Difficult Pronounciations of Inuktitut

Difficult Pronounciation of the Inuktitut Language

It isn't a good idea to speak for all dialects of the Inuit and so I have to be humbled to stay within the dialects of Ivujivik and Salluit.

The first of the four difficult pronounciations is: "QYE...QEEE.....QUUU.....QA". To some, these are actually pronounced as "HYE....HEEE....HUUU.....HA", which is barely acceptable if you're hard of hearing or something. It takes years and years for foreigners to say these sounds. However, I know they're easy for Egyptians and Arabs to say.

My last name, Kalingo, has a first syllable "QA". In fact, some people has spelled it as Qalingo. However, I have some reservations for that because of two main reasons. If they want to spell it with a "Q" with the reasoning that our Inuit names (originating from our language) should be spelled in a universal manner, then it makes sense to me that the last letter should be a "u", not and "o". It would be spelled Qalingu. The second reason is that the original foreigner who spelled it that way was a recognized administrator working for the Federal government around the time the surname system was being introduced (which is another interesting story I will add to these writings eventually). That darned administrator spelled my father's name as Kalingo. All other documents, hither and yonder, started to have that name written like that. Now, all those documents recognize me as having that surname and it's difficult for me to change it at this late day and age. The change CAN be done and if I chose to change it, it probably would indeed end up as QALINGU.

For the sake of these writings, I will use the letter "q" when I want to pronounce words with that sound. And there are thousands of them.

The second difficult sound is "ng". "Ngye....ngeed.....nguuu.....nga". When the foreigner says "bingo" he says it as "bing...goe". The Inuit are able to say "gnuu" in the context of the "ng" coming from the sound that is in the syllable "bing", without the "bi". And, the Inuk would say "bing...ngu" as opposed to "bing...goe". And so my last name is pronounced "Qa-li-ngu". The last part "ngu" is NOT pronounced as "nu". Foreigners tend to get be stuck with "ng" in the context of the worl "gnu", or "lingo", or "Ringo", or "mingle".

The third difficult sound to pronounce is "GYE....GEEE....GUUU.....GA". This is an extremely difficult sound to describe, let alone say. It is, I fear, a sound that is fast disappearing. The reason is that it gets confused with another difficult sound "RRYE....RREEE......RRUU....RRA". These two sounds, although quite distinct from each other, confuse the youth of today. It is no wonder. For certain words, let's say, I'd be even so bold as to include two letters together "rgr" in order to differentiate the sound to be uttered. For example: the ermine is call "TIRGRRIARQ".

Youth of today get confused between "ILIRGRASUAYURQ" and "ILIGASUARTURQ". The first means roughly "he or she is showing respect of him or is showing wariness of him", while the second means "he is attempting to get into that spot or place".

Letters Not Pronounced In Inuktitut Language

I realize that it's difficult to describe everything perfectly to a foreigner (a person not in the know about Inuktitut).

The letters "d" and "t" in Inuktitut are not differentiated. Example: the name David was most probably introduced to Inuit by a priest or a church minister. When the guy kept saying "David", he probably said "Day-vid-da". The Inuk heard him and said "Teeviti". You see, Inuit don't say "Day", or "Say", or "Bay". They tend to say "Tee", "See" or "Pee", instead. Hence the name Tivi, pronounced "Teevi". It actually means "David". And Davidi is the same name which is a variation Inuit use, to which the sound "i" has been added.

Davidi is actually pronounced by Inuit not from the throat, but rather from the front part of the tongue. When a person says it from the tongue, the "d" loses its "d-ness", if you know what I mean.

The foreigner will say the letter "t" with more harseness than the Inuk. That is why it sounds really delicate when we say it.

In the syllabics (written syllables of the Inuktitut language), each sound is introduced in four sounds. For example: "TYE....TEEE.....TUUU......TA". But in that particular instance, you shouldn't say it so harshly. Don't be so breathy. Listen to an Inuk talk his language. Listen to how he says "Teevi".

"MYE...MEEE...MUUU...MA".

Another two syllables: "b" and "p", have no differentiation. Again, it's all in the breathing, or letting air out that makes the different sound.

When the foreigner says "Bobby", the Inuk tends to say "Paapi". In the particualr name Bobby, the "Bo" comes out "Paa". Similarly, in the foreign word "tot", the Inuk will tend to say it "taat".