71 



§2. The pure almost unimpeded breath is found but seldom 

 as an independent speech-sound in Greenlandic. It is heard in 

 laughter, in certain emphatic exclamations, and as an imitation 

 of the auk's cry (cf. section on decoy-sounds). In the TJper- 

 naivik District, I heard it in the interjection a]va\ which else- 

 where in Greenland has the form ap-a\ 



A stronger or milder degree of aspiration occurs, how- 

 ever, as a modifying element in connection with some of the 

 consonants. The unvoiced fricatives [p ^ Å <p] are produced by 

 means of a vigorous exertion of the lungs and the diaphragm 

 so that the expiration becomes audible. In the case of the 

 stopped consonants (tenues), the matter is more complicated. 

 Before the vowels [a о о], the consonants к t 'p sound, as a 

 rule, like the corresponding French tenues, that is, they have 

 as little aspiration as possible. Before [i e u] , on the other 

 hand, these sounds are oftenest strongly aspirated. In [knp'a 

 aH-d'H pa-\^-'^^ their sound is about the same as in French cas, 

 tas, pas, but they contain an h-element in [^i'Y'a^ ki'ivw 

 tikeq ip-ik]^-"^. In the first words, these sounds may be design- 

 ated as voiceless g d b, in the last words, as k'^ t** p^. 



Aspirated final consonants I have often heard in [d-k^\ ^ 

 and in other words ending in the same syllable, e. g. in a 

 childish vocative form [unana'k-^] (Niarq.) instead of апа'пащ, 

 my mother! Weak final aspiration is sometimes to be heard 

 in [a-p f/^/'l, yes. 



The activity of the lungs in the production of word-stress 

 and the rhythm of the language, will be considered in another 

 section. 



§ 3. The open glottis positions (s2 and s3, cf. 0. 

 Jespersen, Fonetik g 2.53) are frequent in Greenlandic. The 



* promontory ^ recent ' the mouth of a river or a fjord ' a servant 

 •■' it bit him •* Ihcfon-Cmger ' a riitV " an exclamation used when one hands 

 a person sometliing. 



