Iñupiaq or Inupiaq (/ɪˈnuːpiæk/ ih-NOO-pee-ak, Inupiaq: [iɲupiaq]), also known as Iñupiat, Inupiat (/ɪˈnuːpiæt/ ih-NOO-pee-at), Iñupiatun or Alaskan Inuit, is an Inuit language, or perhaps group of languages, spoken by the Iñupiat people in northern and northwestern Alaska, as well as a small adjacent part of the Northwest Territories of Canada.

American territorial acquisition and the legacy of boarding schools have created a situation today where a small minority of Iñupiat speak the Iñupiaq language.

Between 1,000 and 800 years ago, Inuit migrated east from Alaska to Canada and Greenland, eventually occupying the entire Arctic coast and much of the surrounding inland areas.

[citation needed] In the mid to late 19th century, Russian, British, and American colonists made contact with Iñupiat people.

[7] Today, the University of Alaska Fairbanks offers bachelor's degrees in Iñupiaq language and culture, while a preschool/kindergarten-level Iñupiaq immersion school named Nikaitchuat Iḷisaġviat teaches grades PreK-1st grade in Kotzebue.

[15][12] A dialect of Qawariaq may also be spoken in Koyuk,[12] Mary's Igloo, Council, and Elim.

[15][12] Malimiutun dialect: Both sub-dialects can be found in Buckland, Koyuk, Shaktoolik, and Unalakleet.

[15][12] A dialect of Malimiutun may be spoken in Deering, Kiana, Noorvik, Shungnak, and Ambler.

[12] A dialect of North Slope is also spoken in Kivalina, Point Lay, Wainwright, Atqasuk, Utqiaġvik, Nuiqsut, and Barter Island.

Weak and strong /i/s are not differentiated in orthography,[15] making it impossible to tell which ⟨i⟩ represents palatalization "short of looking at other processes which depend on the distinction between two i's or else examining data from other Eskimo languages".

Therefore: miqłiqtuqchildmiqłiqtuqchildsiksriksquirrelsiksriksquirreltavsibelttavsibeltThese general features of assimilation are not shared with Uummarmiut, Malimiutun, or the Seward Peninsula dialects.

Malimiutun and the Seward Peninsula dialects "preserve voiceless stops (k, p, q, t) when they are etymological (i.e. when they belong to the original word-base)".

[12] Compare: Source:[15] The following patterns of palatalization can occur in North Slope Iñupiaq: /t/ → /t̚ʲ/, /tʃ/ or /s/; /ɬ/ → /ʎ̥/; /l/ → /ʎ/; and /n/ → /ɲ/.

Therefore: qimmiq/qimmiq/dog+++tigun/tiɣun/amongst the plural things→→→qimmisigun/qimːisiɣun/amongst, in the midst of dogsqimmiq + tigun → qimmisigun/qimmiq/ + /tiɣun/ → /qimːisiɣun/dog + {amongst the plural things} → {amongst, in the midst of dogs}puqik/puqik/to be smart+++tuq/tuq/she/he/it→→→puqiksuq/puqiksuq/she/he/it is smartpuqik + tuq → puqiksuq/puqik/ + /tuq/ → /puqiksuq/{to be smart} + {she/he/it} → {she/he/it is smart}If a strong i precedes geminate consonant, the entire elongated consonant becomes palatalized.

Therefore: tumi/tumi/footprint→→→tumaa/tumaː/her/his footprinttumi → tumaa/tumi/ → /tumaː/footprint → {her/his footprint}qimmiq/qimːiq/dog→→→qimmia/qimːia/her/his dogqimmiq → qimmia/qimːiq/ → /qimːia/dog → {her/his dog}kamik/kamik/boot→→→kammak/kamːak/two bootskamik → kammak/kamik/ → /kamːak/boot → {two boots}Like the first two sets of examples, the IPA transcriptions of above vowels may not be correct.For the Uummarmiutun sub-dialect:[16] The following are the phonological rules:[16] The /f/ is always found as a geminate.

In North Slope Iñupiaq, all consonants represented by orthography can be geminated, except for the sounds /tʃ/ /s/ /h/ and /ʂ/.

Along with the Alaskan and Siberian Yupik, the Iñupiat eventually adopted the Latin script that Moravian missionaries developed in Greenland and Labrador.

[They] ... have no semantic basis but are useful for case formation ... stems of various classes interact with suffixes differently".

Therefore, all the singular, dual, and plural absolutive forms serve as stems for the other oblique cases.

Therefore: Kamikboot→ kammaktwo bootsKamik → kammakboot {} {two boots}If the singular form of the noun ends with -k, the preceding vowel will be elongated.

Therefore: savikknife→ saviiktwo knivessavik → saviikknife {} {two knives}On occasion, the consonant preceding the final vowel is also geminated, though exact phonological reasoning is unclear.

[15] This case marks the subject of a transitive sentence or a genitive (possessive) noun phrase.

This case has a wide range of uses described below: Aŋuniaqtimhunter.ERGaġviġluaqgray wale-ABStuqutkaakill-IND-3SG.SBJ-3SG.OBJnauligamik.harpoon-INS (using it as a tool to)Aŋuniaqtim aġviġluaq tuqutkaa nauligamik.hunter.ERG {gray wale-ABS} kill-IND-3SG.SBJ-3SG.OBJ harpoon-INSThe hunter killed the gray whale with a harpoon.Miñułiqtugutpaint-IND-3SG.OBJumiamik.boat-INS (having the previous verb being done to it)Miñułiqtugut umiamik.paint-IND-3SG.OBJ boat-INSWe're painting a boat.Marks indefinite objects of some transitive verbs Tuyuġaatsend-IND-3PL.SBJ-3SG.OBJtuyuutimik.letter-INS (new piece of information)Tuyuġaat tuyuutimik.send-IND-3PL.SBJ-3SG.OBJ letter-INSThey sent him a letter.Niġiqaqtugukfood—have-IND-1DU.SBJtuttumik.caribou-INS (specifying that the caribou is food by referring to the previous noun)Niġiqaqtuguk tuttumik.food—have-IND-1DU.SBJ caribou-INSWe (dual) have (food) caribou for food.Qavsiñikhow many-INSpaniqaqpit?daughter—have (of the following noun)Qavsiñik paniqaqpit?

Apart from sisamat '4', numbers before a multiple of five are indicated with the subtractive element -utaiḷaq: quliŋŋuġutaiḷaq '9' from qulit '10', akimiaġutaiḷaq '14' from akimiaq '15', iñuiññaġutaiḷaq '19' from iñuiññaq '20'.

Note that these words will vary between singular -q and plural -t, depending on the speaker and whether they are being used for counting or for modifying a noun.

All verbs can be marked through adverbs to show relative time (using words such as "yesterday" or "tomorrow").

(the future tense "will" is implied by the word tomorrow)Marking aspect is optional in Iñupiaq verbs.

[18] Iñupiaq has the following moods: Indicative, Interrogative, Imperative (positive, negative), Coordinative, and Conditional.

The noun phrase subjects are incorporated not syntactically into the verb but rather as objects marked by the instrumental case.

The third type of incorporation, manipulation of discourse structure, is supported by Mithun (1984) and argued against by Lanz (2010).