Tusaalanga Inuktitut

NAMES OF ORGANIZATIONS

Observe the following Inuktitut names of organizations:

Avatilirijikkut	Dept of the Environment
Iliqqusilirijikkut	Dept of Culture, Language, Elders & Youth
Inulirijituqakkut	Department of Indian and Northern Affairs
Qattirijikkut	Fire Department

Note that many of these names end with the affix –kkut. Among its various meanings –kkut is used to designate an organization.

Many names of organizations include the affix –liriji. It is used to talk about a particular thing that a person is involved with or working on. –liriji deletes any consonant that appears immediately before it.

kiinaujaq	money
kiinaujaq + liriji = kiinaujaliriji	person who deals with money
kiinaujaliriji + kkut = kiinaujalirijikkut	an organization of people who deal with money (Dept. of Finance)
illu	house
illulirijikkut	Housing Corporation

-ni is an affix that is added to the end of a noun and is translated as “in” or “at” in English.

So, to the question:

Nami iqqanaijaqqit?

Where do you work?

 

One could answer:

Kiinaujalirijikkunni iqqanaijaqtunga.

I work at the Department of Finance.

Note that according to the rules of Inuktitut pronunciation, when the affix -ni is added to a root ending in T, the final T softens and becomes an N sound.