76 



tongue all return to their natural positions. Examples are: 

 \дЩ'Щ] ' I'PW^l] ^ Iqc'] ^ \qeqerfä(j] * [qevq-uaq] ^ 



Iqåqeq'aq'HTpdq] ^4 



The fricative which corresponds to q is [/•], analph. 

 ^okori Qp y~ j g уд untrilled r. I observed no uvular trill*). 

 The sound must not be confused with the ordinary point-r (the 

 English r) with which it has nothing in common. It has more 

 resemblance to the French and German back-r (analph. у2') 

 when untrilled, and especially to the Danish r (7-2 ''•V*), because 

 it is produced by friction just as far back in the mouth, right 

 by the back of the fauces. The point of the tongue rests 

 passive behind the lower teeth. Still the Greenlandic r is dif- 

 ferent from the Danish r in that its articulation is tenser, more 

 energetic, the sound accordingly more consonantal, and gener- 

 ally more protracted. It is worth noticing that whereas the 

 uvular r found in Indo-European languages is a reduced point-r, 

 the Greenlandic r has never been articulated at the point of 

 the tongue, but seems rather to be a reduced q. This origin 

 also explains why the sound lacks the uvular trill. Besides it 

 must be remarked that the Greenlandic r is variable in tenseness 

 of articulation. It seems to be tensest when it is followed 

 by q and prepares as it were the convulsively firm closure of 

 this sound. Examples are: 



[erqcr]^- [а"Г(;а^] *^ [sarqaq]^* [nTqar/jine]^^ [ar^Z/'oz/o] ^^ 



rq is probably nothing but a modified form of long [q-]. 



') With the single exception of [ensir/itcr^iit] (к ^ trilled r), which 1 find 

 among my notes from the Egedesminde district. 

 *•) Jespersen, Fonetik g 319 and 214. 



* a mountain ' the shadow which the land casts on the water ' the 

 surface * an island ^ seaweed ''■ a bunch of flowers ^ a sleeve " is white 

 ^ spit '° a kind of whale " it 'the ptarmigan) is screeching " its neigh- 

 borhood " cloves ^* the suiinv side '' descending '^ mending it. 



