Abstracts
Abstract
This paper reports on the Elder’s Stories Project, an initiative to document regional dialects of Labrador Inuttitut across Nunatsiavut. The goal of this project is twofold: to preserve linguistic and cultural knowledge, with a focus on regional variation, and to create accessible spoken language resources for intermediate and advanced learners. The Elder’s Stories Project will pair audio recordings with time-aligned transcriptions using ELAN software. This method results in archival resources which enable learners and researchers to access and search oral texts linked directly to audio. The paper documents how the Elder’s Stories Project led to a series of ELAN transcription training workshops which in turn is becoming a catalyst for an interest in learning transcription skills among language specialists in Nunatsiavut.
Keywords:
- Inuit languages,
- Labrador Inuttitut,
- Nunatsiavut,
- recordings,
- transcription,
- Inuttitut language teaching
Résumé
Cette note de recherche présente le projet Elder’s Stories, une initiative visant à documenter les dialectes régionaux de l’inuttitut du Labrador au Nunatsiavut. L’objectif de ce projet est double : préserver les connaissances linguistiques et culturelles, en mettant l’accent sur les variations régionales, et créer des ressources accessibles en langue parlée pour les apprenants de niveau intermédiaire et avancé. Le projet Elder’s Stories associe des enregistrements audios à des transcriptions inscrites dans le temps grâce au logiciel ELAN. Cette méthode offre des ressources d’archives qui permettent aux apprenants et aux chercheurs d’accéder et de rechercher des textes oraux liés directement à l’audio. Le texte montre comment le projet Elder’s Stories a débouché sur une série d’ateliers de formation à la transcription ELAN qui, à son tour, devient un catalyseur de l’intérêt pour l’apprentissage des compétences de transcription parmi les spécialistes des langues au Nunatsiavut.
Mots-clés :
- Langues inuit,
- inuttitut du Labrador,
- Nunatsiavut,
- enregistrements,
- transcription,
- enseignement de l’inuttitut du Labrador
Appendices
References
- Andersen, C., and A. Johns. 2005. “Labrador Inuttitut: Speaking into the Future.” Études Inuit Studies 29: 187–205.
- Arnakak, J., L.-J. Dorais, and A. Johns. 2025. “Perpétuer le vrai : de l’importance de l’exactitude dans la culture inuit contemporaine [Continuing Truth: On the Importance of Accuracy in Contemporary Inuit Culture].” Études Inuit Studies 48 (1), this volume.
- Austin, P. K. 2016. “Language Documentation 20 Years On.” In Endangered Languages and Languages in Danger: Issues of Documentation, Policy, and Language Rights, edited by L. Filipović and M. Pütz, 147–170. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
- Bergeron, J., É. Goule, É. L’Hôte, D. Keith, Y. Léveillé, and R. Compton. 2025. “Défis et stratégies pour transcrire et annoter l’inuinnaqtun: une étude de cas [Challenges and Strategies for Transcribing and Annotating Inuinnaqtun: A Case Study].” Paper presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association, Montréal, June 5.
- Berez-Kroeker, A., S. Gabber, and A. Slayton. 2023. “Recent Advances in Technologies for Resource Creation and Mobilization in Language Documentation.” Annual Review of Linguistics 9 (1): 195–214.
- Brice-Bennet, C. 2023. Avanimiut: A History of Inuit Independence in Northern Labrador. St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador: Memorial University Press.
- Carrier, J. 2021. “Ergativity on the Move.” PhD diss., University of Toronto.
- Dicker, J., E. Dunbar, and A. Johns. 2009. “Developing Intermediate Language Learning Materials: A Labrador Inuttitut Story Database.” In Indigenous Language Revitalization: Encouragement, Guidance and Lessons Learned, edited by J. Reyhner and L. Lockard, 155–166. Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University. https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/ILR/.
- Dorais, L.-J. 1990. Inuit uqausiqatigiit: Inuit languages and dialects. Iqaluit: Arctic College.
- Dresher, E. and A. Johns. 2024. “Phonetic Shortening in Labrador Inuttut.” Paper presented at the 2024 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, New York, January 4–7.
- Gatbonton, E., C. Nochasak, H. Andersen, V. Venkatesh, I. Pelczer, and C. Cook. 2020. “A Pedagogical Corpus to Support a Language Teaching Curriculum to Revitalize an Endangered Language: The Case of Labrador Inuttitut.” In Indigenous Studies: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice, edited by the Information Resources Management Association, 533–554. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0423-9.ch029.
- Hinton, L., M. Vera, and N. Steele. 2002. How to Keep Your Language Alive : A Commonsense Approach to One-on-One Language Learning. Berkeley, California: Heyday Books.
- Johns, A. and I. Mazurkewich. 2001. “The Role of the University in the Training of Native Language Teachers: Labrador.” In The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice, edited by L. Hinton and K. Hale, 355–369. San Diego: Academic Press.
- Murasugi, K., in collaboration with the Nunatsiavut Government. 2025. Nunatsiavut Language Survey: Results of a Survey Conducted by the Nunatsiavut Government and Carleton University. https://inuktutatlas.ca and https://nunatsiavut.com.
- Nagy, N., and M. Meyerhoff. 2015. “Extending ELAN into Variationist Sociolinguistics.” Linguistics Vanguard 1 (1): 271–281.
- Nochasak, C., S. Bejar, J. Dicker, B. Jararuse, A. Johns, A. Lane, and N. Lane. 2024. “Inuttitut Language in Nunatsiavut: Challenges, Choices and Connections.” Presentation at the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS), University of Victoria, BC, June 5–7.
- Nunatsiavut Government Department of Language, Culture, and Tourism. 2021. Inuttitut UKâlalluta, ilinniatitsiluta, InosiKalluta! [Official translation Speak it, Teach it, Live it!] January 2021–2026. Nain: Nunatsiavut Government. https://nunatsiavut.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2021-to-2026-Language-Strategy-2.pdf.
- Oosten, J., and F. Laugrand, eds. 1999. Interviewing Inuit Elders Series 1-5. Iqaluit: Nunavut Arctic College.
- Pride, K., N. Tomlin, and S. AnderBois. 2020. “LingView: A Web Interface for Viewing FLEx and ELAN files.” Language Documentation and Conservation 14: 87–107.
- Seifart, F., N. Evans, H. Hammarström, and S. Levinson. 2018. “Language Documentation Twenty-Five Years On.” Language 94 (4): e324–e345.
- Sherkina-Lieber, M., A. T. Pérez-Leroux, and A. Johns. 2011. “Grammar Without Speech Production: The Case of Labrador Inuttitut Heritage Receptive Bilinguals.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14 (3): 301–317.
- Sloetjes, H., and P. Wittenburg. 2008. “Annotation by Category-ELAN and ISO DCR.” In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2008), Marrakech, Morocco: European Language Resources Association (ELRA). https://aclanthology.org/L08-1034/.
- Statistics Canada. 2023. 2021 Census of Population. Ottawa. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E.
