Typological aspects of Inuit Sign Language (Canada)

Joke Schuit, University of Amsterdam

Project Details:

Individual Graduate Studentship. Duration: 2010-2011. £26,552

Project Summary:

Inuit Sign Language is native to the culture of the Inuit of Nunavut, Canada’s Arctic territory. It is the primary language of about 50 deaf Inuit, and the secondary language of many of their relatives and friends. The few child speakers are expected to switch to American Sign Language when they start schooling in southern Canada. The research will be done in three communities, which are expected to be representative for the entire territory. They are Rankin Inlet (62°48N, 92°05W), Baker Lake (64°19N, 96°01W) and Taloyoak (69°32N, 93°32W). A request for an ISO-639 code has been made to the SIL.