119 



One frequently gets an opportunity to observe this normal 

 position of tlie tongue (point of the tongue analph. /9'*) when 

 a Greenlander is speaking; especially if he has lost some of 

 his front teeth, the point of his tongue is continually to be 

 seen in motion just behind the row of teeth and every moment 

 touching their sharp edge or pressing against the inner surface 

 of the upper teeth. What is not to be seen is that raising of 

 the back of the tongue which in many cases takes place at the 

 same time as the articulation in the front part of the mouth, 

 and which acoustically results in the post-palatalization of 

 the vowels. 



II. Dynamics of the sounds. 



§ 19. The usual tempo of the spoken language 

 must be said to be slow. Especially in the remote settlements, 

 far away from the colonies, the Eskimo generally spoke in a 

 strikingly slow and drawling manner. The inhabitants in such 

 places are few and rarely have anything to do with the Euro- 

 peans. It was not only the old people, but also the young 

 ones, who spoke slowly, the men perhaps more so than the 

 women. Furthermore I think I have reason to assert that the 

 unmixed Greenlanders speak more slowly than the mixed in- 

 habitants. This struck me especially at the lonely settlements 

 in the Aulätsiwik Fjord south of Egedesminde. These 

 primitive Greenlanders articulated their words with remarkable 

 repose; it was as if there were no such thing as time for 

 them; syllable followed upon syllable steadily, slowly, quietly, 

 as the drops drip down from an icicle which is thawing. The 

 long sounds were dwelt upon for a long time as if they were 

 points of rest in the process of articulation. Such a question 



