Kugluktuk (July 31/06) - Inuinnaqtun, the language of the Central Arctic, is in danger.

According to the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, the percentage of adults who report speaking Inunninaqtun well is less than half the share of adults who report speaking Inuktitut well.

Into this breach steps Millie Kuliktuna of Kugluktuk, an educator for 24 years and a passionate defender of Inuinnaqtun.

"My work has been to maintain the language, but also to preserve it," she said from her home, where she was on vacation from her day job as the executive director of Kitikmeot School Operations.

She's on her way next month to the University of Victoria, where she and colleague Suzie Evyagotailak will spend a month studying revitalizing aboriginal languages.

Kuliktana has already been recognized twice by the Government of Nunavut for her work preserving Inuinnaqtun.

The most recent honour came from the Department of Culture, Languages, Elders and Youth at the No Boundaries Inuinnaqtun conference in Kugluktuk in June.

"I was taken by surprise by those awards," she said.

The North's three Inuinnaqtun-speaking communities, Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay and Ulukhaktok (Holman), NWT, now have local committees dedicated to expanding the language's use in everyday life.

The committees bring together youth and elders, and conduct their business in Inuinnaqtun when possible.

"We need to do it as a team effort," Kuliktana said. "It has to be made fun, catchy, like hip hop."

And while southern linguists debate whether Inuinnaqtun is its own language or a dialect of Inuktitut, Kuliktana is adamant Inuinnaqtun is its own tongue.

The two may share words, she said, but the same word will often have very different meanings.

She offered as evidence the word "alianhuktuq," which in Inuktitut means "to be scared or frightened," while in Inuinnaqtun, it means "a good time."

What the language needs, said Kuliktana, is a clearing house for Inuinnaqtun-language reading material. The Tahiuqtiit Society, which helped put on the Inuinnaqtun language conference and which Kuliktana helped found, will take on that role.