Hakan:
>Does anyone on the list know any on-line grammars of the Inuit >language?
Let's see, I have the following EskimoAleut links:
Inupiaq Dictionary
http://www.alaskool.org/Language/dictionaries/inupiaq/default.htm
Inuktitut Dictionary
http://www.pageweb.com/kleekai/eskimo2.htm
Writing in Inuktitut: An Historical Perspective
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/north/nor-iv/paper/pap-170e.htm
Central Yup'ik and the schools
http://www.alaskool.org/language/central_yupik/yupik.html
(Goes into some stuff on Yupik grammar)
Not very much online resources. Let's see what I can tell you about it. It's
got interesting verb conjugation which is given endings according to both
the subject AND, if necessary, the object of a verb AND according to three
numbers (singular, dual and plural). If I remember correctly, this is how
you conjugate an intransitive verb, using /taku-/ "to see".
SINGULAR PLURAL
takuva-nga takuva-gut
takuva-tit takuva-si
takuva-q takuva-it
I believe /takuvaa/ is the translation to "I see it". It also has nominal
declension galore:
inuk "person"
inup "person's"
inummik "person" (accusative)
...etc
>For a long time, I've been interested in this language, which is >spoken in
>Greenland.
And CANADA! Don't forget my country, dude! (boohoo, sob, Nobody loves us
Canucks, boohoo, sob)
>It was a surprise to learn that a primitive people, living among ice, >cold
>and darkness in one of Earth's harshest climates, did not have >a
>"primitive" language. Before I found it, I believed that complex,
> >form-rich grammars only belonged to ancient civilisations (Sanskrit in
> >India etc.).
The perceived complexity of a language has nothing to do with the culture
who uses it. There is no language more "complex" than the other. Check out
the Ket of Siberia and their polysynthetic language. Also check out Abkhaz
of the NorthWest Caucasian group (ie: i-u-z-d-aa-s@-r-ga-n "I made them
bring it here for you" is a beautiful example of the crazy mixed-up way in
which verbs can be conjugated.). Burushaski is another exotic and totally
unprimitive language in Kashmir and Jammu state (north of India) - they use
4 genders and conjugate a verb according to the subject, object and the
experiencer of the action, mixing both the ergative and accusative case
together into a confusing melange of insanity that would make any
"civilised" person's head explode. It also has very irregular plurals to
nouns that need to be specially memorized in order to fully cause migraine
soreness. Cantonese uses some six or more tones to distinguish monosyllabic
words apart, particularly high-falling/high-level, low-falling, low-rising,
high-rising, mid-level and low-level. Etc, etc, etc...
- gLeN
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