RESOLUTION 98-09
REGARDING KAKTOVIK NUMERALS
WHEREAS there is no widely-accepted means of representing (with simple numeric symbols) the traditional base-twenty counting systems used in Inuit languages; and
WHEREAS variations of a base-twenty counting system are part of our common Inuit cultural heritage, but these are being lost because fewer and fewer Inuit learn and use the traditional numbers; and
WHEREAS students in the Inuit community of Kaktovik have developed a base-twenty counting system which they desire to further research as a part of their on-going math education; and
WHEREAS the ICC recognizes the right of each community to its own numbering system;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Inuit Circumpolar Conference endorse further research into the use and development of the Kaktovik Numbering System, as well as any other local Inuit numbering system; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the ICC encourage all member communities to try to make broader use especially in education of their own local base-twenty counting tradition in order to preserve and to revitalize the traditional Inuit counting systems.
