WIA LANGUAGES PROJECT

[Day 14/221]

ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ

Inuktitut Eastern | Eastern Canadian Inuktitut

“Language of Eternity Carved on Ice”

A quiet revolution, 221 languages’ digital archive • We’re not saving languages. We’re saving humanity.

Every 14 days, one language falls silent. But today, we meet a language that has survived on Arctic ice. Inuktitut Eastern (ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ) is the language of the Inuit people, spoken by over 40,000 people in Canada’s Arctic regions. This language is not merely a tool for communication. It is the name for ice, aurora, and wind, a crystallization of wisdom accumulated by the Inuit over thousands of years as they survived in the harshest natural environment.

🌨️ Stories Remembered by Ice

The history of Inuktitut Eastern is as ancient as Arctic ice itself. The Inuit people settled in the Arctic region around 1000 BCE, and their language has contained all the knowledge needed to survive in extreme conditions. They distinguished dozens of types of ice and precisely expressed wind directions and snow conditions. Inuktitut was transmitted only orally until the 1860s when missionaries introduced the Inuktitut syllabary (ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ, Qaniujaaqpait) based on the Cree syllabary.

In the 20th century, the Inuit language faced a major crisis. Due to the Canadian government’s assimilation policies, many Inuit children were sent to residential schools where speaking their language was forbidden. Intergenerational language transmission was severed, and many young people lost their ancestral language. However, with the establishment of Nunavut Territory in 1999, Inuktitut was recognized as an official language, and language revival movements began.

🌍 Inuktitut Today

According to the 2021 Statistics Canada census, approximately 41,000 people can speak Inuktitut, of whom 37,000 use it as their mother tongue. The average age of speakers is 28, a positive sign that the language is being transmitted to younger generations compared to other Indigenous languages. Particularly in Nunavut, over 80% of the population uses Inuktitut daily, and education is conducted in Inuktitut in schools. However, language usage is declining in urban areas and Labrador, requiring continued preservation efforts.

💎 Untranslatable Beauty

Inuktitut is an agglutinative language where a single word can contain very long and complex meanings. One word can express what would be a complete sentence in English. This language has dozens of words to express snow and ice, each precisely distinguishing subtly different states.

🔬 WIA’s Promise – Journey to Digital Archive

WIA is not simply translating Inuktitut or recreating it with AI. Our goal is to permanently preserve existing materials in digital form and build a platform accessible to researchers and learners worldwide. In December 2024, the Government of Nunavut and Microsoft collaborated to develop Inuktitut text-to-speech technology. This project utilized 11,000 audio files and 13 hours of recordings to convert the Bible, traditional stories, and contemporary novels in Inuktitut into digital voice.

As of 2025, Inuktitut has been added to Google Translate, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is building an online library of Inuktitut educational resources. AingA.I. Indigenous Languages Labs, based in Iqaluit, is developing an AI-powered Inuktitut translation and learning app, a meaningful example of the Inuit community developing technology themselves for language preservation. These digital records transcend physical distance and time, becoming permanent resources for future generations to learn their language and culture again.

🎭 Pulse of Culture – Why It Must Not Disappear

Inuktitut is not merely a language. It is a treasure condensing thousands of years of wisdom about how humans survived in the extreme Arctic environment, achieved harmony with nature, and maintained community. This language contains scientifically valuable knowledge such as the ability to distinguish ice conditions, Arctic animal behavior patterns, and methods to predict weather. Additionally, Inuit oral literature contains deep philosophy about how humanity coexists with nature.

In 2012, the first complete Bible translated into Inuktitut was published, and contemporary Inuit literature such as “Harpoon of the Hunter” by Markoosie Patsauq and “Sanaaq” by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk continues to be created. By preserving these cultural heritages digitally, people worldwide can learn and respect Inuit wisdom.

🌅 Future – The Tomorrow We Will Create

After 221 days, when all 221 languages are recorded digitally, we will finally have a complete archive of human linguistic diversity. Inuktitut is the 14th milestone in that journey. Each voice file we preserve today, each document we digitize, becomes precious heritage passed to future generations. In an era when Arctic ice is melting, the Inuit language will be preserved forever in digital form.

In this era where the Inuit community develops technology themselves, governments and companies collaborate, and the whole world preserves languages together – we are witnessing quiet but massive change. One word at a time, one voice file at a time, one digital archive at a time. Quietly, unwaveringly, one step at a time.

WIA Languages Project

Connecting the world through 221 languages
A quiet revolution, humanity’s digital archive

📚 WIA Languages: wialanguages.com
🌐 WIA Tools: wia.tools | 🔗 WIA Go: wiago.link
📰 The Korean Today: thekorean.today | 🌍 The Korean Today Global: thekoreantoday.com

Day 14/221: Inuktitut Eastern
“Quietly, unwaveringly, one step at a time”

© 2025 WIA Language Institute. All rights reserved.
Made with passion, without compromise, for humanity.