50 



The SUBJECTIVE Is formed by p, THE DUAL by jfc, THE PLURAL 

 by , added to the vowel of the final syllable (end-vowel). At the 

 same time, if the last letter is a consonant, this is dropped, unless 

 it constitutes a part of the root, when an exchange of letters takes 

 place. The rules for this transformation belong to the most com- 

 plicated part of the grammar, and require the words to be divided in 

 3 classes. But the transformation is sometimes omitted. Examples 

 from these classes , ranged accordingly to the degree of trans- 

 formation are: 



(1) nuna (object.) land, nunap (subject.), nunat (plural); qdqaq 

 mountain, qdqap, qdqat ; fimat heart, xirnatip, iLmatit ; inuk man, infip, inuit. 



(2) sioraq sand, siorqap, siorqat; ndlagaq master, ndlagkap, ndlag- 

 kat: nujaq hair, nutsap, nutsat. 



(3) auveq walrus, aorrup, aorfit or aorrit\ aleq harpoon line, 

 ardlup, ardlit\ malik sea (waves), magdlup, magdlit. 



The SUFFIXES of nouns, as mentioned above, denote the relation, 

 viz. the STATE OF BEING POSSESSED. They are different for: my, 

 thy, his, our etc., while each of them like the noun itself, has its 

 forms for objective, subjective and number. Of course this gives an 

 extraordinary multiplicity of combinations, each with its peculiar form. 

 Moreover the third person requires 2 kinds of suffixes, denoting whether 

 the subject of the sentence is the possessor (e-suffix) or not (a-suffix). 

 Omitting the dual the following table gives a view of the suffix-endings: 



