XII 



as possible and of presenlini^ my observations in as exact a 

 form as possible. In how far I jjave succeeded in the latter 

 will have to be tested by future experience. It was not until I 

 came to work up my material that I fully realized how difficult 

 it is to observe well when the object of observation is such a 

 rapidly passing phenomenon as language, and when the instru- 

 ment is as individual and subjective as the human ear. 



An account of my travels and of my methods of phonetical 

 investigation will be found in the Introduction. 



The first object I set for myself was an investigation of 

 the phonetics of the North-Greenlandic language. 



After I had on my return home worked up my treatise on 

 this subject, which I consider the chief result of my travels, 

 I realized that I had obtained a new basis for a critical employ- 

 ment of the existing lists of words and specimens of language 

 from the other Eskimo dialects in Greenland and in Canada. 

 I therefore worked out the treatment of the Eskimo dialects 

 which is found appended to the treatise on the phonetics of 

 the language. 



There is, however, much more yet to be done in the line 

 of comparison of dialects. I feel confident that such a com- 

 parative study is a way of attaining a better founded under- 

 standing of this language, especially of its word-formations and 

 its whole synthetical character. Not until the Eskimo dialects 

 have been studied in this way will it be possible to describe 

 and formulate the Eskimo grammar after its own principles, 

 I mean in such a way that the inflexional suffixes with any 

 degree of certainty can be classified on a basis of their inner, 

 etymological connection. My original plan of appending to the 

 phonetical treatise a presentation of the grammar and psychology 

 of the Eskimo language I therefore postponed until later, after 

 having realized how important it was that this work of compar- 

 ison should be taken up first. 



To the specially linguistic bibliography which is found in 



