BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 1053 



we express by means of adjectives and adverbs, are in Eskimo suffixes 

 attached to the words expressing fundamental ideas. Nearly one-sixth 

 of the Eskimo "words" (bases, stems, and suffixes) are suffixes. 



One suffix may be linked to another, and in this way the funda- 

 mental idea of the base-word is gradually more and more specialized 

 and enriched. A whole sentence may be expressed in a word — in a 

 word-sentence. 



All suffixes are imperfect words — i. e., sound-complexes or single 

 sounds — each of which has a definite signification. Without much 

 practice it is difficult to recognize the suffixes included in compound 

 words, because at the beginning and at the ending of the suffix 

 phonetic assimilation by the preceding and following sounds occurs. 



The order of the suffixes is of importance, and full freedom is not 

 allowed in their use. The independent fundamental word must be 

 placed at the beginning of the word-sentence, and the suffixes are 

 attached to it to explain it more fully. Such suffixes as describe the 

 qualities of the fundamental idea or its modes of action, or which 

 refer to size or time, follow these, and appear inserted between the 

 leading stem and the inflectional endings. These, in turn, are attached 

 more closely to the whole word-cluster than the syntactical suffixes 

 which may terminate it; e. g., -lo and, -ttaa^q also. 



The majority of the suffixes may be freely attached to any word. 

 Thus- liorpoq TO MAKE OR CREATE may be attached to any word which 

 signifies something that can in any way be made or created. But 

 there are also many suffixes the use of which is restricted to a certain 

 class of ideas, and which may be attached to these only. The suffix 

 -{r)nar- means for the first time, but only in the sense of noticing 

 something for the first time: takornarpara^ tusarnarpara i see it 



for the first time, I HEAR IT FOR THE FIRST TIME. With other 



words, like to use a thing, or to make a journey, for the first 

 TIME, another suffix, -{r)qaar-, is used: atorqaarpara i use it for the 

 first time. 



There are many adjectival and adverbial notions for which no 

 suffixes exist. When for this reason it is not possible to express a 

 group of ideas in one word, or in one compound, then the cluster 

 will be broken up, or the expression will be divided into two or 

 several parts. The logical relations between these parts are often 

 shown in the inflection of the word expressing the idea that has been 

 separated. In some cases, however, it can not be recognized by the 



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