168 



Tlie adaptability of the sounds is first and foremost due 

 to the fact that the words and tlie suffixes are firm in body. 



In the Eskimo language, when the sounds are added 

 together, the sum of two short sounds is either a heterogeneous 

 group or a homogeneous long sound. The quahty may change, 

 but the quantity is retained. The language guards these long 

 sounds conservatively. 



§ 28. A sound may liave been present to the conscious- 

 ness for just a moment without being articulated. Both the 

 speaker and the hearer understood it. Some few of these oc- 

 casional omissions are repeated so often that they become 

 firmly established, atsip pa'^ the hole for the sleeve, becomes 

 atsipa, the hole-for-tlie-sleeve (Kl. dictionary p. 12^(; pirjipt 

 becomes piîift^. From my notes (the tales), I have collected 

 the following more occasional examples: 



occasional forms normal forms 



[ea < ipa] [arnale crsit] < Arnalip (or -Å'ip\ arsit- 



[a- < ai] [(pria-n-iiYminik\ < qitiaiw&xminik'^ 

 [us < oqs\ [af/akusaÅ'invdq] < ariahoq saÅ'uwdq* 

 [иг < ирг] [iÅ'u Hua] < iX-up ilua^ 



[am < atm] [mt'vqa тдхХик] < me'rqat marÅuk^ 

 [ti < tai] [as'a"'t ina'] < as'a-Ha ina' "' 



[ksj < kisi] [ksjd)ve\ < kisiåire^ 



Some of the most extreme cases I know of such slips of 

 the tongue are the not unfrequent 



\pu'lik:)rsmi] < pulukip orsua^ 

 [k-t's--dq\ < kiwis.isoq '° 

 [no-f/'ÏAdt] < noT^ori'iA'at^^ 



' 2. pers. sing. opt. of jnrjooq, is owned (?) cf. Rasm. Gr. g 34 (p. 56) 

 ' Arnalik (name), as usual ^ only with his nostrils * the angakoq lies 

 ^ the interior of the house * two children ^ his finger's resting-place (i. e. 

 the place and the hollow thus caused, where he laid his finger) * but, on 

 the other hand ' blubber of a swine, pork '° one diving down (especially: 

 seal) " they are not consumed, eaten up. 



