Paamiut (Frederikshåb) Greenlandic in 1836: a Small Glimpse

• Published in: International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics
• Main Author: de la Fuente, José Andrés Alonso
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Brill 2023
• Subjects: Greenland; Paamiut; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/25898833-20230043; https://brill.com/view/journals/jeal/5/2/article-p161_1.xml; https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/jeal/5/2/article-p161_1.xml

Abstract The accounts of the La Recherche expedition (1st voyage, 1835–2nd voyage, 1836) include two Greenlandic wordlists that offer the opportunity to catch a glimpse (one admittedly small) of the local lect of Paamiut. The comparison with contemporary dialectological descriptions allows for interesting conclusions about the linguistic history of this region on the southwest coast of Greenland. Of the four diagnostic features traditionally ascribed to Paamiut Greenlandic, that is, (1) i- effect, (2) retention of the /s/ vs /ʂ/ opposition, (3) shortening of geminates in sequences of the type VVCCV ( V ), and (4) a kind of “vowel harmony” whereby /ua/ > /awa/ & /ui/ > /iwi/, the wordlists confirm fully (1) and partially (2). There is inconclusive evidence for (3) and no trace of (4) whatsoever.