Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition

A short story told in Inuktun is transcribed to include the channels of gesture and prosody. A preliminary identification of rhetorical components in each channel is suggested, and gesture is also analyzed according to McNeill’s (1995) concepts. Some traits of the interplay between the channels is thereby is revealed. The register of language presented is an example of a kind which can still occasionally be found in Greenland today. It is highly introverted and intense. It can be said to use gesture as its the crucial component while the words have only an accompanying role.