996 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 40 



The same sounds are used vicariously in several words in West 

 Greenland. 



a-t. 



U't, 



kamik and kamak boot {kammikka^kammakka my boots) 



kaliO"ssarj)oq = kali^S8arpoq pulls and jerks in order to advance 

 isu^tterpaa=isi'^tter_paa unfolds or stretches it out 

 qaj}piorpoq = qappuarpoq foams, froths; chatters incessantly 



S 11. Mutation 



Thus far I have treated the established vowel-shifts belonging 

 to older periods of the language. In addition to these, there is a 

 steady tendency to produce certain slight shif tings of the vowels, in 

 order to accommodate them to the following sounds. This is the 

 Greenlandic (or probably general Eskimo) form of tnutation. There 

 are two classes of mutation, based on the same principle as the bipar- 

 tition of the vowel system : 



a > ii {a) 



e > % 

 o > u 

 u > u (y) 



Examples: 

 a>d, 



nd'saa his hood 



arnaa his woman (mother) 



ta'seq lake 



sapiioaa to dike, dam 



awa'taq a sealing bladder 



uwaya 1 



d tor pa is it used 

 sisd'maat the fourth 

 qu'laane above it 



e>i. 



puise seal 

 tupeq tent 

 sule yet 

 taleq arm 



§11 



a > A 

 i, e > E (s) 

 0, n > o (o) 



nd'sdt pi. 



arndt women 



'tdWit pi. 



sa^ssdt a dike, dam 



a'wattdt pi. 



ii'wd^ttut as I u'xod^nne at me 



a'torpdt are they used 

 'sisdmdt four 

 qu'ldnne above them 



puisit pi. 



tupine his (own) tent 

 sulilo and yet 

 talia his arm 



