Inuktun
/iˈnuq.tun/noun
Inuktun is the Inuit language variety traditionally spoken in the Avanersuaq region of northwestern Greenland.
Did you know?Inuktun belongs to the Inuit branch of the Eskimo–Aleut language family and is closely related to Inuktitut and Inupiaq, despite the communities being separated across the Arctic.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Eskimo–Aleut
Proto-Eskimo–Aleut
*inuk
“Person or human being; the ancestral source of Inuit-language forms meaning “person.””
Prehistoric Inuit languages
Proto-Inuit
*inuk
“Person; the root later preserved in ethnonyms and language names across Inuit varieties.”
Historical Inuit usage
Inuit languages
-tut/-tun
“A suffix expressing manner, way, or the language associated with a people; forms vary by language and dialect.”
20th Century
Greenlandic Inuit
Inuktun
“The local name for the Inuit language of the far-northern Greenlandic region of Avanersuaq.”
Modern English
English
Inuktun
“An established English name for the North Greenlandic Inuit language variety.”
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