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articulating certain sound-groups; for instance, if the syllable 

 ik- in ikeq should be uvularized, the result would be a com- 

 bination iq^ which is difficult to pronounce; for that reason i 

 is otherwise as a rule changed to e in the East Eskimo dialects*); 

 but — that is another reason — such a change would make 

 this word unrecognizable, and this circumstance leads to a 

 break in the tendency of the language in this case, so the 

 old-fashioned plural form is preserved (ikerit etc.). But the 

 new habit of formation is seen for instance in nimeq (band, 

 cord) plur. nermit. 



With respect to the words: nei'Åeq, jjåweq^ and iX'eq^ 1 

 consider it highly probable that they have preserved the old 

 trisyllabic plural because the first, now the heavy, syllable of 

 the word has originally consisted of two light syllables, the 

 original plural form of this word having consisted of four 

 syllables. 



When I consider it probable that this circumstance may have 

 prevented retrogressive uvularization from taking place in these 

 words, then it is because I feel convinced that the develop- 

 ment of uvularization is very closely connected with a 

 differentiation of the even word-stress, that which I 

 have found to be present in all Greenlandic words with sim- 

 ilarly constructed syllables. For instance if we conceive of 

 ['i^'sr'eY], the present plural of ikeq^ as resolved into an orig- 

 inal form consisting merely of light syllables *ikilerit, these 

 syllables would all have about the same stress. The same 

 would apply to all the plural forms cited , both those with 

 and those without an uvularized base in the plural (and to 



*) Except in the dialect of Baffin Land, and likewise in some Greenlandic 

 words: Gr. is'e, eye, is'e, cold, i^soq, turf, mould, is'erjwq, is hidden, 

 hides himself. The older forms of these words, namely irse, irse, 

 irpsok (Fabricius irbsok or irvsok), irserpok, which are found in Egede 

 (and Fabricius), show that the high position of the front of the tongue, 

 especially when followed by s, has got the better of the uvularization 

 and exterminated it, as it were. 



