154 



\(i\ l'J] indicate such a- and м -sounds as are especially 

 modified by closed consonants and point consonants, 

 fä] [Й] indicate sounds which are still more fronted. The shades 

 of sound are not quite fixed, hut vary somewhat according to 

 districts and individuals. There are probably some etymolog- 

 ical reasons to be found where there exists a difference of this 

 kind between two words which are otherwise alike in form , as 

 for instance between [mas-a] ^ and \tas-a] ^ ; in the latter the 

 shade ä is very marked; in Upernavik, it sounded almost like 

 \tä's-a, täcs-a]. 



\o\ \ü] seem to be especially frequent in the neighborhood 

 of s's and /s. Between s-n and s-j, these shades always 

 occur more or less distinctly. 



i and u, especially when followed by w, /г, //. are apt to 

 be changed to r and и or even to e and o. The Green- 

 landic \c\ and [y] when followed by these consonants are 

 usually nearer the pure /- and м -sounds than is the case 

 in the corresponding sound-groups in French. German and 

 English. 



e and о have a tendency to change as soon as they no 

 longer stand as the last sound in a word (as in ?V/o uk-o\, 

 when the word, for instance, is lengthened with a suffix. 

 When followed by a or by A-, t, j5, я etc. (any consonant except 

 a nasalized or uvular consonant), they approach or pass into i 

 and u. They occur unchanged in the middle of words before 

 r in short unstressed syllables (neriivdq, more-rsif^ anore] ; but 

 between two r-sounds, they change in such syllables also (as 

 in -rzr-. -rer-, -гдг-). 



Before q (p, iq) and, in stressed syllables, before r. all the 

 vowels suffer the oft mentioned metamorphosis i. e. uvulariza- 

 tion. It can be measured by comparing Upernavik dialect forms 



here is —, tliis is — ! •' there is, that is the one! 



