Sallirmiutun (formerly Siglitun) is the dialect of

Inuvialuktun Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit'' / ''Inuktitut'' / '' Inuktut'' / '' Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some d ...

spoken by the

Siglit The Sallirmiut (formerly Siglit) are an Inuit group residing in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. The Sallirmiut are regarded as part of the Inuvialuit, or western Canadian Inuit. Inuvialuit is a modern political identity that brings together S ...

, an

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

group of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada. It is mainly used in the

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homelan ...

communities of Paulatuk,

Sachs Harbour Sachs Harbour ( ; ) is a Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Situated on the southwestern coast of Banks Island in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the population according to the 202 ...

and

Tuktoyaktuk Tuktoyaktuk ( ; , ) is an Inuvialuit hamlet near the Mackenzie River delta in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, at the northern terminus of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway.Montgomery, Marc"Canada now officially connected ...

. Sallirmiutun was once the principal dialect of the

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

delta, nearby parts of the coast and

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

islands, but the number of speakers fell dramatically following outbreaks of new diseases in the 19th century and for many years Sallirmiutun was believed to be completely extinct. It was only in the 1980s that outsiders realised that it was still spoken. Sallirmiutun means "the language of the people of the coast" referring to the

Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea ( ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Alaska, and west of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a Hydrography, hydrographer. T ...

. It is the original dialect of the people from Kitigaaryuit. It is one of the three dialects, along with

Kangiryuarmiutun ''Kangiryuarmiutun'' (sometimes ''Kangirjuarmiut(un)'') is a dialect of Inuit languages, Inuit language spoken in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada by the Kangiryuarmiut, a Copper Inuit group. The dialect is part of the Inuvialuktun langu ...

and Uummarmiutun, of

Inuit language The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and the adjacent subarctic regions as far south as Labrador. The Inuit languages are one of the two branche ...

grouped together under the label ''Inuvialuktun''. In fact, the word Inuvialuktun, meaning "the language of the real people" is a Sallirmiutun dialect word.

Phonology

The following is the phonology of the Siglitun dialect:

Vowels

* Vowel sounds /i u/ can have allophones heard as

Consonants

* // can be heard as either a palatal glide [] or a fricative [].

Vocabulary comparison

The comparison of some animal names in the Siglitun dialect of Inuvialuktun language and Uummarmiutun dialect of the Inupiat language, Iñupiatun language:Inuvialuit Settlement Region – TK Study, August 2006
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siglitun Agglutinative languages Inuvialuit languages Indigenous languages of the North American Arctic Inuktitut words and phrases