Discourse Practices and Inuit Contemporary Political Scene: the Individual and the Collective. A focus on Terminology Development

Abstract This paper presents one aspect of the preliminary findings of a Ph.D project that paves the way for documenting and analysing the conditions of creation, reviewing, diffusion and reception of new terminologies in Inuktitut (Inuit language), and more specifically, concerning the terminology...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Carole Cancel, Ph D Candidate
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1054.3448
http://www.inuitoralityconference.com/art/Cancel.pdf
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Summary:Abstract This paper presents one aspect of the preliminary findings of a Ph.D project that paves the way for documenting and analysing the conditions of creation, reviewing, diffusion and reception of new terminologies in Inuktitut (Inuit language), and more specifically, concerning the terminology related to the political sphere. Data was gathered in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, during a five months fieldwork in 2005 and 2006. Interviews were given by actors of Nunavut political life, language professionals and Inuit from various ages, including elders. Preliminary results reveal that the development of institutionalized terminology and the attempts at incorporating new words and concepts in Inuktitut tend to influence the population into making specific choices between oral and writing, when it comes to having access to information. This preliminary fieldwork raises larger issues concerning the interaction of individual and collective interests, as well as authority dynamics among the actors involved in the terminology development process, and in language issues at large.