Towards a Canadian Eskimo orthography and literature (I)

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique
• Main Author: Gagné, Raymond C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1962
• Subjects: Linguistics and Language; Language and Linguistics; Mackenzie River; Canada; Greenland; eskimo*; Mackenzie river
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0008413100019411; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008413100019411

Many different systems of writing the Eskimo language are in use in Canada today. Several alphabetic systems based roman letters affect only a minority of Eskimos. The syllabic system consisting of such symbols as small triangles, right and acute angles, and semicircles is written by the great majority. Those who know a given alphabetic system usually know the syllabary as well, except those who were born and brought up in the Mackenzie River area and Labrador. In Canada, at present, there is no standard orthography for the Eskimo language as there is in Greenland, for example. The syllabary which serves some 75 per cent of the Canadian Eskimo population, by virtue of this fact, comes closest to being a standard system of writing. It should be noted that the syllabary is not known in Greenland.