.e. , one that beginswith a vowel;

a headed syllable is one that does begin with a consonant.The complication with syllabics begins when a closed syllable is followed by a headed one, asin natsiq seal . That juxtaposition automatically creates a consonant cluster.

Notice, before we go on, that the syllabic structure of Inuktitut does not permit theconglomeration of consonants that we nd in English. If you apply the formula, you will neverhave a sequence of more than two consonants, or more than two vowels. In fact, with theexception of a few exclamations, such as uaik! , expressing moderate admiration of someone'saccomplishment, and of a few uai combinations in the Pond Inlet subdialect, ( quaittuq sheslips ), Inuktitut does follow this rule rigourously.

Also, Inuktitut automatically considers a single consonant in the middle of a word to be theinitial consonant of a headed syllable. A word like aiviq walrus , is always analysed as ai / viq ,never as *aiv / iq .

So, a closed syllable only occurs at the end of a word, or in front of a consonant in the middleof a word.


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Now, nally, we see where the nals come in.

A syllabic nal marks the nal consonant of a closed syllable.

Except for the two digraphs discussed below ( ), the nal is the a -syllable symbol written

small and high.Before we get into the complications caused by the phonological system, we should clear upthe complications caused by history.

Remember the two digraphs: the rst caused by the use of as a diacritic to change k to q , in , and the second caused by the use of as a diacritic to change g to , in .

THE DIGRAPHIC qq PROBLEM

The symbol is inelegant enough in words like uqaqtuq , she speaks . But itwould be unacceptably awkward to apply it automatically in words with a double qq , such asutaqqijuq she waits , which would come out as *. So we have established aconvention that double qq s are written in syllabics (but not in roman), as .Therefore the roman utaqqijuq appears as .

That creates a problem for transliteration programs, which I believe you have solved. Unlessyou write a subprogram, correctly written roman utaqqijuq comes out in syllabics asincorrectly written *, while in the other direction, correctly written syllabic, comes out as incorrectly written roman *utaqkijuq . There's some more history to

this. It turned out that the use of q in the middle of words was a mistake, a psychological ratherthan a linguistic one, (for which I was largely responsible: see the last page). Anyway, Kativikdecided to use only r medially: a good decision. (They made another decision, not so good ...more on that later.)

THE DIGRAPHIC PROBLEM

A similar, but not absolutely identical, problem to that caused by is the problem caused by. That symbol is inelegant enough in words like umianga , his boat . Once againthere is a problem in words with a double , such as umia uaq toy boat , which wouldcome out as * in syllables, and even more clumsily, as umiangnguaq in roman.The convention here is to drop the rst g of the sequence in roman. This gives us the romanumiannguaq , and, to be consistent, the syllabic .

Once again, a problem, albeit a minor one. I'll leave the explanation for my discussion of dialectical variations.


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RECAP

Because of the syllabic structure of Inuktitut, nals occur only at the end of closed syllables.

iglu house

aullalaaq tut they will depart A diacritic can occur anywhere.

However, since the sound never appears at the beginning of a word, neither does thediacritic .

qajaq kayak That's the template for the use of nals. But in practice the rules of Inuktitut morphophonology,and the differences between dialects, affect what actually appears. We'll look at morphologynext, and then go on to morphophonology.

E: MORPHOLOGY

English morphology is incredibly complicated. First of all, you can have both prexes andsufxes: like , dislike , likeness .

There is the fact that we have four parts of speech to play around with: nouns, grief ; verbs,grieve ; adjectives, grievious ; adverbs, grieviously ; plus all the combinations, like an adjectiveformed by combining a noun with a verb form: grief-stricken.

Then you have all the clutter caused by the inconsistent heritage of Latin and French: deceive ,deceit , deception ; receive , receipt , reception .

Inuktitut morphology is much simpler in its approach than English. First, with one exception,there are no prexes, only sufxes. Second, there are only two major classes, Nouns andVerbs. So we'll start:

Noun Roots Verb Roots

The Noun Roots can exist on their own, as separate words: Noun Roots Verb Roots

iglu

qajaq

Verb Roots cannot exist on their own; they always need an ending. So I always write VerbRoots with a dash after them: Noun Roots Verb Roots


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iglu taku- see qajaq sinik- sleepThere are eight noun endings:

The rst three are grammatical (like the -m and -se pernickety speakers put on who "Whom doyou wish to see?" " Whose little girl are you?

noun endings

1 (i.e., no ending at all) subject of nonspecic verb, object of specic 2 -up possessor, subject of specic verb 3 -mik object of nonspecic verb

The next four deal with spatial relationships: some of them have secondary meaning as well. 4 -mi in, on

5 -mit from 6 -mut to 7 -kkut through

The last one is the "aequalis" case 8 -tut likeSome examples:

Note: in this section I want to concentrate on the morphology. Therefore most of the examples

will be given morpheme by morpheme, with the morphemes separated by +. In themorphophonological section I'll show how the morphemes actually combine.

nuna + up nunaup the land's nuna + mi nunami on the land siku + mut sikumut to the ice inuk + tut inuktut like a person(The plural of inuktut is inuktitut , like people.That is where the name of the language comes from. If you speak Inuktitut you speak likepeople ... real people.)

Bad News.

There are, by one count, 699 verb endings in the North Bafn dialect, (only 609 in SouthBafn).

Why so many?


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First of all, Inuktitut nouns and verbs can be singular, dual and plural.

takujunga takujuguk takujugut

I see we two see we several see

Second, instead of using words like because, if, whether, whenever, Inuktitut uses differentsets of verb endings:

takugama takugunnuk takungmangaatta

because I see if we two see whether we several see

Third, Inuktitut has one set of verb endings for nonspecic situations, and another for specicsituations. Compare:

takujunga takujunga takugama

I see I see because I see

takujagit takujara takugakku I see you I see him because I see him

Fourth ... no, forget the fourth. It's too complicated. Just trust me. So, anyway. 699 verbendings.

So far:

Noun Roots Verb Roots noun endings verb endingsNouns can have noun chunks attached to them.

The resultant word is a noun, and has all the privileges of one.

Some noun chunks act like adjectives:

umiaq boat

umiaq + juaq big boat (ship)

umiaq + juaq + mi in the ship

Some noun chunks expand on the meaning of the noun:umiaq boat

umiaq + lik boat-owner

umiaq + lik + mut to the boat-owner

You can pile up noun chunks


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umiaq + juaq + lik + viniq + mit from the former ship-ownerVerbs can have verb chunks attached to them.

The resultant word is a verb, and has all the privileges of one.

Some verb chunks act like adverbs:

taku- see

taku + ttiaq- see clearly

taku + ttiaq + jara I see it clearly

Some verb chunks indicate the time of the action:

taku- see

taku + lauq- saw

taku + lauq + gakku because I saw it

Other verb chunks act like English auxiliary verbs:

taku- see

taku + juma- want to see

taku + juma + jagit I want to see you

And of course, you can pile verb chunks up too:

taku + ttiaq + juma + lauq + gakkit because I wanted to see you clearlyAt this stage:


noun chunks verb chunks

noun endings verb endingsAll we have done so far is create bigger and bigger nouns and verbs. The next two types of afxes enormously increase the exibility of Inuktitut.

Verbs can have Noun-Makers attached to them.

A Noun-Maker turns a verb into a noun, with all the privileges of one.

-ji is a Noun-Maker which has roughly the same meaning as the -er of worker , helper ,teacher .

sana- make, work

sana + ji construction worker

sana + ji + tut like a construction worker


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-vik is a Noun-Maker which means place where the verb happens.

ani- go out

ani + vik exit (noun)

ani + vik + kkut through the exit

-suuq is a Noun-Maker which means one who carries out the action (habitually)

tingmi- y

tingmi + suuq airplane

tingmi + suuq + juaq big plane

tingmi + suuq + juaq + mit from the big planeNouns can have Verb-Makers attached to them.

A Verb-Maker turns a noun into a verb, with all the privileges of one.

-liuq is a Verb-Maker which means make.

umiaq boat

umiaq + liuq- make a boat

umiaq + liuq + juma + junga I want to make a boat

-siuq is a Verb-Maker which means look for.

tuktu caribou

tuktu + siuq- look for cariboutuktu + siuq + lauq + junga I looked for a caribou

It's quite all right to switch back and forth, like this:

umiaq + juaq + liuq + vik + mi in the ship yard

... or this:

anaq- defecate

anaq + vik + siuq + junga I'm looking for a defecatoriumHere are the categories so far.

Notice that at this stage they are symmetrical.



noun endings verb endings


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Noun-Makers Verb-MakersHowever there are three more categories that t under the Noun heading, and then a nalubiquitous one.

Nouns can have possessive markers attached to them.

A possessive marker indicates that the noun belongs to someone.

panik daughter

panik + ga my daughter

panik + it your daughter

panik + nga her / his / its daughter

Kubluup paninga Kublu's daughter

Possessive markers can take noun endings.panik + nga + mut to her daughter

nuliaq + viniq + nga + mit from his ex-wifeThe Inuktitut Demonstrative Pronouns form a much more complex and subtle category thanEnglish ones. They distinguish not simply between this and that, but among this, that overthere, that up there, that down there, that inside, that outside, that unseen. They distinguishbetween stationary and mobile objects. They indicate (by use of the only prex in Inuktitut: ta- )between objects newly introduced to the conversation and objects already in context. And theyhave their own set of pronoun endings paralleling the noun endings. Just a couple of examples(given in their full combined forms):

paksuma that one's up there (mobile: new information)

takatutunaq like that one down there (stationary: in context)And then we have the category I have named Whereats in honour of Newfoundland ("Saywhere you're to and I'll come where you're at.") The Root form is an exclamation:

tavva! Here it is! (stationary and expected)

avva! There it is over there! (mobile and unexpected)

The form of stem plus one of four endings gives you spatial information

tavvani at this (expected) spot maangat from this (unexpected) area

tappaunga to that (expected) area up there

kanuuna through that (unexpected) spot down there.The penultimate category consists of tails , little snippets appended to a word alreadygrammatically complete:


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uvanga I, me

uvanga + lu me too

tukisi- understand

tukisi + juq she understands

tukisi + juq + guuq she understands, she saysThat's it for morphology.

We'll summarize the morphology on the next page, and then move on.

MORPHOLOGICAL CATEGORIES



noun endings verb endings

Noun-Makers Verb-MakersPronouns (+endings)

Whereats (+ endings)

tails

mit + vik + liaq + juma + lauq + juq + guuq

VR NM VM vc vc ve tail

land place go to want past he he says

he said he wanted to go to the landing stripHowever . . .

What happens when we get rid of our + signs and join these morphemes together?

mit + vik + liaq + juma + lauq + juq + guuq

VR NM VM vc vc ve tail V D UA D CA UAmivviliarumalauqturuuqMorphophonology happens.

F: MORPHOPHONOLOGY

Every afx has its own phonological behaviour . Every time you add an afx you have to beprepared for it either to affect the preceding consonant (the nal consonant of the precedingsyllable) or to adjust itself. In addition, there are other phonological behaviours such asgemination, or the Nunavik Law of double consonants, that can add a dialectal avour to the


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nished word.

There are seven categories of the preliminary phonological behaviour of afxes, which I shallnow list and then, in a moment, describe.

Deletion

Neutral

Voicing

Nasalization

Consonant Alternating

Uvular Alternating

Vowel Heading

Every afx except the solitary prex ta- must include its phonological behaviour in itsdescription. Examples follow.

The template:

afx grammatical category meaning

phonological behaviourExamples:

-viniq noun chunk former, ex-

Deleter

umiaq Noun Root boat

umiaviniq former boat, wrecked boat

-niaq- verb chunk general future

Nasalizer

sinik- Verb Root sleep

sini niaqtuq she will sleep

-gama/nama/kama/rama verb ending because I
http://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#vowel_headinghttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#uvular_alternatinghttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#consonant_alternatinghttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#nasalizationhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#voicinghttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#neutralhttp://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/Technocrats/ILFT_1.html#deletion


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becausative, nonspecic

1st person singular

Uvular Alternator

tukisi- Verb Root understand

tukisigama because I understand

tikit- Verb Root arrive

tikinnama because I arrive

naalak- Verb Root listen

naalakkama because I listen

utiq- Verb Root return

utirama because I return

PHONOLOGICAL BEHAVIOURS

Preliminary note:

With the exception of Vowel Heads, afxes do not usually affect preceding vowels, onlypreceding consonants. The exceptions to this general rule are noted.

1: Deletion

The simplest of all, and the most numerous category. Deleters delete preceding consonants.Generally, they are unpredictable from their appearance. However, because the syllabicstructure of Inuktitut blocks the occurrence of three consonant clusters, any afx beginningwith two consonants is automatically a deleter.

Examples:

umiaq NR boat -ksaq nc potential, material for

umiaksaq boat under construction

umiaq NR boat -liuq VM make, build

umialiuqtut they're building a boat -lauq- vc past umialiulauqtut they built a boat Neutral, Voicing, Nasalization


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These are best understood as three examples of regressive assimilation of Manner . Tounderstand that, we should go back to our table of consonants, repeated next.

In what follows, focus on the Manner, but note how the Place stays the same.

Place of Articulation

labial

alveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

Manner of Articulation

Voiceless

stops p t k q

fricativ

es s

Voiced v l j g r

Nasal m n []

In Assimilation , a consonant becomes similar to its neighbour in one or more of its features.(Remember that there can be only two consonants in an Inuit cluster.)

In Regressive Assimilation , the assimilation operates backwards, from the second consonantto the rst.

In Regressive Assimilation of Manner , the rst consonant assumes the manner of the secondconsonant. In conservative dialects, the rst consonant changes its manner, but retains its place(Remember that nal consonants are always voiceless in their basic form.)

k j gj k n n

The k becomes voiced, but remains velar. The k becomes nasal, but remains velar.

2: Neutral

In a regressively assimilating afx, if the second consonant is itself voiceless, then of course

the rst consonant does not undergo a change of manner. Afxes with this behaviour, or lackof behaviour, we label Neutral .

-siuq- Verb-Maker look for, hunt

Neutral

aivi q Noun Root walrus

aivi qs iuqtuq he's looking for walrus


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So ... no change in the syllabic nal:

3: Voicing

In a regressively assimilating afx, if the second consonant is voiced, then the rst consonantbecomes voiced also. Afxes with this behaviour we label Voicers.

-vik Noun-Maker place for

Voicer

niuvi q - Verb Root trade

niuvi rv ik store

So ... change in the syllabic nal:

-

4: Nasalizing

In a regressively assimilating afx, if the second consonant is nasal, then the rst consonantbecomes nasal also. Afxes with this behaviour we label Nasalizers.

-m ut noun ending toNasalizer

umia q - Noun Root boat

umia rm ut to a / the boat So ... change in the syllabic nal:

-

Technical Note (but it's important):

You have probably noticed that in roman and syllabics we have use the same symbol for bothvoiced and nasal uvulars. The phonetic symbol we have used in the table for the nasal uvular is[] in square brackets. [] is the nasal allophone of q . Unlike / r / , it is not a phoneme: it is not abasic sound in the language. There is therefore no need to give it a separate symbol. No Inukwould ever pronounce the r in umia rj uaq (big boat, ship) as if it were nasal, or the r in


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umia rm ut (to a boat) as if it were simply voiced.

There is, however, another source of confusion here. We'll leave that till later ... the last page.

One last complication with some voicers and nasalizers coming up.

Some odd complications after some Voicers

The afx which we have so far written as -juaq for some reason inserts r after vowels. So ...

-(r)juaq noun chunk big

Voicer: insert r after vowels

iglu + (r)juaq iglurjuaq big house

But:

kuuk + (r)juaq kuugjuaq big river

tasiq + (r)juaq tasirjuaq big lake In North Bafn and west of there the afx which we have so far written as -vik inserts v aftervowels. So, for North Bafn, the Keewatin and west...

-(v)vik Noun-Maker place for

Voicer: insert v after vowels

kati + (v)vik kativvik meeting-place

But:

pisuk + (v)vik pisugvik walkway

niuviq + (v)vik niuvirvik store

In South & East Bafn, and in Nunavik, the afx is simply -vik .

kati + vik kativik meeting-place

Similar complications after some Nasalizers

Compare these two afxes, both of which are Nasalizers beginning with m .

-mut noun ending toNasalizer

nuna Noun Root land

nunamut to the land

But:


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-mat verb ending because she / he / it

Nasalizer: insert after vowels

sana- Verb Root make

sana mat because he makes

Compare these two afxes, both of which are Nasalizers beginning with m .

-mi noun ending in, on

Nasalizer

nunami on the land

But...

-mi- verb chunk also, too

Nasalizer: insert after vowels

sana mijunga I work too 5: Consonant Alternating

So far the afxes we have looked at affect their neighbours, actively. Now we have an afxwhich reacts to its neighbour. These afxes take one form after vowels, and another afterconsonants. Disregarding some dialectal avours, we can state this.

There are two sets of Consonant Alternators.

One begins with j after vowels, and with t after consonants. The other begins with v after vowels, and with p after consonants.

Note that we give both forms in the dictionary listing.

-ji/ti- Noun-Maker -er

Consonant Alternator

ilisai- Verb Root teach

ilisaiji teacher

niuviq- Verb Root trade

niuviqti trader

Syllabics: the vowel form has, of course, no nal:

- -

Consonant Alternators abound in Statement and Interrogative verb endings:

tukisijunga I understand naalaktunga I listen


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tukisivit? do you understand? naalakpit? are you listening?

? ?6: Uvular Alternating

Now it starts to get complicated. Not to begin with. Some Uvular Alternators are(comparatively) simple:

-ga/ra- possessive marker my 1st person singular possessor singular possessionUvular Alternator

after vowels: add-ga

after k : fuse k + ga to ga

after q : fuse q + ga to ra

ataata Noun Root father

ataataga my father

panik Noun Root daughter

paniga my daughter

irniq Noun Root sonirnira my sonSyllabics: note the nal fusing into the possessive:

However ...

In conservative dialects some Uvular Alternators have a different form for every possible stem.(Note that Noun Roots end only in vowels, k or q , but Verb Roots end in vowels, t k or q .)Here is one common form from North Bafn west to Siglitun (in the extreme west of Canada.)

-juma/tuma/guma/ruma- verb chunk want to

Uvular Alternator

after vowels: add -juma

after t : add -tuma to the stem, retaining the original t


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after vowels: add -guma

after t : change the t to k : add -kuma

after k : add kuma to the stem, retaining the original k

after q : fuse q + guma to ruma

7: Vowel Heads

At rst sight any afx that begins with a vowel seems to be simply a deleter. Take the afxwhich would seem to be -innaq(-) . I call it a double chunk , since it acts as both noun chunkand verb chunk (hence the bracketed dash).

Don't get tangled up in its meaning: it's very subtle.

siku sikuinnaq (it's) all ice

qungattuq qungainnaqtuq she hasn't stopped smiling

inuk inuinnaq a total person

imiqtuq imiinnaqtuq he hasn't stopped drinkingHowever, there is a potential problem lying in ambush. Remember: the syllabic structure of Inuktitut (C)V(V)(C) prohibits a succession of three vowels. So if you want to say a total qallunaaq or you want to use the verb tuksiaq- to say he hasn't stopped praying you will facea problem:

qallunaaq *qallunaainnaq a total qallunaaq

tuksiaqtuq *tuksiainnaqtuq she hasn't stopped smiling

The answer, in this case, is insertion . We insert the sound to break up the sequence.

qallunaaq qallunaa innaq

tuksiaqtuq tuksia innaqtuq

-( )innaq(-) double chunk nc: total vc: still engaged inVowel Head

delete nal consonant, then insert after two vowels is not the only sound used to break up the three-vowel sequence:

-(ra)aluk noun chunk large, big (often used pejoratively)Vowel Head

delete nal consonant, then insert ra after two vowels

qimmiq qimmialuk a (nasty) big dog


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qallunaaq qallunaaraaluk a (nasty) big qallunaaq

umiaq boat

umiarjuaq big boat, ship

umiarjuaraaluk big ship

Insertion is not the only solution used by Vowel Heads to avoid three-vowel sequences. Insome cases Vowel Heads go to the extreme of Self-Decapitation. Here is the afx for theplural ending:

-it plural marker plural Vowel Head

delete nal consonant, then delete the i of -it after two vowels

tuktu tuktuit caribou (pl)

inuk inuit people

qimmiq qimmiit dogs

umiaq umiat boats A nal afx to slip in here would be the dual marker for nouns, which has its ownmorphological charm.

-*k dual marker dual

Vowel Head

delete nal consonant, then ...

*Indicates "double the vowel, unless there already are two."inuk inuuk two people

tupiq tupiik two tents

umiaq umiak two boats


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That nishes the section on Morphophonology in general. Now we should take a look at someof the systematic differences among dialects.

G: SYSTEMATIC DIALECTAL DIFFERENCESThis sketch map gives a general idea of the position and relationship of the dialects. Note thatAivilik is very close to North Bafn, and South Bafn to both East Bafn and Nunavik.

Now we'll look at some of the differences.

Vocabulary: Obviously we're not going to take the time to list the different vocabulary items.


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Such differences are almost all arbitrary.

Grammar: The differences in grammar, i.e. , in morphology and syntax, are minor, and mostlyarbitrary.

Phonology: Oh yes, indeed.

Static Differences in Phonology

Nasalizing word nal consonants

Many speakers, mostly older, more in the west than in the east, tend to nasalize nalconsonants, especially t .

basic form: inuit people

nasalized: inuin

the phoneme /s/ and its western equivalent /h/

Kivalliq, Natsilingmiutut and Inuinnaqtun dialects substitute /h/ for /s/ . Because we have theletter h available in a roman alphabet, it is used in the roman orthography. Since the substitutionis automatic, it should not be necessary to create a different syllabic symbol, so to my mind,these are perfectly acceptable transcriptions, with the readers pronouncing the syllabics as theirdialect prompts them to. (Some of my Western students disagree, they want a phoneticrepresentation in syllabics as well as roman.)

Eastern: siniktuq people

Western: hiniktuq the allophone [b]

Aivilik, Kivalliq, Natsilingmiutut and Inuinnaqtun dialects have the allophone [b] before /l/ .Once again, since we have the letter b available in a roman alphabet, it is used in roman. Insyllabics we are a little more subtle. We use the p nal , and assume automatic voicing. Thus:

Western: kublu thumb

Eastern: kullu

the glottal stop [ ]

Several dialects have a glottal stop. However the original phoneme it replaces varies fromdialect to dialect. Many writers simply use the original phoneme: others use the apostrophe inboth roman and syllabics.

Nunavik (Hudson Bay):

original q tupirmi tupi mi in a tent


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Baker Lake (Kivalliq):

original q Qamanittuaq Qamani tuaq Baker Lake

Natsilingmiutut seems to glottalize in verb endings. (I haven't nished studying this): naalangmat naala mat because he listens

But ... niuvirvingmi niuvirvingmi in the store

Now we should start to look at the processes that have the greatest effects on dialectaldifferences, and on the pattern of usage of nals.

Assimilation of Place and Flow

We have concentrated on Regressive Assimilation of Manner , as it is the key process inInuktitut Morphophonology. However, there is also Assimilation of Place .

labial alveolar palatal velar uvular

p t k q

s v l j g r

m n

Assimilation of Place

Consider the English expression in + tolerant , which comes out as intolerant, . Note that the n and the t are both in the alveolar column. Now consider the same structure, but with a differentbase in + possible . The n is still the same alveolar, but the p is labial. If we apply regressiveassimilation of place, we get a labial nasal, m , to give us impossible .

In South Bafn and in Nunavik, the sequence ts exists as in natsiq seal. But the sequences ps and ks are subject to regressive assimilation of place, as in:

original SB / Nunavik

natsiq natsiq seal

takugapsi takugatsi because you (pl) see


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iksivautaq itsivautaq chair

Assimilation of Flow

By Assimilation of Flow I mean assimilation from stop to fricative, or vice versa. This is notvery common, and in the example I am about to give it has no effect on the writing system, butwe should dispose of it, if only for the sake of symmetry. Here is the table for voicelessconsonants in Inuinnaqtun, including the fricative allophones, in square brackets. Note that inthe Inuinnaqtun dialect the phoneme h replaces the phoneme s, and also the phoneme .

Inuinnaqtun Voiceless Consonants labial alveolar palatal velar uvular aspirated

Voiceless

Stops p t k q

Fricatives [f] [x] [ ] hHere is one of the basic participles compared with its Inuinnaqtun equivalent. Note theRegressive Assimilation of Flow: stop to fricative : the voiceless velar stop /k/ becomes thevoiceless velar fricative [x] .

basic form Inuinnaqtun form

(as written) (as pronounced)

pisuk uni pihukhuni [pihuxhuni] she / walkingNorth Bafn has a reverse example equivalent: Progressive Assimilation of Flow: fricativeto stop :

basic form North Bafn form

natsiq nattiq seal Now we're ready for Gemination

Gemination

Gemination means complete Assimilation. In Gemination one consonant becomes identical toits neighbour. We're going to give you a table indicating the spread of Gemination across theNunavut and Nunavik dialects, increasing from west to east to south. We'll use these symbols

in the table:

labCa consonant cluster in which the rst consonant is labial:e.g. , pk vv mnalvCa consonant cluster in which the rst consonant is alveolar:e.g. , tp lv nm


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velCa consonant cluster in which the rst consonant is velar:e.g. , kt gj nuvuCa consonant cluster in which the rst consonant is uvular:

e.g. , qt rl rm Note: If the second consonant is a voiceless fricative, then the patterns will be more complexthan shown here.

Here is the table. means the cluster exists as shown. gem means the cluster is regressivelygeminated.

West Aivilik North Bafn South Bafn / NunaviklabC gem gemalvC gem gem gem

velC gem

uvuC

And here is a partial table for clusters involving fricatives.

basic form North Bafn South Bafn / Nunavik

ps ss ts

ts tt ts

ks ks tsAs we give examples of these forms you can begin to see the effect on the pattern of nals inthe different dialects. Dialects with a high proportion of geminates have obviously a smallerproportion of mixed clusters.

West Aivilik N. Bafn S. Bafn / NunaviklabC takugapku takugapku takugakku takugakku because I see her

ublumi ublumi ullumi ullumi today

uvamnut uvamnut uvannut uvannut to me


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alvC tikitpa? tikippa? tikippa? tikippa? ? ? ? ? has she arrived?

milvik mivvik mivvik mivvik landing strip

tikinmat tikimmat tikimmat tikimmat because he's arrived

velC auktuq auktuq auktuq auttuq it has melted

iglu iglu iglu illu house

inungnut inungnut inungnut inunnut to people

uvuC No need to ll this in. Only Labrador ever geminates uvulars.

Now you can see some of the effects on the syllabic system:

North Bafn is the only dialect that needs nal s , and then only in geminates from original

ps : takugapsi because you (pl) see becomes takugassi : .

South Bafn & Nunavik only use all the other nal symbols (except q and r ) in doublesor geminates, or at the end of words. These two dialects also have a high proportion of ts .

In all dialects the only words ending in p are nouns with the possessive noun ending -up .


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The western dialects and Aivilik are the only ones that use a medial p , either to indicate thevoiceless phoneme p as in takugapsi because you (pl) see , or, in syllabics, to indicatethe automatically voiced allophone b as in kublu thumb .

Two dialectal peculiarities, an admission of failure, and then we're done.

TWO DIALECTAL PECULIARITIES

One of these peculiarities does not affect the syllabic system at all, but would affect any kind of spelling checker or word generator that might conceivably be developed later (much later?)

Nunavik's Law of Double Consonants (LDC)

Nunavik refuses to permit a sequence of two consonant clusters. Any time this is about tooccur, the rst consonant of the second cluster is automatically deleted. This is a completely

phonological process, and pays no heed to the underlying morphology.The following three words express the same basic idea in the same structure, animal + hunt +he. Note the difference in the surface forms between South Bafn and Nunavik. We'll usetuttu caribou , aiviq walrus , and natsiq seal .

South Bafn LDC Nunavik

tuttusiuqtuq does not apply tuttusiuqtuq

tuttusiuqtuq intervening s breaks sequence tuttusiuqtuq

natsiqsiuqtuq natsi*siuqtuq natsisiuqtuq

natsiqsiuqtuq

natsisiuqtuqaiviqsiuqtuq aiviqsiu*tuq aiviqsiutuq

aiviqsiuqtuq aiviqsiutuqEffect of "ghostly consonants"

Even after a consonant has been deleted by the LDC its ghost continues to wheel itsphonological barrow. Compare these forms with the verbs sallu- lie (tell untruth) , which endsin a vowel, and aullaq- depart , which ends in the uvular consonant q .

sallujuq he lies aullatuq she departs

Consonant Alternator:-juq after vowels -tuq after the ghost of a consonant

sallugumajuq he wants to lie aullarumajuq she wants to depart

Uvular Alternator (S.B. / Nunavik forms):

-guma- after vowels -ruma- after the ghost of a uvular consonant


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The extra phoneme of Natsilingmiutut

Natsilingmiutut, with other western dialects, substitutes h for s. I have already mentioned thatalthough some speakers want their own syllabic symbol for that sound, in strict linguistictheory it is unnecessary. The fortuitous existence of the letter h in roman is irrelevant.

pisuktuq pihuktuq she walksLocal opinion may overcome linguistic pedantry, but that is a minor matter.

However...

Natsilingmiutut is the only Canadian dialect to retain the difference between the voiced palatalphoneme j and the retroex phoneme . In all other dialects these two have merged to j . I don'tknow this dialect well, but I have not found a minimal pair, where the only difference inmeaning comes from a contrast in these two sounds, (like pet and bet in English.) However theoccurrence of j and is not predictable:

iji taku uq I don't know how seriously this problem is going to be regarded, but it exists.

H: MY BLUNDER

It's a long story, but I'll shorten it. Back in 1976, at the ICI standardization conference, becauseof my belief that it was a good idea to mirror the Assimilation of Manner in the orthography, itwas decided to use q for the rst consonant in voiceless clusters, and r for the rst consonantin voiced and nasal clusters.

That was a mistake. That particular distinction does not come natural to Inuit writers, (possiblybecause of the non-phonemic status of [ ].) Public signs, newspaper articles, governmentpublications, children's literature produced by the Department of Education, all are littered withq s where there should be r s, and r s where there should be q s.

Kativik did the right thing in switching to the use of r s medially, with q s left for word initialand word nal. When things settle down, maybe Nunavut will make that change. It won't affectthe keyboard or the fonts, but it will reduce spelling errors among the otherwise literate byabout 30%.

mallon-inuktitut linguistics for technocrats

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