Inuktitut, the indigenous language of the Inuit peoples of Northern Canada, shares no roots with any other language in existence.<\/p>\n
It is spoken by only 35,000 people \u2013 with nearly all of them living in small communities in Arctic Canada. With its complex glottal sounds and unique set of written symbols, Inuktitut is rare to hear and difficult to learn.<\/p>\n
But thanks to the University of Washington\u2019s FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) fellowship program, UW law student Caitlyn Evans is getting that chance.<\/p>\n
The program awards tuition and living stipends to undergraduate, graduate and professional students to pursue foreign language and international area studies.<\/p>\n
Fellowships are awarded through the Jackson School of International Studies\u2019 eight National Resource Centers, each of which organizes training and research focused on a different world region: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, The Middle East, Canada, West Europe, Russia\/East Europe\/Central Asia and Global Studies.<\/p>\n
These resource centers receive Title VI funding from the U.S. Department of Education to support students gaining competencies in 66 global languages and a variety of area topics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe objective is to have U.S. citizens and permanent residents in a wide variety of fields who can operate in foreign languages and with expertise in various world regions,\u201d said fellowships coordinator Robyn Davis in an email.<\/p>\n
Evans, an aspiring environmental lawyer interested in indigenous land rights in the Arctic territories, was keen on learning the Inuit language \u201cto build a cultural connection with the Arctic\u201d upon first starting law school.<\/p>\n
Luckily for her, Inuktitut was one of the languages offered for a FLAS fellowship in 2012. Not so lucky was the fact that UW doesn\u2019t offer any way to learn it on campus.<\/p>\n
In fact, after calling nearly every U.S. and Canadian university with a distance-learning program, Evans thought there was no pathway for her to learn Inuktitut in all of North America.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Mick Mallon entered the picture.<\/p>\n
The retired language professor is one of the best qualified Inuktitut teachers in North America \u2013 not to mention one of just \u201cfour living white guys\u201d who might claim to be experts in the Inuit language today.<\/p>\n
Canadian Studies Associate Director Nadine Fabbi first reached out to Mallon in 2004, on behalf of former JSIS student Tim Pasch who was interested in applying for FLAS in Inuktitut. Fabbi said Mallon has been an invaluable learning resource ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the fast-increasing outside interest in the Arctic, Inuktitut is becoming a strategic language for U.S. security,\u201d Fabbi said. \u201cWe are extremely fortunate to have resources to teach the Canadian Inuit language here at the UW.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Mallon lives in Victoria, Canada, the Canadian Studies Center had to get creative in setting up the curriculum for Pasch\u2019s fellowship. Traditional classroom lessons were clearly not an option, nor was going through an official university distance-learning program.<\/p>\n
So, they turned to Skype. In addition to their lessons on the UW campus, Mallon now conducts semi-private lessons over the Web for Evans and her only other classmate, Walter O\u2019Toole. O\u2019Toole, an undergraduate English major, hopped on board when the class was resurrected for Evans\u2019 fellowship this quarter.<\/p>\n
O’Toole grew up hearing stories about Inuit culture from his father, who used to work in the Arctic, and plans to take a trip north after graduating. He says he was interested in learning Inuktitut to \u201cbe exposed to something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beneficial cognitive exercise to learn a rare language,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evans and O\u2019Toole both say Inuktitut is tough to learn, despite the fact that it\u2019s a very logical language in terms of semantics, phonetics and structure. (The Inuk word for education, for example, is at the beginning of the words for student, teacher, school and learning.)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of word making, instead of sentence making,\u201d O\u2019Toole says. \u201cMick compares Inuktitut to Lego blocks, while English is like a string of beads on a necklace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part of teaching any students who persevere with this difficult and fascinating language,\u201d Mallon said, \u201cis that moment when suddenly they start to glimpse the logic that holds the whole thing together. From then on, they’re hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mallon immigrated from his native Belfast to Ottawa, Canada in 1954 to take a job as a high school teacher \u201cset for a nice, boring life.\u201d But a chance encounter with the director of Canada\u2019s Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AANDC) program \u2013 and the incredible stories he shared \u2013 inspired him to take a teaching position in arctic Quebec, in the area now known as Nunavik.<\/p>\n
A lifelong language aficionado (who enjoyed \u201ctemporary\u201d fluency in French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese and Japanese throughout his life), Mallon decided to settle up north and slowly master the indigenous language of the Inuit people.<\/p>\n
Over time, he grew fluent enough to switch from student to teacher and launch a prominent career in indigenous linguistics education. He said it wasn\u2019t exceptional talent that allowed him such prominence in the field, but the fact that he was teaching (and speaking) Inuktitut at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Mallon also spearheaded the development of various indigenous language curricula in Arctic Canada, and published a textbook on Inuktitut.\u00a0Later, he was asked to set up an Inuktitut Language School at Rankin Inlet, in what is now known as the territory of Nunavut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI taught Canadian government workers, Inuit children, college students,\u201d he said. \u201cI even taught a few American Baptist missionaries – they were the best students I ever had!\u201d<\/p>\n
At 80, Mallon says he still \u201cjumps at every chance\u201d to teach Inuktitut \u2013 doing his part to keep the language alive.<\/p>\n
Helping teach Evans and O\u2019Toole is Mallon\u2019s wife, Alexina Kublu, former head of the Language Commission in the Inuit territory of Nunavut,\u00a0a fellow Inuktitut linguist and former pupil of Mallon\u2019s. As an Inuit native, she adds a unique cultural dimension to their lessons.<\/p>\n
\u201cKublu brings in cultural stories a lot,\u201d Evans said. \u201cThere are a lot of stories. She offers the Arctic perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kublu and Mallon both say it doesn\u2019t matter who learns the language, just as long as someone is learning it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very much concerned with the language disappearing,\u201d Mallon said. \u201cThe worst enemy of the indigenous languages of the world is the English language. It\u2019s like a cancer, and television is like cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re losing the battle,\u201d Kublu added.<\/p>\n
Mallon and Kublu say that in one area, most younger-generation Inuks don\u2019t even speak their native language. They say this is partly due to the globalization of English, and partly because resources to learn it are limited – even in traditional Inuit communities.<\/p>\n
But according to Kublu, not all hope is lost. She said the advent of social media is helping tremendously in connecting Inuks around the world, and giving the language a platform for global exposure.<\/p>\n
\u201cYouTube gives people everywhere access to Inuktitut singing, for example,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA friend told me: \u2018if we want to save the language for young people, we\u2019ve got to make it cool,\u2019\u201d Mallon said. \u201cAnd it is cool!\u201d<\/p>\n