Page:A description of Greenland.djvu/212

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164
The Natural Hiſtory

dren uſe to name their Father, and ſome others.

Its Accent and Pronunciation difficult.The Accent and Pronunciation of it is hard and difficult, becauſe they ſpeak very thick, and in the Throat. The ſame Language is ſpoke throughout the whole Country, though the Accent and Pronunciation differs here and there, as different Dialects; chiefly towards the Southern Parts, where they have received and adopted many foreign Words, not uſed in the northern Parts. But the Angekuts, or Divines, make uſe of a particular Speech, whenever they conjure; for then they uſe metaphorical Locutions and Words in a contrary Senſe. The Women-kindThe fair Sex mollify the Endings of their Words. alſo have a particular Pronunciation peculiar to themſelves, and different from that of the Men, making uſe of the ſofteſt Letters at the end of Words, inſtead of hard ones; for Example, Am, for Ap, that is, Yes. Saving, for Savik, a Knife. Their Language, in common, wants the Letters, c, d, f, g, x. They have beſides many double and unknown Conſonants,
which