121 



very few exceptions, if any!). As a rule, 1 give no indications 

 of length in such cases, arnaq properly = anvaq etc. 



Long vowels are very common and have a length corres- 

 ponding to the length of the long consonants, [il w], the 

 neutral [d s] and the pure [г] and [u\ occur only as short sounds. 

 For long e and i there is one sound in common which lies 

 just between them both, namely [:"] ; for long о and и there is 

 also one sound in common which lies between them both, 

 namely [y]. When these approach very near to pure e or o, 

 the symbols [e*] [o-] are used. Long a sometimes approaches 

 [o «] sometimes [a]. 



Quantity — the relative length of the sounds*) — is main- 

 tained as accurately as is necessary in order thai the words may 

 not be misunderstood. The full significance of this becomes 

 clear when I add that very often the meaning of a word chiefly 

 depends on whether a certain sound in the word is pronounced 

 long or short. The Eskimo language is very sensitive and con- 

 servative in this respect, so much the more so on account of 

 the frequent phonetical similarity between words of different 

 meaning. 



There are but few pairs of words where we find complete 

 similarity; the difference in quantity is in most cases accom- 

 panied by a corresponding difference in stress (dynamic accent). 

 Thus in the following examples: 



[fW'a'J its lair, nest ^oi-a- or 'г"'>га*] the steep 



side of a mountain or a 

 house etc. 



[/ici^^'eg] a floor [n^dt-s^q] a seal (phoca foetida) 



•) The Swedish phonetician, Fr. Wulll" remarks about quantity as con- 

 trasted with accent: "The quantity is, so to spealt, inherent in the 

 ■words, i. e. depends more upon the nature of the sound-groups than 

 on any special intention of the speaker; I mean the quantity is fixed 

 and involuntary". (Nâgra ord om aksent, i Forhandlinger paa det 2. 

 nordiske filologmøde i Kristiania 1881, ed. by G. Storm 1883.) 



