Language code: iu

Technical information about ISO 639 language code iu

The table below provides technical details for the Inuktitut language, designated by the iu code from the ISO 639-1 standard.

Code

iu

Name

Official

Inuktitut

Native

ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ

Family
Eskimo-Aleut
Text direction

Left-to-Right

Language varieties
North Baffin (Qikiqtaaluk uannangani)South Baffin (Qikiqtaaluk nigiani)Kivalliq (Caribou)Aivilik (Aivilingmiutut)IglulikNunavik (Nunavimmiutut)
Related languages
InuinnaqtunInuvialuktunKalaallisut (West Greenlandic)IñupiaqInuktun (Polar Inuit)
Key facts
Highly polysynthetic, so single words can express full English sentencesUses an ergative–absolutive case systemInflects nouns and verbs for singular, dual and pluralWritten in both Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics and a standardized Latin alphabet (Inuujingajut)Features a rich set of demonstratives that mark multiple spatial distinctions
Sample phrase

ᐊᐃ, ᖃᓄᐃᑉᐱᑦ?

Character encodings

UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32

Supported in Localizely

Inuktitut belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut language family. It is one of the official languages of Nunavut and is also recognized in the Northwest Territories of Canada, where Inuinnaqtun and Inuvialuktun, languages closely related to Inuktitut, are more commonly spoken. Inuktitut is written using both syllabics and the Latin script. It is estimated that there are more than 38,000 speakers worldwide.

Language presence globally

Speakers

*The graph shows a rough estimate of Inuktitut speakers in countries where it is an official or minority language.

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