The Press: Eskimo in Print

Scattered over 1,254,000 sq. mi. of Arctic waste, Canada's 11,000 Eskimos for centuries have spoken a complicated language. The Eskimo can pack whole sentences into a guttural syllable or two, commands 10,000 to 15,000 words—a scholar's quota—just for everyday discourse. He gives some of his verbs hundreds of forms, one for each subtle shade of meaning.* But the Eskimo has never printed the words he speaks. Last week, from the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources in Ottawa came the first serious effort to put the Eskimo in periodical print.

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