Iqaluit (July 24/06) - There are two types of sign language In Nunavut.

Some of the territory's deaf went to schools in the south to formally learn American Sign Language (ASL), which is recognized throughout Canada and the United States.

Phillip Ugjuk understands American Sign Language and an Inuit version. He works at the Taparti Centre for developmentally delayed adults and at a group home in Rankin Inlet. To communicate with a reporter at last week's conference for the deaf in Iqaluit, he scribbled in a notebook that he was so happy to meet others who use Inuit sign language. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

Others, however, devised their own hand signals as they grew up in their remote home communities. Researcher Jamie MacDougall, president and CEO of the Canadian Deafness Research and Training Institute, insists these hand signals constitute a language - Inuit Sign Language - not just an assortment of makeshift gestures or "home sign."

While director of a school for the deaf in Montreal, he had noticed commonality in the way some Baffin students communicated.

When a court case sparked controversy several years ago because the accused wanted an "Inuit sign language" interpreter, MacDougall got involved. With funding from Justice Canada, he travelled to Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet and Pangnirtung to videotape deaf residents as they used their improvised hand cues.

Upon arriving at the next community, he would show a deaf person how their distant peers communicated. Remarkably, they largely understood each other, MacDougall confirmed.

"I always say if Columbus discovered America, I discovered Inuit sign language," he said with a chuckle.

He quickly added that the language has long existed, but only needed to be brought to light.

One theory is that initial contact between the Inuit and western settlers involved a great deal of hand gesturing to facilitate communication. This may have led to the Inuit becoming more expressive using body language.

MacDougall said he has witnessed how deaf people in the south are, to a degree, alienated from the hearing population. But in Nunavut he has seen relatives of the deaf fervently striving to overcome the handicap.

"It's a much more family oriented, accepting environment," he said.

Another theory, as explained by Baker Lake's David Kautaq, is that the Inuit's traditional way of life partly lends itself to prevailing signals. For example, hunters have, for generations, used body gestures to describe animals and to communicate with each other so as not to scare off potential prey, he said.

In addition to animals, MacDougall gave some other examples of commonality. For the colour black, most people make a motion in front of their face as if to block out the light.

The concept of government is often portrayed by an office building of a particular colour.

To describe a woman, it's not unusual for a deaf individual to motion the outline of breasts (although the accepted American Sign Language symbol is a bonnet).

There are elements of distinctiveness in the way some terms are signed in the communities, but MacDougall attributes these to dialectical differences, just like those that exist in Inuktitut.