324 



give a very vague notion of the real cliaracter of tliese strange 

 sounds; il was difficult to analyze them, it was still more difficult 

 to find satisfactory ways of expressing them. But still i think 

 it will appear from my descriptions of the specimens thai this 

 "language" (anlhropo-ornithological etc.), from a phonetical point 

 of view, comhines distinct peculiarities of the Eskimo language 

 with foreign elements. Notice the constant use of uvular and 

 even more "back" articulations. The Eskimo has heard thf* 

 sounds of his own language in the sounds of the animals. 

 Sometimes it has even occurred to me that perhaps, on the 

 other side, his language may have been influenced in the 

 course of time by the constant use of these decoy-sounds. 

 Many hours of a roving Eskimo hunter's life are devoted to 

 repealed practice in these extreme articulations. They are 

 forcible sounds, intended as they are for the open spaces of 

 free nature and for incessant repetition, as the animals use 

 them. 



The auk {ap'aq) has two screams: 1. \haR''m haR°))i] r = 

 trilled point-r; °m weakly voiced. Falling musical accent on 

 f/R, about from A to F sharp. 2. [q'eqeqeqeqer q^eqeqeqeqer], 

 with the point of the tongue resting between the upper and 

 the lower teeth. Throughout the whole word, chromatic falling 

 of the tone about from A to I). 



The black -backed gull {na"'ja or na'^'jaq, plur. n(.r"jät). 



The young gulls: [f/R- f/R"J | ' = strongly trilled 

 uvular r. d is perhaps unvoiced, the rest of the word voiced, 

 beginning about with the tone c, from there chromatically 

 falling one tone. 



The old she -gulls: \qut'e.-q qut'e-q] 5^4?'" FAG 

 sharp. 



The scream of the other gulls is reproduced as \kt/t'j"\. 

 unvoiced throughout, namely [ho] whispered, (О") whistled in a 



