LING 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Code-Mixing, Null-Subject Language, Language Shift
Document Summary
Eskimo-aleut languages (inuktitut, in canada) have come into increasing contact with european languages: russian (siberia), danish (greenland), french and english (canada). Inuktitut is spoken in the eastern arctic (nunavut) and in northern quebec (nunavik). Inuktitut has survived well so far (unlike many other aboriginal languages), partly because of the isolated nature of the regions where it is spoken and also because there is quite a large number of speakers (29,000). Amongst people under 50 years of age, bilingualism is common (english/inuktitut or french/ inuktitut), or trilingualism in some cases (english/french/inuktitut). Most inuit are sequential bilinguals, learning english or french at school (usually introduced in grade 3). Inuktitut is used at home, in social situations, and in traditional activities. English and french are used a lot outside the home (at work, in the media) and are considered more prestigious. In other words, this is a potentially diglossic situation.
