Abstract

Inuit Sign Language (IUR) is an indigenous sign language found in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Its age is undetermined, though the use of signing as a means of communication by Inuit is attested as early as the 18th century. The language is used as the sole means of communication by fewer than 40 individuals and so is considered threatened with extinction. Local revitalisation efforts have been in place since the 1990s, and as such, the language is being taught in various communities throughout Nunavut. IUR is vastly understudied, and so little is known about its linguistic features, historical significance, or geographic spread outside of Nunavut.

This talk aims to introduce listeners to the history of IUR research, the language’s demographic prevalence, and its linguistic features as currently understood in the literature. This includes findings from my undergraduate dissertation, ‘Selected Aspects of Inuit Sign Language Syntax: A Typological Perspective’. It then turns to the question of what researchers can realistically uncover about the language, given its scarce documentation and low signer count. Despite these concerns, I will attempt to show that archive materials and online sources point towards promising avenues of research regarding the language’s historical presence and geographical spread in the North American Arctic. More generally, this evidence may also help us understand the historical prevalence of sign systems in the North American Arctic.