NAIN, Newfoundland -- This northernmost community in Labrador is also its biggest Inuit village where natives still wish one another silaki -- except on days when it's kannivuk.
In English, that translates roughly into, "Have a nice day." Or in bad winter weather, "It's snowing."
The unique richness of Inuktitut, the ancient language of the Inuit, comes across in the extraordinary number of words they use to describe the treasures and traditions of everyday life in the frozen North.
There are said to be more than 30 words for snow, for example, about half as many for ice and different terms for the same animal depending on where it is seen in the wild.
In the dialect of the Labrador Eskimos, who call themselves Inuit -- their word for people -- snow on the ground is aputik, and drifting snow is pittuvuk. Soft snow you sink into when you walk is mauja, and wet snow is aumannak.
In a world where snowmobiles have replaced dog sleds, government-subsidized housing has supplanted igloos and television takes up time once spent on hunting and crafts, the language of the elders is just one more of the old ways that is now in danger of disappearing.
Inuktitut is in particular peril in Labrador, but a new push is on in Nain and other Inuit villages across the North to revive the language and respect for the 6,000 years of native traditions it represents.
Increasingly, Canada's Inuit are working hard to stop the decline. They are using land claims, language, education, radio and television to try to preserve their traditions.
"Younger and older people don't understand each other as we did when I was a boy," said Jerry Sillett, 66, chief elder in this predominantly Inuit village of 1,200, where only half the residents, most of them older, speak Inuktitut.
"In the old days, community elders ran things. Nowadays there's hardly any communication between the generations. The elders don't have the control they used to," Mr. Sillett complained through an interpreter when asked how Inuit traditions were being lost.
"One of the things I'm concerned about is that people here are trying to follow the example of white people, even though they're not white people," added Mr. Sillett, who then returned to his sunset chore: pulling a sled along a snow-covered road to fetch fresh water.
Across the North, many school-age Inuit still learn only English in their classrooms and homes.
