Marianne Hansen held the phone away from her face, being careful to cover the receiver as she asked her colleague, How do you say risk assessment in Greenlandic?
A Danish insurance company with a unit in south Greenland was on the other line, calling Oqaasileriffik," Greenlands language secretariat, to clarify the translation of a particular phrase from Danish to Greenlandic.
Oqaasileriffik translates from Greenlandic to English as the place where you make words, but thats not exactly what they do. We dont tell people what to say, we collect words that people use," Hansen said.
Hansen and Beatrina Heilmann are two of three student assistants to the five employees of Oqaasileriffik.
After Home Rule government was established in 1979, the idea of Greenlandic nationalism emphasized a huge push for revitalizing and retaining the Greenlandic language. However because there are roughly four dialects: South Greenlandic, West Greenlandic, East Greenlandic and the Thule dialect, West Greenlandic was chosen as the official language that all children are taught in addition to Danish and English.
Quite a few years after the creation of the Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and Church, Greenlanders felt a need for linguistic research and the development of an organization to collect such information. It wasnt until 1991 that Oqaasileriffik was established as an independent Greenlandic institution under the Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and Church.
Within the organization there are three boards: the Greenland Language Council, the Greenland Place Name Committee, and the Committee for Personal Names. Each board is comprised of members who are appointed by the Home Rule Government and are responsible for deciding which names and words need to be collected and published.
Oqaasileriffik has four main objectives. One is to collect and maintain information on Greenlandic language and its use within contemporary Greenland. The second is to stay updated on changes in the spoken Greenlandic language. The third is to conduct research on Greenlandic as a second language. And the fourth is to participate in the Nordic Council's working groups and to join the Inuit Circumpolar Councils Language Board with the intension of strengthening and unifying Inuit of the circumpolar region. One way to do so is to preserve and promote the use of Inuit languages and to develop recommendations regarding the development of writing systems.
The most recent book, "Kalaallit aqqisa nulunaarsorsimaffiat", is a list of Greenlandic names. "Avatangiisilerinermi Taaguusersuutit" is another book that was recently released and is complied of Greenlandic terms dealing with environmental issues such as toxic waste and pollution. Then "Killiffilersuutit" gives examples and explanations for Greenlandic punctuation and of course there is book that provides terminology for health providers to use. And of course, "Taaguusersuutit", a word list, has Greenlandic and Danish words for terms used within and about criminal law, finance, and anatomy.
These publications are an attempt to give common terminology to concepts and words have recently been introduced to Greenland. Such publications are necessary to keep the language consistent throughout the island, because without a consistent language wed have confusion. You have to be strict and consistent. If you want to go other places in Greenland and there are a number of names for the same thing, youll be lost," said Lisathe Møller Kruse, a researcher for the office who focuses on place names.
Not only are these words being recorded and published, but also their use is also encouraged via a spell check program. Kukkuniiaat, has been created to further institutionalize the language. The program works within Microsoft Word and other programs in Office and is more than just a simple word list, but is described as an advanced automated program with built-in knowledge. Such an application is foundational and can become a solid language technological tool for developing other Inuit languages.
While the process of maintaining a common Greenlandic language requires constant research and production of materials, frameworks exemplify the possibility of maintaining an Inuit language. Such development requires the dedication and desire of a population. Although politically and dialectally divided, Yupiit and Inupiat regions could perhaps benefit from a similar, institutionalized approach to preserving our diminishing languages in Alaska.
Mary Hiratsuka of Dillingham, Alaska is a 2007 graduate of
Dartmouth College. She is the recipient of the Lewin
Post-Graduate and the Steffansson Fellowships and an
intern at the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Nuuk, the cap-
ital of Greenland.
