Language/North-alaskan-inupiatun/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Iñupiaq Alphabet and Pronunciation

Inupiaq, also Inupiak, Inupiat, Iñupiaq, is one of the four major linguistic groups of the Inuit language group, which in turn is part of the Eskimo branch (which also includes the Yupik languages) of the Eskimo language family. It is spoken west and north of Alaska.

It is written using the Latin alphabet, modified to better transcribe Inupiaq phonetics.

Once you've gone through this lesson, you might enjoy discovering these associated subjects: alaskan.

North Slope and Northwest Arctic

Letter	Name	IPA
A a	a	/a/
Ch ch	cha	/tʃ/
G g	ga	/ɣ/
Ġ ġ	ġa	/ʁ/
H h	ha	/h/
I i	i	/i/
K k	ka	/k/
L l	la	/l/
Ḷ ḷ	ḷa	/ʎ/
Ł ł	ła	/ɬ/
Ł̣ ł̣	ł̣a	/ʎ̥/
M m	ma	/m/
N n	na	/n/
Ñ ñ	ña	/ɲ/
Ŋ ŋ	ŋa	/ŋ/
P p	pa	/p/
Q q	qa	/q/
R r	ra	/ɹ/
S s	sa	/s/
Sr sr	sra	/ʂ/
T t	ta	/t/
U u	u	/u/
V v	va	/v/
Y y	ya	/j/

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasals		m	n	ɲ		ŋ	ɴ
Stops		p	t	c		k	q	ʔ
Fricatives	voiceless	f	s		ʂ	x	χ	h
	voiced	v			ʐ	ɣ	ʁ
Lateral	voiceless		ɬ	ʎ̥
	voiced		l	ʎ
Approximant				j

1. ^ The sound /ʔ/ might not exist.
2. ^ Recent learners of the language, and heritage speakers are replacing the sound /ʐ/ (written in Iñupiaq as "r") with the American English /ɹ/ sound with which it is similar.
3. ^ The sound /ʎ̥/ might actually be the sound /ɬʲ/.

Seward Peninsula

Letter	Name	IPA
A a	a	/a/
B b	ba	/b/
G g	ga	/ɣ/
Ġ ġ	ġa	/ʁ/
H h	ha	/h/
I i	i	/i/
K k	ka	/k/
L l	la	/l/
Ł ł	ła	/ɬ/
M m	ma	/m/
N n	na	/n/
Ŋ ŋ	ŋa	/ŋ/
P p	pa	/p/
Q q	qa	/q/
R r	ra	/ɹ/
S s	sa	/s/
Sr sr	sra	/ʂ/
T t	ta	/t/
U u	u	/u/
V v	va	/v/
W w	wa	/w/
Y y	ya	/j/
Z z	za	/z/
Zr zr	zra	/ʐ/
'		/ʔ/

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasals		m	n			ŋ
Stops	voiceless	p	t	tʃ		k	q	ʔ
	voiced	b
Fricatives	voiceless		s		ʂ			h
	voiced	v	z		ʐ	ɣ	ʁ
Lateral	voiceless		ɬ
	voiced		l
Approximant		w		j	ɻ

Uummarmiutun

Letter	Name	IPA
A a	a	/a/
Ch ch	cha	/tʃ/
F f	fa	/f/
G g	ga	/ɣ/
H h	ha	/h/
Dj dj	dja	/dʒ/
I i	i	/i/
K k	ka	/k/
L l	la	/l/
Ł ł	ła	/ɬ/
M m	ma	/m/
N n	na	/n/
Ñ ñ	ña	/ɲ/
Ng ng	ŋa	/ŋ/
P p	pa	/p/
Q q	qa	/q/
R r	ra	/ʁ/
Ȓ ȓ	ȓa	/ʐ/
T t	ta	/t/
U u	u	/u/
V v	va	/v/
Y y	ya	/j/

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasals		m	n	ɲ		ŋ
Stops	voiceless	p	t	tʃ		k	q	ʔ
	voiced			dʒ
Fricatives	voiceless	f				x	χ	h
	voiced	v			ʐ	ɣ	ʁ
Lateral	voiceless		ɬ
	voiced		l
Approximant				j

1. ^ Ambiguities: This sound might exist in the Uummarmiutun sub dialect.