242 



before in the beginning of the suffix, that already gets the 

 upper hand in the stem of the word . whereby the loosely 

 attached syllable (suffix) is closely united with or incorporated 

 in the first part of the word. 



The same view of the matter holds good when the suffix 

 begins (not with an uvular, but) with a labial, as we saw in 

 the example Gr. iwXit <i*ilwit (cf. NW Al. itwe) and in similar 

 examples. Here we find a retrogressive labialization, the move- 

 ment of the lips being anticipated in the slem of the word. 



§ 34. Cases of assimilation in Greenlandic in- 

 flexion and derivation. Already several times before (§§27 

 and 33) we have been impressed with the strongly amalgamated 

 character of the Greenlandic language, and we have seen 

 to how great an extent it may be permitted to consider the 

 strong, heavy syllables of this language as developments of 

 heterogeneous elements. Especially in the case of the retro- 

 gressive uvularization, we have seen how deep it sets its mark 

 in the morphology of the Greenlandic language. 



I shall now proceed to show that this phenomenon is 

 only one particular link in a far more comprehensive chain of 

 phonetical changes, all of which may be traced back to a com- 

 mon cause. 



One of the first things that attracts our attention when we 

 stop to think about Greenlandic grammar is the big 

 contrast between the uvularized formations mentioned in the 

 preceding paragraph and the corresponding stems ("nomina- 

 tives" or absolutives) from which they are derived by gram- 

 matical inflexion. The nom. sing, of ['arr/'«] his name, and 

 ['ar^'îY] names, is [o^'ef/] a name; of \п^ута\ his or its band, 

 [иш'е^], a baud, cord; of [orn^Y, ъщИ] (plur.), [uti'^aq] armpit; 

 of [erg'a], [W^\ anus; of [n^vqa], \nat^&q\ floor; of [to^'q-a]. 

 [tup'^q] tent etc. 



