6LJQLQJLQWKH$UFWLF([WHUQDOLQÀXHQFHVRQ,QXLW 6LJQ/DQJXDJH Joke Schuit ,QWURGXFWLRQ Even a linguist who strongly opposes the views of linguistic relativism would probably agree that the environment in which a language is used may H[HUW VRPH LQÀXHQFH RQ WKDW ODQJXDJH ± KRZHYHU PDUJLQDO WKDW LQÀXHQFH may be. It is likely to be no coincidence, for instance, that Dutch has many words related to water. This is probably due to the geographic setting, as the Netherlands lies below sea level and has both a long coast line and many LQODQGDUHDVRIZDWHU7KLVLVDOVRUHÀHFWHGLQWKHPDQ\SURYHUEVDQGVD\LQJV in Dutch that are related to water, a few examples are given in (1). (1) a) Water naar zee dragen. µ7RGRVRPHWKLQJVXSHUÀXRXV¶ OLWWRFDUU\ZDWHUWRVHD b) Het water staat hem tot aan de lippen. µ+H¶VXSWRKLVQHFNLQGLI¿FXOWLHV¶ OLWWKHZDWHUUHDFKHVKLVOLSV 7KHDLPRIWKLVFKDSWHULVWRGHVFULEHVHYHUDOH[WHUQDOLQÀXHQFHVRQ,QXLW Sign Language (IUR). IUR is the language used by deaf Inuit, who live in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. In this chapter, the geographical situa- WLRQLVRISDUWLFXODULPSRUWDQFHWR,85ZKLOHWKHRWKHUH[WHUQDOLQÀXHQFHV (i.e. the demographic situation, the gestures of the wider community, and WKHODQJXDJHFRQWDFWVLWXDWLRQ DUHDOVRVLJQL¿FDQWZLWKUHVSHFWWRRWKHUVLJQ ODQJXDJHV2EYLRXVO\WKHUHDUHPRUHIDFWRUVWKDWPLJKWLQÀXHQFHDODQJXDJH EXWWKHVHDUHRXWVLGHWKHVFRSHRIWKLVFKDSWHU,QÀXHQFHVWKDWDUHSURPLQHQW LQWKH,85FRQWH[WDUHKHUHUHÀHFWHGXSRQPRUHEURDGO\LQWHUPVRIKRZ they affect other signed and spoken languages. This chapter is organised as follows. In the second section of the introduction, IUR is introduced, followed by the methodology. Then in VHFWLRQ,IRFXVRQWKHSK\VLFDOHQYLURQPHQWDQGGLVFXVVJHRJUDSKLFDOLQÀX- ences on the spoken and signed languages of the Inuit. Section 3 addresses the LQÀXHQFHRIWKHGHPRJUDSKLFHQYLURQPHQWRQVSRNHQDQGVLJQHGODQJXDJHV 182 Joke Schuit and I show that IUR is comparable in this respect with village sign languages. 6HFWLRQGLVFXVVHVJHVWXUDOLQÀXHQFHVIURPWKHZLGHUFRPPXQLW\RQVLJQ ODQJXDJHV LQ JHQHUDO DQG RQ ,85 VSHFL¿FDOO\ ,QÀXHQFHV IURP ODQJXDJH contact on sign languages are addressed in section 5.1, and in section 5.2 I describe how the sociolinguistic situation impacts IUR. A descriptive conclu- VLRQZLWKVXJJHVWLRQVIRUIXUWKHUUHVHDUFKLVSURYLGHGLQWKH¿QDOVHFWLRQ 1.1. The Inuit and Inuit Sign Language Inuit Sign Language, or Inuit Uukturausingit in Inuktitut (abbreviated as IUR), is the language used as the main means of communication by deaf Inuit1 in Nunavut, Canada. Inuit are the native people of the Arctic, and different bands live from Alaska to Greenland. It is possible that IUR is used among deaf people in other regions as well, but the focus of my research has been on Nunavut (see Figure 1 below). 1XQDYXWLV&DQDGD¶VODUJHVWWHUULWRU\ DERXWPLOOLRQNPðRU VTXDUHPLOHV EXWKDVRQO\LQKDELWDQWVZKROLYHLQFRPPXQLWLHV VSUHDGWKURXJKRXWWKHWHUULWRU\ &HQVXVRI&DQDGDDYDLODEOHRQOLQH Figure 1. 0DSRI1XQDYXWZLWK¿HOGZRUNORFDWLRQVLQGLFDWHG Signing in the Arctic 183 7UDYHOWRDQGEHWZHHQ1XQDYXW¶VFRPPXQLWLHVLVE\DLUSODQHDVWKHUHDUH QRURDGVEHWZHHQWKHFRPPXQLWLHV7KHVHÀLJKWVDUHUDWKHUH[SHQVLYHDQG face-to-face contact between deaf Inuit from different communities is scarce. ,85 LV WKXV XVHG LQ DQ H[WUDRUGLQDU\ VRFLROLQJXLVWLF VHWWLQJ IRU DERXW deaf signers2 0DF'RXJDOO LWLVWKHVROHPHDQVRIFRPPXQLFDWLRQEXW these people live in separate communities spread across the immense area. ,WLVGLI¿FXOWWRJLYHDQHVWLPDWHRIWKHQXPEHURIKHDULQJVLJQHUVHVSHFLDOO\ since it differs from community to community. I estimate there are at least two hearing signers to each deaf signer, who have learned IUR because they are in close contact with a deaf IUR signer. IUR is not used in a single village community like the other sign languages described in this volume. The geographical spread of the sign language is somewhat reminiscent of Plains Indian Sign Language (anony- mous reviewer). But the similarity ends there, because Plains Indian SL is PDLQO\XVHGDVDQDOWHUQDWHVLJQODQJXDJHE\KHDULQJSHRSOH 'DYLV while IUR is only used by deaf people. In the past, however, hearing Inuit XVHG,85WRFRPPXQLFDWHDFURVVGLIIHUHQWGLDOHFWV 2OVWKRRUQ DQG possibly also to trade with other peoples. Effects of this widespread sociolin- guistic setting are described in section 2 below. The Inuit traditionally were nomadic hunter-gatherers (inter alia Wacho- ZLFK )RUWKLVUHDVRQ0DF'RXJDOO VXJJHVWVWKDWWKHRULJLQVRI IUR could be similar to those described for Aboriginal people in North and South America and Australia. Sign languages in those communities devel- oped as alternate communication systems used during hunts, and/or as lingua francas to bridge mutually unintelligible languages or dialects (MacDougall ,QGHHGVLJQVZHUHXVHGLQ,QXLWFXOWXUHDVHDUO\DVWKHWKFHQWXU\ WRFRPPXQLFDWHDPRQJGLIIHUHQWEDQGV 2OVWKRRUQ 'XHWRXQNQRZQ reasons, a rather high percentage of Inuit were born deaf or became deaf. The signs already existing in Inuit culture probably were used with the deaf children, and then evolved into a language. At the present time in Nunavut, varying degrees of subsistence hunting H[LVWDOWKRXJKGRJVOHGVDQGVSHDUVDUHQRORQJHUXVHG6QRZPRELOHVULÀHV DQGVKRWJXQVKDYHPDGHKXQWLQJHDVLHU,QWKH¿UVWSDUWRIWKHWKFHQWXU\ the Inuit lived nomadically, and different bands could be found from Alaska to Greenland. It is possible that IUR is used in other areas of the Arctic as well, but further travel is outside the scope of the current documentation project. The spoken language of the Inuit is Inuktitut, which is a member of the Eskimo-Aleut language family. This family of languages is spoken in the Arctic region from the Aleutian Islands west of Alaska to Greenland in the 184 Joke Schuit HDVW7KH,QXLWEUDQFKKDVPDQ\GLDOHFWVRIZKLFKERWK'RUDLV DQG+DUSHU GHVFULEHIRXUJURXSVHDFKQDPHGIRULWVUHJLRQ$ODVNDQ Inupiaq, Western Canadian Inuktun, Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, and Green- ODQGLF.DODDOOLVXW,QXNWLWXWLWVHOIKDVVHYHUDOVXEGLDOHFWV VHH'RUDLV for an overview), but it is unclear as yet whether these have had distinct LQÀXHQFHVRQ,85VR,ZLOOQRWDFFRXQWIRUWKHPKHUH Inuktitut is a highly polysynthetic language, which allows for gram- matical morphemes to attach to a lexical stem. The examples in (2) below illustrate that the lexical stem is either nominal or verbal (indicated in bold), and that grammatical morphemes can be polymorphemic, i.e. denoting more WKDQRQHPHDQLQJDV±taraLQ E ZKLFKLQGLFDWHVWKDWWKH¿UVWSHUVRQ S) sees (as the verb is taku-) a third person (3S), in this case the dog (qimmiq). (2) a) Arna- u- junga. Inuktitut Woman-be- INTR.PART.1S µ,¶PDZRPDQ¶ -RKQV b) Qimmiq WDNX- lauq- tara. Dog see- DIST.PAST- TR.PART1S/3S µ,VDZWKHDGRJ¶ -RKQV Inuktitut will be of importance in section 5.2 about language contact. ,QWKHFXUUHQWGRFXPHQWDWLRQSURMHFWWKHIRFXVLVRQ1XQDYXW&DQDGD¶V Arctic territory, where IUR is currently used as the predominant language E\URXJKO\SHRSOH 0DF'RXJDOOEXWVHHDOVRQRWH %HFDXVHGHDI monolingual IUR signers live in different communities, interactions are rare DQGOH[LFDOYDULHW\DERXQGV7KH\VHHPWRKDYHQRGLI¿FXOWLHVXQGHUVWDQGLQJ each other, however. 7KHSUHYDOHQFHRIGHDIQHVVLQ1XQDYXWLVFRQVLGHUHGWREHLQ an incidence that is almost six times higher than in southern Canada (Stamos- 'HVWRXQLVLQ0DF'RXJDOO 7KLVOHG0DF'RXJDOOWRHVWLPDWHWKDW WKHUHDUHDERXWGHDISHRSOHLQ1XQDYXWPRVWZHUHLGHQWL¿HGLQ1XQD- YXW¶VFRPPXQLWLHVDQGPDQ\RIWKHPXVHDVLJQODQJXDJH7KRVHZKRXVH sign language are generally surrounded by a network of family and friends ZKRDOVRVLJQ0DF'RXJDOO IRXQG³OLWWOHRUQRHYLGHQFHRIµVRFLDO VWLJPD¶DVVRFLDWHGZLWKGHDIQHVVLQWKHFRPPXQLWLHV>«@DQGWKHUHZDVQR apparent social exclusion because of deafness”. About two-thirds of the deaf Inuit use American Sign Language (ASL) or Manually Coded English3 (MCE), while the remaining one-third use IUR. $OVRDIHZGHDI,QXLWDUHELOLQJXDOLQ$6/DQG,85 0DF'RXJDOO The use of ASL as opposed to IUR is mainly related to formal education. )RUPDOO\HGXFDWHGGHDI,QXLWDJHGRYHUDWWHQGHGUHVLGHQWLDOVFKRROVIRU Signing in the Arctic 185 the deaf in southern Canada where ASL was used. Some of these people do know some IUR signs, but do not use the language regularly. Deaf Inuit chil- dren nowadays attend the mainstream school in their home community, with WKHDLGRIDTXDOL¿HG$6/LQWHUSUHWHUDQGGRQRWNQRZ,857KLVLVDQRWKHU contributing factor to the endangerment of IUR. In fact, IUR is only used as a primary language by those deaf individuals who have not been to school, or only attended school for a short period. 1.2. Methodology The author collected data for documentation and description purposes, which is the underlying aim of her project. Data collection is aggravated by the fact WKDWLWLVGLI¿FXOWWR¿QGRXWZKLFKRIWKHPDQ\FRPPXQLWLHVLQ1XQDYXWDUH home to deaf IUR users. The three communities visited, i.e. Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake and Taloyoak (see Figure 1 above), were chosen because of familiarity with the deaf IUR users there. The following sections provide information on these three communities and the respective informants. 1.2.1. Participants In Rankin Inlet, the data were collected from two deaf men and one hearing woman. PU is deaf, in his early forties and bilingual in IUR and ASL. He KDVWKUHHGHDIDQG¿YHKHDULQJVLEOLQJV7KHODQJXDJHXVHGLQWKHIDPLO\LV DFRPELQDWLRQRI$6/¿QJHUVSHOOLQJDQGVRPH,85ZLWKWKHHOGHUV38 learned IUR from the age of 12 from YS, a deaf man now in his late sixties ZKRJUHZXSZLWKDGHDIEURWKHU GHFHDVHG DQGDERXW¿YHKHDULQJVLEOLQJV (one brother survives). YS is monolingual in IUR, but as he and PU have EHHQIULHQGVIRURYHU\HDUVKHKDVOHDUQHGVRPH¿QJHUVSHOOLQJDQGXVHV some ASL signs. Both signers recognise which signs are from IUR and which are from ASL, and consider these languages as