Is it possible to save a dying language?

"My language, my heart" is a CBC news story about four Inuit women who are fighting to keep their language alive. Inuinnaqtun (pronounced ee-NOO-ee-NAHK-toon) is traditionally spoken in three Inuit communities in the Western Arctic: Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk and Ulukhaktok. Each community has become a battleground to revive the language, especially among young people. 

Only 390 people in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories declared Inuinnaqtun their mother tongue in the 2011 census. But four determined Inuit women are fighting to revive it — one voice at a time. 

In a small classroom in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut — just a short walk from the Arctic Ocean — 21 Inuit students are working toward a certificate in Aboriginal Language Revitalization, a program offered by Continuing Studies at UVic in partnership with Nunavut Arctic College. 

Read full story on CBC website

 

Credit: Kate Kyle, CBC News

• Posted July 7, 2017