Aivilik, also known as ''Aivilingmiutut, Aivilimmiutut, Aivillirmiut,'' and ''Kangiqłniq,'' is a Canadian dialect of the Inuit language spoken along the northwestern shores of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

. The governments of Nunavut and 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 ...

generally consider it to be a dialect of

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

, due to its location in Nunavut, as do some linguists, but it is instead sometimes classified as a dialect of Inuvialuk.Languages of Canada, ''Ethnologue'', ed.

/ref> However, Inuktitut and Inuvialuk form a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

with few sharp boundaries.

References

{{Eskimo-Aleut languages Inuit languages Languages of Canada Vulnerable languages Endangered Indigenous languages of the Americas Endangered languages of North America