West Greenlandic
| West Greenlandic | |
|---|---|
| Kalaallisut, Kitaamiisut | |
| Native to | West Greenland Denmark |
| Ethnicity | Kalaallit |
Native speakers | (44,000–52,000 cited 1995) |
Eskaleut
| |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | kala1399 |
Inuit dialects. West Greenlandic in blue. | |
West Greenlandic is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Kalaallisut (lit. 'language of the Kalaallit'), also known as West Greenlandic (Danish: vestgrønlandsk), is the primary and official language of Greenland. It is spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Greenland, as well as by thousands of Greenlandic Inuit in Denmark proper (in total, approximately 50,000 people). It was historically spoken in the southwestern part of Greenland, i.e. the region around Nuuk, as opposed to the related Greenlandic languages in the northwestern and eastern parts of the island. It has been an official language of Greenland since the 18th century, and the sole official language since 2009.