Gospel Selections: The First Book in Inuktitut Syllabics

• Published in: Études/Inuit/Studies
• Main Author: Harper, Kenn
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Centre interuniversitaire d’études et de recherches autochtones (CIÉRA) 2022
• Subjects: Inuktitut; Inuttut; syllabic(s); Horden; Watkins; Okakterook; Fort George; Little Whale River; Moose Factory; Moravian; transliteration; syllabique; Petite rivière de la Baleine; translitération; Baie James; Baleine; Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay; la Baleine; Nunavik; Études/Inuit/Studies; inuit; inuktitut; Cris; James Bay
• Online Access: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1096498ar; https://doi.org/10.7202/1096498ar

The syllabic writing system invented for the Cree was first introduced to Inuit in 1855 by Rev. Edwin A. Watkins (1827–1907) at Fort George and Little Whale River on the James Bay and Hudson Bay coasts, respectively. That same year at Fort George, Watkins prepared a small book of gospel selections in Inuktitut syllabics with the help of a young Inuk, Peter Okakterook (circa 1836–1858), and sent it to Rev. John Horden (1828–1893) in Moose Factory, who printed it on the press he had acquired for his mission. This small book is one of the earliest items printed on Horden’s press, and the only one printed in Inuktitut. Only one copy is known to have survived, at Library and Archives Canada, where it is catalogued under the title Selections from the Gospels in the Dialect of the Inuit of Little Whale River. The small volume of eight pages, transliterated into syllabics from Moravian publications prepared in the roman orthography used for Inuttut on the Labrador coast in present-day Nunatsiavut, was intended for use by Inuit in Nunavik. Although printed in syllabics using what are today seen as western Cree syllable-final symbols, the text is readable by and understandable to modern Inuit readers. This paper examines early missionary efforts to develop literacy for mission purposes among Inuit, including the printing and distribution of this small volume. Le système d’écriture syllabique inventé pour les Cris a été introduit pour la première fois aux Inuit en 1855 par le révérend Edwin A. Watkins (1827-1907) à Fort George et Petite rivière de la Baleine sur les côtes de la baie James et de la baie d’Hudson respectivement. Cette année-là, Watkins, qui travaillait à Fort George, rédigea avec l’aide d’un jeune Inuk, Peter Okakterook (vers 1836–1858), un petit livre d’extraits des évangiles en syllabaire inuktitut. Il envoya le manuscrit au révérend John Horden (1828–1893) à Moose Factory qui l’imprima sur la presse acquise pour sa mission, en 1855. L’impression a été achevée en 1856. Ce livret est l’un des premiers ...