143 



§ 23. My immediate general impression of the 

 musical accent in the North Greenlandic language, 

 from notes in my diary. 



The singing quality in the North Greenlandic language is 

 not equally marked everywhere, but varies from fjord to fjord. 

 It seemed to me to be most noticeable in Egedesminde District 

 and fartherst out on the No'suaq Peninsula (especially at Nia- 

 qornät in Oommannaq Fjord). On the whole, the tone-intervals 

 of the language are not greater than those which for instance 

 may occur in Swedish, Italian and French *). Women and 

 children have the singing quality in the most marked degree. 

 That which J. Storm has said in general about sentence- 

 melody, that it at any given moment is like "the beginning of 

 a musical melody"**), can be verified by anyone who has had 

 an opportunity to hear this expressive language spoken by a 

 lively voice. 



I shall proceed to give some direct impressions which 

 the language made upon me in the different parts of North 

 Greenland, where I took down notes about these matters in 

 my diary. 



Arqittoq (January 1901). The language in this district 

 has the singing quality to a marked degree, and sounds espe- 

 cially Eskimo 1 think. A long account, especially in the mouth 

 of a woman, can reach a very high pitch, perhaps h or c; 

 shortly before the end, the pitch becomes very much lower. 

 But even in quite short, indifferent expressions like: one can 



Gf. for instance J. Storm. Englische Philologie I, 2-i Ed. (1892), pp.218 

 — 219. 



J. Storm U.S. p. 207 : "Der Gesang liegt in der Redestimme als Keim; 

 durch eine kunstmassige Verwendung desselben Instrumentes wird Rede 

 zum Gesang". Perhaps a comparison between the speech-melodies 

 written down in the former paragraph and the Eskimo song-melodies 

 given at the end of this work might give useful results with respect 

 to the relation between the voice of speech and of song among these 

 primitive people. 



