LING 100B Term Project

Inuit Sign Language --ISL--, also known as "Inuit Uukturausingit" --IUR-- is a sign language isolate native to the Territory of Nunavut. It is used almost exclusively by deaf Inuit and the hearing people they interact with, though through intervention there are now resources through the Canadian Deafness Research and Training Institute (CDRTI) for the preservation of the language, and the teaching of new speakers. Details of IUR typology are known through investigations of existing materials, as in Schuit (2014).

The origins of IUR are somewhat unknown, but two common theories are as follows:
1- As many Inuit were nomadic prior to colonization and some vareities of Inuktitut are not mutually intelligible, IUR may have developed as a lingua franca. (MacDougall, 2000)
2 - IUR may have developed for hunting, as the ability to communicate without sound is often important on a hunt. (Schuit, 2012)
Research on the language in Canada began in 2000 when James MacDougall was contracted to help a deaf Inuk in Nunavut access interpretation, and subsequently learned of the existance of IUR.