Words of Greeting

The genesis of this project came about when the head office for the Commission opened its doors in Ottawa in June 2023. The Commission has gathered these words from many different languages and dialects by reaching out to speakers, community members, and linguists, as well as reviewing available literature, including books, lexicons, and dictionaries.

Eventually, this project was expanded to become a scrolling display of the words of greeting on the Commission’s website. Also, a digital display of these words was envisioned for the Waves 2025 Global Indigenous Languages Summit in August 2025.

The resulting collection includes:

• Words of greeting in Indigenous languages from across Canada
• The name of the language as used by the communities themselves (“endonyms”)
• The name(s) of the language as given by outsiders (“exonyms”)

Some important considerations to keep in mind when viewing the words of greeting:

Words of Greeting:

• People often have more than one way of greeting each other. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but a representative sample of many Indigenous languages in Canada.
• The Commission has endeavoured to be as inclusive as possible but recognizes that some languages or dialects may be missing from the current list.

Endonyms:

• Often, endonyms are self-evident. However, there are instances where one language may be recognized by one or more endonyms.

Exonyms:

• By definition, exonyms are created by outsiders and assigned to a community’s language, meaning that the community typically has had no control over the name given or its appropriateness. Because of this, many exonyms do not accurately reflect a community’s preferences, and in some cases, exonyms are regarded unfavourably by the community to which the name has been assigned.
• In some cases, multiple exonyms exist for a single language. In others, one exonym may erroneously refer to many distinct languages.
• The Commission by no means intends to impose an exonym or assign an endonym in error.
• This project has been undertaken with the utmost respect for the distinct Peoples and their languages and dialects. The Commission regrets any error or omission and welcomes the opportunity to work with you to continue to improve the accuracy of this project.

Upon reviewing the work that the Commission has done to date, if you would like to provide additional insights and recommendations to make the list more accurate and complete, your input is deeply appreciated. Please email us at: general.inquiries@ocil-ila.ca