Greenlandic language

Lore & Background

Greenlandic was brought to Greenland by the Thule people in the 1200s. The languages of earlier Saqqaq and Dorset cultures are unknown. First descriptions date from the 1600s, and Danish missionaries began compiling dictionaries and grammars in the early 1700s. Paul Egede wrote the first dictionary in 1750 and the first grammar in 1760. From Danish colonization in the 1700s until home rule in 1979, Greenlandic faced pressure from Danish, especially in post-primary education and official functions. The first orthography was developed by Samuel Kleinschmidt in 1851, but sound changes made it diverge from speech. A 1973 orthographic reform made the script easier to learn, boosting literacy.

Reader's Guide

Greenlandic is notable as a polysynthetic, ergative language with eight noun cases, eight verb moods, and no grammatical tense; temporal relations are expressed by context, particles, or derivational suffixes. It uses subject–object–verb word order and has special subordinate moods and a fourth-person category for switch-reference. The language constructs new words from Greenlandic roots but also borrows from Danish and English. In June 2009, the Naalakkersuisut made Greenlandic the sole official language, strengthening it against Danish. This made it the only Indigenous language of the Americas legally recognized as the sole official language of a semi-independent country. Despite a 100% literacy rate, UNESCO considers it vulnerable, and Eastern Greenlandic is labeled endangered. The 1979 home rule policy of 'Greenlandization' made Greenlandic the language of primary education, leading to bilingualism among Danish-speaking parents' children. News media include Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa and the merged newspaper Sermitsiaq/Atuagagdliutit/Grønlandsposten.

Did You Know?

• Greenlandic has about 57,000 native speakers as of 2025, making it the largest Eskaleut language.
• It became the sole official language of Greenland in June 2009.
• The language lacks grammatical tense; temporal relations are expressed by context or particles.
• The 1973 orthographic reform boosted Greenlandic literacy, which is now among the highest in the world.