Greenlandic

Where it’s spoken

Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) is the sole official language of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), an autonomous territory of Denmark. About 50,000 people speak Kalaallisut, the West Greenlandic standard. Two other Greenlandic varieties — Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic) and Inuktun (the Polar Eskimo dialect of Thule) — are distinct enough to be considered separate languages.

What it sounds like

Greenlandic is polysynthetic — a single word can express the content of an English sentence. It has three short vowels (a, i, u) and three long vowels, plus a wide consonant inventory including uvular sounds (q, r) and lateral fricatives. The language uses extensive suffixation and inflection.

How it’s written

Greenlandic uses the Latin alphabet of 18 letters. The current orthography was reformed in 1973 to be more phonemic — replacing earlier mid-19th-century Danish-influenced spellings developed by Samuel Kleinschmidt. Long vowels are written with doubled letters.

History

Greenlandic is the language of the indigenous Kalaallit people, who arrived from Canada around 1300 CE. Greenland was a Danish colony from 1721 to 1979; the 1979 Home Rule Act elevated Greenlandic, and 2009 self-government made it the sole official language.