Johannes Balle's Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic) wordlist

The study explores a wordlist of Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic) collected by Johannes Balle between 1889 and 1965, during the first half of the 20th century. This relatively obscure vocabulary, with equivalents in Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic) and translations into Danish, provides essential insights from a period when there was limited accessible information on Greenlandic dialects.This publication represents a groundbreaking effort, as no prior research has been conducted on this wordlist, which is available in two copies located at the Royal Danish Library and the Danish Arctic Institute (Arktisk Institute). The study contextualizes Johannes Balle's life and examines the unique features of the linguistic data within the wordlist. The core of the research involves the restructuring of the Tunumiisut wordlist using English keywords to facilitate historical and comparative analysis. Additionally, comprehensive indices in a conventional alphabetical format allow readers to easily navigate the Tunumiisut, Kalaallisut, Proto-Inuit-Yupik, and Proto-Inuit reconstructions, all interconnected with the English keywords.