266 



There are no doubt a number of grammatical-morphological 

 peculiarities in the different dialects which might also be given 

 in support of these groupings ; but they would require special 

 investigation. I shall be content to mention the East Eskimo 

 verbal suffix for 1 pers. ind. -poria^ which is common to L. and 

 Gr., whereas in West Eskimo, we find -toria (M.) and toa (Al.) 

 instead. 



If we consider the forms of the words in the two branches 

 of the language, we find that though there are certain cases 

 where they agree, yet there are many and important cases 

 where they differ. The West Eskimo forms are as a rule fuller 

 and more heterogeneous than the Greenlandic forms ; they are 

 accordingly at an earlier stage of development. In SW Alaska 

 we find very old formations along side of forms that are ap- 

 parently very much contracted. As examples of the latter may 

 be mentioned 



Al. nüq^rhöä (I eat) — Or. neriworia 

 Al. sne (its edge or bank) — Gr. sina' 

 Al. slä (weather, sky, out of doors; — Gr. sila 

 perhaps also 



Al. ghän (native bucket) — Gr. ща (a pot). 



The old forms that have been preserved often help us to 

 understand the etymology of the Greenlandic words. By way of 

 a specimen, I shall give four inflectional forms of a verb that 

 is preserved both in Greenlandic and in this Alaska dialect. It 

 is the verb SW Al. tmgluwaka (Barnum Gr. g 469), Gr. tiX'up-ara 

 and its meaning in both dialects is: I strike him with my fist 

 (I fist him). The personal suffixes , which are here translated 

 by: 1 — thou (fisting), I — you etc., no doubt actually mean: my 

 — thy [mkin) , my — your (mchè} etc. , since , when taken 

 separately and analyzed, parts of them coincide with the pos- 

 sessive suffixes of the nouns : 



