Natsilingmiutut

• There are three main dialect divisions of Natsilingmiutut dialect:[5]
  • Natsilik subdialect, or Natsilik/Netsilik proper
  • Arviligjuaq subdialect
  • Utkuhiksalik subdialect

Natsilik dialect has the special letters: š ř ŋ

These special characters are used by some Nattiliŋmiut speakers to document their dialect.[6]

š [ʂ] – sounds like ‘shr’ and is distinct from both the s sound that is used in words borrowed from English and the more common h sound.

Uqšuqtuuq Gjoa Haven

hikšik ground squirrel, marmot

mikšaanut about

ř [ɟ] (in Inuktitut syllabics ᖬ řa ᖨ ři ᖪ řu ᖭ řaa ᖩ řii ᖫ řuu) – sounds like an English (retroflex) r. It is distinct from the r sound used by other dialects, which is closer to the r [ʁ] sound made in French at the back of the throat.

ᐃᖨ iři eye (cf. Inuktitut ᐃᔨ iji)

ᐅᒡᖪᒃ ugřuk bearded seal (cf. Inuktitut ᐅᒡᔪᒃ ugjuq)

ᑭᐅᖪᖅ kiuřuq s/he replies, answers (cf. Inuktitut ᑭᐅᔪᖅ kiujuq)

ᐊᐱᕆᖪᖅ apiriřuq s/he asks (cf. Inuktitut ᐊᐱᕆᔪᖅ apirijuq)

ŋ – A small number of Inuktitut speakers use this character instead of ng. The use of ng is deceiving because it makes use of two letters to represent what is actually a single sound. In syllabics this sound is represented by a single character ᖕ.

Using this letter also makes the distinction between the sequence [nŋ] and long [ŋː] clearer, the first being spelled ‘nŋ’ and the latter ‘ŋŋ’. In eastern varieties of Inuktitut which do not have the sequence [nŋ], long [ŋː] is spelled ‘nng’ rather than ‘ngng’.

When the letter ‘ŋ’ is not used, the distinction may be made by spelling [nŋ] ‘n'ng’ and [ŋː] ‘nng’.

avinŋuaq lemming

kiŋŋaq mountain