147 



the back of the tongue (^) is perhaps a rudiment of the final 

 consonant of the root-word {nu'k, a promontory). 



The word [u<p-a]\ which is used as a kind of interjection, 

 has beside the form. \u^^-a], also a form [u^'ct], where a sound- 

 change has really taken place under the assimilating influence 

 of the u. 



This raising of the back of the tongue also occurs some- 

 times before long [t'\ ; I have noted : ['Ш-иаг^)а-] by the side 

 of [it-uarpa-] '^. 



At Proven in the Upernavik District, 1 heard a before À, 

 k, n palatalized in a similar manner, as in {oJoîi'ipd^À'di'rpoq] ^ 

 [nd'(^)k-a]^ [d{2)k-erqdq]^ \qä(^yn-eTpdq]^. In these words, I 

 paid special attention to the raising of the back of the tongue. 

 Otherwise short a before a closed consonant [k ц t w) is 

 throughout the whole of North Greenland so palatalized as to 

 get a somewhat ä-like character, i. e. it is shoved forward. 

 It is symbolized by \à\. 



The tran sition - sound mj (as exponent tv^ о or ii) occurs 

 very often between \i\ and \X\ and also in certain words after a 

 (especially after long a). !t is in reality merely a labialization 

 of the vowel and of the beginning of the following consonant 

 (cf. § 1 1 and g 16), but in many cases it seems to be etymolog- 

 ically original in the words; in other cases, it is merely either 

 an analogical formation or a reaction of the lip-muscles caused 

 by the movements of the tongue and the jaws, it is found 

 connected in a strange manner with the just mentioned velariza- 

 tion or postpalatalizalion between I and / in the following 

 examples chosen at random from the tales which I wrote down 

 in Niarqornarssuk: 



' there! ^ peers after something through the window-pane ^ it (he) is 

 excellent * no * he is approaching ^ it is snowing. 



10' 



