Tags: Language.
Eskimo Trade Jargon was an Inuit pidgin used by the Mackenzie River Inuit as a trade language with the Athabaskan peoples to their south such as the Gwich’in (Loucheux). It was reported by Stefánsson (1909) and was apparently distinct from the Athabaskan-based Loucheux Jargon of the same general area.A reduced form of the pidgin was used for ships’ trade at Herschel Island off the Arctic coast near Alaska.