| Summary: | This dissertation is a description of a dialect of Eskimo, Inuktitut, spoken in the Inuit community of Rankin Inlet in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It includes within its scope an ethnography of the community, a study of the central morphology of the dialect, and an analysis of truncated case forms found in noun phrases, and a discussion of language maintenance and language death as it relates to the above community. It also includes complete sets of nominal and verbal paradigms, a list of common noun affixes and an affix order list for nouns. The ethnography of the community is presented first, followed by the grammatical description. The phonological and morphophonemic systems are outlined. A substantial description of the central morphology is divided in two subsections, one dealing with the noun phrase, the other with the verb phrase. This is followed with an analysis of truncated noun phrases. These forms, which have not been previously reported in the literature, were at first thought to be indicators of language loss. After analysis they were found to be syntactically constrained. The discussion of language maintenance looks at the community of Rankin Inlet from a historical perspective. As the system of almost total segregation which existed in the 50's and 60's began to break down, increased use of Inuktitut in previously English domains began to occur. The description of this dialect will be of considerable use to future researchers in the area, as much of this material has not been previously available. Also the ethnographic description of the community from a historical perspective which was undertaken from the viewpoint of a member of the community and not an outsider and therefore could be useful to those interested in studies of the culture. PhD Linguistics University of Michigan http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160714/1/8520969.pdf
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