Inuvialuktun (part ofWestern Canadian Inuit /Inuktitut /Inuktut /Inuktun) comprises severalInuit language varieties spoken in the northernNorthwest Territories by CanadianInuit who call themselvesInuvialuit.^[4] Some dialects and sub-dialects are also spoken in Nunavut.^[3][6]

Inuvialuktun is spoken by the Inuit of theMackenzie River delta,Banks Island, part ofVictoria Island and theArctic Ocean coast of the Northwest Territories – the lands of theInuvialuit Settlement Region. It was traditionally subsumed under a broaderInuktitut.^[8] Rather than a coherent language, Inuvialuktun is a politically motivated^{[citation needed]} grouping of three quite distinct and separate varieties. It consists ofSallirmiutun (formerly Siglitun; Inuvialuktun proper), theKangiryuarmiutun dialect ofInuinnaqtun onVictoria Island in the East and theUummarmiutun dialect ofIñupiaq aroundInuvik andAklavik in the West.^[7][9]

Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut constitute three of the eleven official languages of the Northwest Territories.^[5] Inuinnaqtun is also official alongside Inuktitut in Nunavut.^[10]

The Inuvialuktun dialects are seriouslyendangered,^[11] as English has in recent years become the common language of the community. Surveys of Inuktitut usage in the NWT vary, but all agree that usage is not vigorous. According toStatistics Canada's 2016 Census 680 (22%) of the 3,110 Inuvialuit speak any form of Inuktitut, and 550 (18%) use it at home.^[1] Considering the large number of non-Inuit living in Inuvialuit areas and the lack of a single common dialect among the already reduced number of speakers, the future of the Inuit language in the NWT appears bleak.

Before the 20th century, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region was primarily inhabited bySiglit Inuit, who spoke Siglitun, but in the second half of the 19th century, their numbers were dramatically reduced by the introduction of new diseases. Inuit from Alaska moved into traditionally Siglit areas in the 1910s and 1920s, enticed in part by renewed demand for furs from theHudson's Bay Company. These Inuit are calledUummarmiut – which meanspeople of the green trees – in reference to their settlements near thetree line. Originally, there was an intense dislike between the Siglit and the Uummarmiut, but these differences have faded over the years, and the two communities are thoroughly intermixed these days.

Thephonology of Inuvialuktun and otherInuit languages can be found atInuit phonology.

MostInuit languages have fifteenconsonants and threevowel qualities (with phonemiclength distinctions for each). AlthoughInupiatun andQawiaraq haveretroflex consonants, retroflexes have otherwise disappeared in all the Canadian and Greenlandic dialects.

Inuvialuktun and Inuinnaqtun are written in aLatin alphabet and have no tradition ofInuktitut syllabics.^[12] However, the dialects spoken in Nunavut, east of the Inuinnaqtun region usesyllabics.^[3]

The Inuvialuktun dialects are seriously endangered, as English has in recent years become the common language of the community. Surveys of Inuktitut usage in the NWT vary, but all agree that usage is not vigorous. According to theInuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre, only 10% of the roughly 4,000 Inuvialuit speak any form of Inuktitut, and only 4% use it at home.Statistics Canada's 2001 Census report is only slightly better, reporting 765 self-identified Inuktitut speakers out of a self-reported Inuvialuit population of 3,905. Considering the large number of non-Inuit living in Inuvialuit areas and the lack of a single common dialect among the already reduced number of speakers, the future of the Inuit language in the NWT appears bleak.

From east to west, the dialects are:

• Iglulingmiut orNorth Baffin, spoken on westernBaffin Island (contrastSouth Baffin dialect.)
• Aivilingmiutut or Aivilik on the northernHudson Bay shore of theKivalliq Region
• Kivallirmiutut orKivalliq or Caribou on the southernHudson Bay shore of the Kivalliq Region
• Natsilingmiutut or Netsilik consists of three subdialects: Natsilikproper, Arviligjuaq,Utkuhiksalik
• Inuinnaqtun consists of four subdialects:Kangiryuarmiutun, Kugluktuk, Bathurst, Cambridge. The Kangiryuarmiutun subdialect is spoken in the small community ofUlukhaktok. Essentially the same as Natsilingmiutut.
• Siglitun was, until the 1980s, believed to be extinct, but it is still spoken by people inPaulatuk,Sachs Harbour andTuktoyaktuk.

The Inuvialuk dialects spoken in Nunavut (that is, Iglulingmiut, Aivilingmiutut, Kivallirmiutut, and eastern Natsilingmiutut) are often counted as Inuktitut, and the government of the NWT only recognizes Inuinnaqtun and Inuvialuktun. In addition,Uummarmiutun, the dialect of theUummarmiut which is essentially identical to theInupiatun dialect spoken inAlaska and so considered anInupiat language, has conventionally been grouped with Inuvialuktun because it's spoken in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the NWT. Uummarmiutun is found in the communities ofInuvik andAklavik.

• Agglutinative languages
• Indigenous languages of the North American Arctic
• Inuvialuit languages
• Copper Inuit
• Endangered Eskaleut languages

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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Languages with ISO 639-2 code
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