120 



as alin-eqanitik'o (and vvitlioul their (i. e. the nets) getting torn?) 

 lasted between 3 and 4 seconds, and just as slowly were pro- 

 nounced the words peq'ari'ik'äk'tvm-at (since there was nothing 

 yet to be found), and q;orwarpå^aT^avy (it is too dilficult to do). 

 Not only the long sounds in these words, but also the short 

 ones are extended in duration on account of the andante 

 tempo. 



Of course the talking may become rapid and lively when 

 the Greenlander becomes excited for some reason or other, but 

 the real Greenlander does not often become excited. 



This characteristic must be kept in mind during the fol- 

 lowing sections on the quantity and accent of this language. 



§ 20. Quantity. All the stopped consonants — the 

 nasalized as well as the unnasalized — occur both short and 

 long (geminated). The same applies to the open consonants 

 (fricatives) except that these are generally voiced when short, 

 whereas they become unvoiced and aspirated when they are 

 lengthened. The fricatives become unvoiced and aspirated 

 when they are lengthened: [iwi^ plur. [itfit]^^ [ah<j\ plur. 

 [йхк'иу^ ^ [ni%^q\ plur. [ni^-ät]'^ , [nzviwdqY cf. [nep'iwikY- 

 Even when the aspirated fricatives are shortest, they seem to 

 be somewhat longer than the other (short) consonants, which is 

 probably due to the special exertion that is necessary in the 

 formation of these sounds on account of the aspiration, s too 

 occurs both short and long; but J is seldom long, occasionally 

 in XI [su^j'omidY 1 in XIX [po-foq]"', very often in the song- 

 refrain \a-J4v]. 



1 may remark once for all that after an r — i.e. after an 

 uvularized vowel — the consonant is always longMonly a 



' grass * a harpoon-line ' bird-snare * he is eating " an eating-place, 

 a table ^ = sujumut forward, straight on " = pujoq smoke. 



