Goal of project

• Describing and documenting Inuit Sign Deaf Inuit and their Language: unique characteristics. multilingual environment. • Contribution to sign language typology. • Inuit Sign Language is endangered: ASL is taking over.

Joke Schuit CILS Namur – 16-20 Nov. 2009

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Overview Nunavut

)Introduction to Inuit Sign Language (IUR). • Canada’s Arctic )Sociolinguistics of IUR. territory. • 2 million km2 )Borrowings in IUR. • 25 communities )Conclusion and social implications. • 30,000 people • 85% Inuit

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Introduction IUR Introduction IUR The Inuit Inuit Sign Language (IUR)

• Traditionally hunter-gatherers, nomadic. • 1/3 of deaf Inuit uses Inuit Sign Language. • Today: settled, paid jobs. • IUR: Inuit Uukturausingit – Less face to face contact with other tribes. Inuit Uuktu- rausi- ngit Inuit measure- established_practice- PL.POSS • Estimated 155 are deaf (MacDougall 2000). ‘the established practice for measuring of the Inuit’ – 0.6% of total population of Nunavut. OR: ‘Inuit Sign Language – Live in most communities of Nunavut. – Socialise with own family clan, not often with • IUR is commonly known. other deaf Inuit. • All deaf Inuit are integrated in their community. 5 6

1 Sociolinguistics IUR Sociolinguistics IUR Sociolinguistics of IUR IUR in contact with: ASL/MCE

• IUR specific characteristics: • 2/3 of deaf Inuit use American Sign – High proportion hearing signers. Language (ASL) / Manual Coded English – Deaf integrated in community. (MCE) (MacDougall 2000). – Not much deaf-deaf contact. – Older (30-50) deaf were sent to schools in – Large area, few people who use the language. south Canada: communication problems in home community. – Extremely cold climate. – Deaf children go to school in their community – Language endangerment. with ASL interpreter. – Language contact situation. • Offers perspective, but separates them from their • ASL/MCE, Inuktitut and English. heritage (culturally and linguistically). 7 8

Sociolinguistics IUR Sociolinguistics IUR IUR in contact with: Inuktitut Inuktitut examples

• Language associated with cultural identity 1. Illuganovunga of hearing Inuit. illu- nga- no- vunga house- 1.POSS- go.to- 1S.INDIC • Language most commonly used at home. ‘I’m going to my house.’ (Johns 2003:5) • Many dialects. 2. Nanusiuqtuq • Written in syllabics: nanuq- siuq- tuq • Highly polysynthetic: lexical root can take polar.bear- hunt- 3SG.ITR.N-PART many grammatical affixes as well as ‘He hunts a polar bear.’ (Nowak 1996:220) another lexical root (noun incorporation). 3. Nunavut siut 9 10

Sociolinguistics IUR Sociolinguistics IUR Contact with English Language contact

• Language of colonisers. • Nunavut: multilingual environment. • Language used most often in school. • Languages in contact influence each other. • Language used most often at work. • IUR has high proportion hearing L2 • Most TV programs in English. signers. – Influence of Inuktitut? • Language endangerement. – Influence of ASL/MCE?

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2 Borrowings in IUR Borrowings in IUR Language contact: borrowing Borrowings in IUR

• Borrowing: “incorporation of an item from • Lexical items from ASL/MCE. one language into another.” (Mesthrie e.a. – Incorporation and adaptation. 2000:249) • Loan translations from Inuktitut. • “Involves the adaptation of a word into the – Adaptation: literal meaning translated. phonetic and grammatical system of the • Mouthings from Inuktitut and English. other language.” (idem) – Mouth pattern derived from spoken language (Boyes Braem & Sutton-Spence 2001).

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Borrowings in IUR Borrowings in IUR Borrowings 1: from ASL/MCE Borrowing from ASL/MCE: HOME

• Estimated 15%: Lexical signs for which no •Clip HOME IUR sign existed, e.g.: NEG

– HOME (IUR no movement) INDEX3 HOME FAR-AWAY INUK – AIRPLANE WHITE-MAN ALL – WATER (only used for fresh water) ‘At her home, far away, there are no Inuit, all • Numbers: but used for years only. are white.’ • Hand alphabet, but limited use: – First letter of place names to refer to these. (Inuk is the singular of Inuit)

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Borrowings in IUR Borrowings in IUR Borrowing from Inuktitut: Borrowings 2: from Inuktitut WHITE-MAN Meaning of IUR sign is the same as Inuktitut • Clip Qallunaaq

word: THINK NEXT-MONTH PRO1 WHITE-MAN

• auk (blood) and derived aupaluktuq (red, SNOWMOBILE TWO PRO1 INUK ONE lit. ‘blood coloured’): THREE GO-BY-SNOWMOBILE GOloc

– IUR: sign RED identical to sign BLOOD. BIG-NOSE-MOUNTAIN PROloc • qallunaaq (white man): compound of qallu (eyebrow) and naaq (belly) ‘I think, next month, two white men and me – IUR: sign is compound: EYEBROW^BELLY Inuk makes three, that we go by snowmobile to Big Nose Mountain.’ 17 18

3 Borrowings in IUR Borrowings in IUR Borrowings 3: mouthings Mouthing from Inuktitut: APUTI

• Mouthings from English via ASL/MCE: • Clip aputi – E.g.: numbers, HOME INDEX1 SMALL INDEX1 APUTI • Mouthings from Inuktitut: FOR-HOURS WAKE-UP NINE INDEX3 – E.g.: patua (far away), aputi (snow on the HOUSE ROOFTOP SHOVEL ground) • Mouthings from English with IUR sign: ‘When I was small, I shovelled snow for – E.g.: airport, twelve hours. I woke up at nine. The snow was as – Also: ‘mum’ with sign WIFE high as the roof of the house.’

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Borrowings in IUR Conclusions Mouthing from English: WIFE Conclusions

• Clip wife • Each language in multilingual Nunavut has had its individual influence on IUR: INDEX1 WIFE DIAL TALK-ON-PHONE – ASL/MCE: lexical borrowings, adapted to IUR INDEX3 WHITE-MAN ICE-FISHING phonology, for previously non-existing terms. GO DOUBT – Inuktitut: loan translations for culturally significant items; mouthings with some signs. – English: mouthings with IUR signs as well as ‘My wife calls my white friends and asks if with borrowings from ASL/MCE. they want to go ice fishing or not. Sure, • IUR uses mouthings from two typologically they say.’ different languages.

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References Contact info

• Boyes Braem, P. & R. Sutton-Spence (eds.) (2001). The Hands are the Head of the Mouth. The Mouth as Articulator in Joke Schuit Sign Languages, Hamburg: Signum Verlag • Johns, A. (2003). Restricting noun incorporation. Manuscript. • MacDougall, J. (2000). Access to justice for deaf persons in Nunavut: focus on signed languages. Report prepared for the Universiteit van Amsterdam, ACLC Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice, Canada • Mesthrie, R., J. Swann, A. Deumert and W.L. Leap (2000). Introducing Sociolinguistics, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University [email protected] Press • Nowak, E. (1996). Transforming the images: ergativity and transitivity in Inuktitut (Eskimo), Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/j.m.schuit

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