13i 



[tam,a'n]e'rq^dTqa,'^q]^^ Omnq. [a-^kidirtdqm'a' siko]^"' Omnq. 



IL IS L .1 l 1 1 



[ajoTi.ij^.aÅSL'Tqsi'q] ^^ Ka. [ajus'aoieqai'q] ^^ Arq. 



Although such small masses of sound as monosyllabic 

 words are rare, yet the examples given above show four dif- 

 ferent varieties of intonation. There can be no doubt as to 

 which of these varieties is most usual in North Greenlandic. The 

 level tone is very rare, the tone of the voice generally being 

 either rising or falling. The question is, which of the forma- 

 tions represents the fundamental element of the musical accent 

 in Greenlandic? is it n or u ? I do not hesitate to say that 

 it is the former formation, the rising tone. Such a formation 



1 L 



as [a-p] with the falling tone is perhaps not unusual in this word, 



L T 



but it is not typical of the melody of the language, [ay] with 

 the rising tone is at least just as frequent as the other and 

 it corresponds to the fundamental musical character of the 

 language. 



Furthermore there is the formation [a"t], which constitutes 

 a transition to words of two or more syllables. Even if accord- 

 ing to origin it should be secondary in relation to the former, 

 simpler formation, yet it must now be considered as an inde- 

 pendent intonation in the Greenlandic language, which has 

 become connected with certain words and makes them more 

 clearly understood. I shall speak of it as the compound 

 tone*). 



Both of these, the rising and the compound tone, we now 

 And again in dissyllabic words, most frequently, however, the 



*) 1 presume now that it is also with the help of this difference in mu- 

 sical accent that the Greenlanders distinguish between the two words : 



[is.e] an eye, and [i.re] cold, frost. I did not succeed in getting this 

 point cleared up while 1 was in Greenland. 



^* it (he) is certainly here '^' how the ice is thawing! ''^ it (he) is 

 too good, exceedingly good '^ it (e. g. the ice) will not become poor. 



