<i>Iñupiatun Uqaluit Taniktun Sivuniŋit: Iñupiaq to English Dictionary</i>. By Edna Ahgeak MacLean. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2014. Pp. xxviii + 988. $65.00.

Previous articleNext article FreeReviewsIñupiatun Uqaluit Taniktun Sivuniŋit: Iñupiaq to English Dictionary. By Edna Ahgeak MacLean. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2014. Pp. xxviii + 988. $65.00.Louis-Jacques DoraisLouis-Jacques DoraisUniversité Laval Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreAmong scholars and researchers studying the language of the Inuit, it had been common knowledge for several years that the Iñupiaq linguist and educator Edna Ahgeak MacLean was working on a bilingual dictionary of her native language, Alaskan North Slope Iñupiaq. It would complete the Abridged Iñupiaq and English Dictionary (MacLean 1981) she had published more than three decades ago. The book has finally appeared and it constitutes the final outcome of Dr. MacLean’s work of a lifetime.Iñupiatun Uqaluit can indeed be qualified as monumental. Its core section consists of more than 390 pages listing over 15,000 word stems and basic derivatives—some of them specific to the speech of one particular village—with their English translations and, in many instances, literal meanings, etymology, and examples of their use. This more properly lexical part of the book is preceded by an introduction that sketches the geographic distribution, grammatical structure, phonology, and dialectology of North Slope Iñupiaq, and explains the format of the dictionary.This is just one part of this 1,000-page volume. The stem lexicon is followed by an equally impressive (360 pages) compilation of postbases, each of which is accompanied by several examples illustrating their meanings and modes of affixation to stems and derivative bases. Then come tables listing and explaining the use of all Iñupiaq verbal and nominal word endings, followed by a list of enclitics. These last two sections constitute a comprehensive account of Iñupiaq grammar.The book ends with a series of 31 appendixes dealing with various topics: inflections of pronouns; demonstrative stems; kinship terms; snow and ice terms; numbers; locational terms; traditional technology; the human body; names of plants and animals; etc. This is followed by a bibliography, a list of oral sources, and an English to Iñupiaq word-finder.Iñupiatun Uqaluit is more than just an Iñupiaq–English dictionary. It may indeed be considered the sum of most, if not all, available knowledge on the North Slope Inuit dialect. In the preface to her book, Dr. MacLean explains how Webster and Zibell’s (1970) pioneering Iñupiat Eskimo Dictionary provided the impetus behind an Iñupiaq to English word-list developed by a language class she attended in 1972 at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Over the years, this word-list developed into a major project documenting the lexicon of North Slope Iñupiaq. Several people—both native speakers and professional linguists (such as Michael Krauss, Lawrence Kaplan, and Edna MacLean herself)—contributed to the project, which enabled her to progressively assemble an exhaustive Iñupiaq database.After her retirement in 2006, thanks to a grant awarded to Michael Krauss, Dr. MacLean became able to devote most of her time to the completion of Iñupiatun Uqaluit. She prepared her manuscript on the basis of the aforementioned database as well as of a careful analysis of available literature written in Iñupiaq or describing the language—although Ronald Lowe’s publications on the lexicon (1984) and grammar (1985) of the Uummarmiut North Slope subdialect are absent from the bibliography. While doing so, she drew on her own, native knowledge of North Slope Iñupiaq, but she also regularly asked for the advice of other speakers. The present book is thus based on the collective efforts of many individuals, although its advent solely results from the decades-long personal work of Edna Ahgeak MacLean.Publishing a volume like this one involves several people and organizations. Iñupiatun Uqaluit is the fruit of a collaboration between the University of Alaska Press and the North Slope Borough Iñupiaq, History, Language, and Culture Commission. The book is not only scientifically sound but also well-presented and reader-friendly. For example, in the sections listing, respectively, word stems, postbases, and enclitics, guide words at the top of each page mention the first and the last main entry found on that page. Moreover, a few dictionary entries dealing with an item of traditional technology are illustrated with a drawing, and some of the appendixes (e.g., those discussing the vocabulary of the kayak, the sled, the human skeleton, the sod house) include detailed illustrations. My only, very minor reservation is that page numbers would be easier to find if pagination appeared at the outer—rather than inner—side at the top of the page.Dr. MacLean has provided scholars, as well as speakers and students of North Slope Iñupiaq, with a quasi-definitive compilation of material pertaining to this Inuit language. It opens the way to fascinating comparisons with other dialects. I noticed, for instance, an interesting phonological similarity between Point Hope Iñupiaq and Canadian Inuinnaqtun: in both forms of speech, [l] replaces etymological [r] before a voiced fricative (Dorais 2010:58–60). I do not have any hesitation in asserting that among existing descriptions of related languages, the detailed and exhaustive lexical and grammatical data found in Iñupiatun Uqaluit place this book at the very top of Eskimo-Aleut linguistic scholarship. It is noteworthy that such an accomplishment is the work of a native speaker of the language, a situation still unusual in the field of Inuit studies.ReferencesDorais, Louis-Jacques. 2010. The Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarLowe, Ronald. 1984. Uummarmiut Uqalungiha Mumikhitchir̂utingi: Basic Uummarmiut Eskimo Dictionary. Inuvik: Committee for Original Peoples Entitlement.First citation in articleGoogle Scholar———. 1985. Uummarmiut Uqalungiha Ilihaur̂r̂utikr̂angit: Basic Uummarmiut Eskimo Grammar. Inuvik: Committee for Original Peoples Entitlement.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarMacLean, Edna Ahgeak. 1981. Iñupiallu Tanŋiḷḷu Uqaluŋisa Iḷaŋich: Abridged Iñupiaq and English Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center and Iñupiat Language Commission of the North Slope Borough.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarWebster, Donald H., and Wilfried Zibell. 1970. Iñupiat Eskimo Dictionary. Fairbanks: Summer Institute of Linguistics.First citation in articleGoogle Scholar Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by International Journal of American Linguistics Volume 82, Number 1January 2016 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/684427 Book reviews in this section © 2016 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

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