Inupiaq

Iñupiat

Iñupiat sharing a kunik at a Nalukataq, in Barrow, Alaska
Total population
(13,500)
Regions with significant populations
North and northwest Alaska (United States)
Languages
North Alaskan Inupiatun, Northwest Alaskan Inupiatun, English
Religion
Animism
Related ethnic groups
Inuit, Yupik

The Iñupiat (or Inupiaq) are an Alaskan Native people, whose traditional territory spans Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation.

Iñupiat (/iˡnuːpjɑt/ or /iˡɲuːpiæt/) formerly Inyupik, is the plural form of the name for the people, and the name of their language; Iñupiaq (/i-ˈnü-pē-äk/) is the singular form (also sometimes refers to the language), and Iñupiak (/i-ˈnü-pē-ɑːk/) is the dual form; the root words are iñuk 'person' - and -piaq 'real', i.e. the combined meaning of the self-referential is 'real people'.

The Iñupiat people are made up of the following communities,

To equitably manage natural resources, Iñupiat people belong to several of the Alaskan Native Regional Corporations. These are the following.

Inupiat now speak only two native languages: North Alaskan Inupiat and Northwest Alaskan Inupiat. Many more dialects of these languages flourished prior to contact with European cultures. English is spoken by the Iñupiat because in Native American boarding schools, Iñupiaq children were punished for speaking their own languages.

Several Inupiat people developed pictographic writing systems in the early twentieth century. It is known as Alaskan Picture Writing.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks offers an online course called Beginning Inupiaq Eskimo, an introductory course to the Inupiaq language open to both speakers and non-speakers of Inupiaq.