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Sallirmiutun
Siglitun
Native to	Canada
Region	Northwest Territories (Canada), as "Inuvialuktun"
Language family	Eskaleut Eskimo Inuit Inuvialuktun Sallirmiutun
Early forms	Proto-Eskimo–Aleut Proto-Eskimo Proto-Inuit
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	sigl1242
Inuit dialects. Siglit is purple.
Siglitun is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Sallirmiutun (formerly Siglitun) is the dialect of Inuvialuktun spoken by the Siglit, an Inuit group of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is mainly used in the Inuvialuit communities of Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour and Tuktoyaktuk. Sallirmiutun was once the principal dialect of the Mackenzie River delta, nearby parts of the coast and Arctic Ocean islands, but the number of speakers fell dramatically following outbreaks of new diseases in the 19th century and for many years Sallirmiutun was believed to be completely extinct. It was only in the 1980s that outsiders realised that it was still spoken.

Sallirmiutun means "the language of the people of the coast" referring to the Beaufort Sea. It is the original dialect of the people from Kitigaaryuit.

It is one of the three dialects, along with Kangiryuarmiutun and Uummarmiutun, of Inuit language grouped together under the label Inuvialuktun. In fact, the word Inuvialuktun, meaning "the language of the real people" is a Sallirmiutun dialect word.

Phonology

The following is the phonology of the Siglitun dialect:

Vowels

• Vowel sounds /i u/ can have allophones heard as .

Consonants

• /j/ can be heard as either a palatal glide or a fricative .

Vocabulary comparison

The comparison of some animal names in the Siglitun dialect of Inuvialuktun language and Uummarmiutun dialect of the Iñupiatun language:

References

1. Nagy, Murielle (17 October 2022). "Inuvialuit Ethnonyms and Toponyms as a Reflection of Identity, Language, and Memory". In Kenneth L. Pratt; Scott A. Heyes (eds.). Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North. Athabasca University Press. doi:10.15215/AUPRESS/9781771993159.01. ISBN 978-1-77199-316-6. Wikidata Q126723202.
2. IRC - Languages
3. Lowe, Ronald (1985). Siglit Inuvialuktun Uqausiita Ilisarviksait: Basic Siglit Inuvialuktun Grammar. Committee for Original Peoples Entitlement. pp. 297–298.
4. Inuvialuit Settlement Region – TK Study, August 2006

v t e Eskaleut languages
Aleut	Aleut Mednyj Aleut
Eskimoan	Inuit Greenlandic Kalaallisut Tunumiit Inuktitut North Baffin Inuttitut Inuktun Inuvialuktun Siglitun Aivilik Inuinnaqtun Kangiryuarmiutun Kivalliq Netsilik Utkuhiksalik Iñupiaq (Iñupiaq Braille) Qawiaraq Uummarmiutun Yupik Alutiiq Central Alaskan Yugtun Nunivak Cup'ig Chevak Cup’ik Central Siberian Chaplino St. Lawrence Island Naukan Sirenik
See also	Proto-Eskaleut Proto-Eskimoan Inuktitut syllabics (writing system) Inuit phonology Inuit grammar Kaktovik numerals Yugtun script
Italics indicate extinct languages 1: The Inuit language 'family' is a continuum of dialects 2: Some linguists classify Sirenik as under a separate branch

• Agglutinative languages
• Inuvialuit languages
• Indigenous languages of the North American Arctic
• Inuktitut words and phrases