The official language of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

is Greenlandic. The number of speakers of Greenlandic is estimated at 50,000 (85–90% of the total population), divided in three main dialects, Kalaallisut (West-Greenlandic, 44,000 speakers and the dialect that is used as official language), Tunumiit (East-Greenlandic, 3,000 speakers) and Inuktun (North-Greenlandic, 800 speakers). The remainder of the population mainly speaks Danish;

Greenlandic Sign Language Danish Sign Language (, DTS) is the sign language used in Denmark. Classification Henri Wittmann (1991) assigned DSL to the French Sign Language family because of similarities in vocabulary. Peter Atke Castberg studied deaf education in Europe ...

is the language of the deaf community.

has been a very isolated and linguistically homogeneous island historically, but has nevertheless been home to several languages.

Greenlandic Norse Greenlandic Norse is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Norse settlements of Greenland until their demise in the late 15th century. The language is primarily attested by runic inscriptions found in Greenland. The limited ...

is believed to have been in

language contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact with and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Language contact can occur at language borders, between adstratum ...

with Greenlandic, the language of the indigenous

Kalaallit Kalaallit are a Greenlandic Inuit ethnic group, being the largest group in Greenland, concentrated in the west. It is also a contemporary term in the Greenlandic language for the Indigenous of Greenland ().Hessel, 8 The Kalaallit (singular: ) a ...

, and to have left

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

s in that language. It has been suggested that the female given name Kuuna derives from ''kona'', the Old Norse word for "woman" and "wife". The available evidence does not establish the presence of language attrition; the language most likely disappeared with the ethnic group that spoke it.Bandle, p. 1234. Greenlandic is not only the national language, but is now "the official language in Greenland" by virtue of Act no. 473, adopted by parliament 12 June 2009, the Act on Greenland Self-Government. Studying Danish and English is mandatory for students in compulsory schools and also part of many secondary-level study programmes, so knowledge of the two languages is widespread. Other foreign languages frequently studied include German and French. Temporary visitors and residents often make up a large portion of the population, especially in Ilulissat and the capital

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

. In May 2023, a Greenlandic MP spoke her native language during a debate in the Danish parliament, causing a controversy and highlighting strained relations between Denmark and Greenland.

References

{{North America in topic, Languages of

See also

References