March 31, 2011
Documenting the Changing Inuktitut Language
Karen Aglukark loves to learn languages, and this fuels her desire to help with Inuktitut research.
Aglukark has had a keen interest in languages since she was a child and this is why it is fitting for her to be assisting a professor at Carleton University in an Inuktitut linguistic pre-research pilot project. Aglukark has already interviewed close to 10 Inuit youth in Ottawa regarding their use of Inuktitut. These Inuit youth are mainly from the Baffin region of Nunavut who are living in Ottawa for post-secondary education.
This research initiative is spearheaded by Kumiko Murasugi, a linguistics professor at Carleton. Aglukark was introduced to her by her Spanish course professor. Aglukark is from Arviat, Nunavut and is instrumental in this research initiative because of her access to Inuit back home where she spends her summers.
Aglukark is in her third year at Carleton majoring in humanities and political science with a concentration in political theory. When applying to Carleton, Aglukark initially “wanted to study all the languages that Carleton had to offer,” she said, but chose her combined honours in order to facilitate her aspiration of attending law school.
Despite not studying languages at Carleton, Aglukark now plays an important role for Inuit with regard to this Inuktitut research.
Aglukark’s Inuktitut research at this point is focusing on the differences between Inuit youth and elders and their use of Inuktitut vocabulary and the difference in Inuktitut sentence structure.
Aglukark cannot understand some of the words that her elders speak back home
This research will capture and document those important differences through interviews with Inuktitut speakers.
Aglukark recalls that she is only able speak to her friends in Inuktitut and cannot understand some of the words that her elders speak back home.
“This research is important because the Inuktitut language is changing and Inuit are losing important vocabulary and sentence structure.
As well, I wanted to get involved in a project that was promoting Inuit culture” said Aglukark.
“I took an Inuktitut language course from grade six through 12 in Arviat but I didn’t learn very much” said Aglukark. Aglukark pointed out the fact that there are serious deficiencies in the high school Inuktitut curriculum. At Carleton last year, Aglukark learned Spanish through one course and credits this to the professor and the course curriculum and wishes this were the same up North.
“This research project is important and it brings to light how we are losing Inuktitut and how its changing. Once we show that that’s a problem maybe other people will get involved, and facilitate to make it better,” said Aglukark.
Aglukark pointed out that Inuit should learn their own language in their own communities, “it just makes perfect sense.”
Share: Twitter, Facebook