203 



language at Smith Sound and in JJiJernawik District is more 

 closely examined some time, it will probably be possible to 

 decide how great importance, if any, is to be attached to the 

 points of resemblance between these dialects. Perhaps it is 

 already worth while noticing the scattered instances where the 

 East Greenlanders just like the natives of Cape York, have j 

 instead of s and г instead of a (i-m = crp). — The language of 

 Am'as-alik is especially striking for its frequent change of q 

 to r and for its peculiar cases of the loss of a nasal consonant 

 between two vowels within the very stems of words. 



§ 32. Dialects outside of Greenland. The object I 

 now have in mind is with the help of my knowledge of the 

 phonetical nature of the Greenlandic language, to make some 

 conjectures Avith respect to the phonetics of the more distant 

 dialects west of Davis Strait, to see how far it is possible to 

 follow the Greenlandic system of sounds in them, and to com- 

 pare the various deviations which have fallen to the lot of their 

 sounds and word-forms. 



Since I have had no opportunity to become acquainted with 

 the living, spoken language, I shall try to get along as well as 

 possible with what there is to be had of written specimens of 

 these dialects. 



It is convenient to begin with the dialect of Labrador, 

 which is best known. 



In form, the consonant system of this dialect corresponds 

 fully to the South Greenlandic system. There are the four 

 stopped consonants {q к t p]^ the four voiced fricatives (r 3 I w), 

 and the four nasals (the group /// occurs). With respect to 

 the unvoiced fricatives, there can be no doubt, to judge from 

 lîourquin's description (if the consonants (Gr. g 5 — 6), that at 

 least three of them occur, in the Labrador orthography, [/>•] 



