158 



§27. Both vocalic and consonantal assimilations occur 

 in srreat numbers, especially on account of the suffixal 

 character of the language. 



It is necessary to make a few remarks here about the 

 structure of the language. 



Eskimo words are to a far greater extent than in most 

 other languages inflected by means of suffixes. The sufßxes 

 may be either single sounds, or sound-groups resembling words 

 in all others respects except that they cannot stand isolated. 

 An independent word may have several such sufûxes linked to 

 it at once. This incessant interlinking of the word-elements 

 gives rise to the conditions for the large number of assimila- 

 tions which are found in the language, since on the one hand 

 the final sounds of the independent words, on the other hand 

 both the initial and the final sounds of the suffixes influence 

 each other on being brought together and are forced to adapt 

 themselves to each other according to the phonetical elasticity, 

 or lack of elasticity, of the language. 



What we find are partly examples of geminated vowels and 

 consonants occuring in suffixed words exactly where one would 

 •expect two diflerent sounds; partly examples of two vowels or 

 two consonants, likewise occuring in the suffixal joints, which 

 qualitatively approach each other nearer than one would have 

 expected. 



With respect to the geminated consonants, where it must 

 be assumed that a final consonant in the first word and an 

 initial consonant in the second have completely melted together 

 into one long sound, it is often difficult to determine the exact 

 character of the two original elements. Before passing over 

 to those examples of various assimilations which I think I am 

 able to substantiate, I shall give an illustration of the difficulties 

 that may be encountered in such investigation. 



Such a word as \ifius-iwjq\ may with certainty be dissolved 

 into three links: 1) the word which means '"Ьптап being" and 



