Details

General

Description

This stem has no less than two unusual HTR-forms:

• ujarlerpoq, formed using the rare HTR-morpheme {(k)liq}. This form is given its own entry in the DAKA dictionary.
• ujaasivoq, formed using the usual HTR-morpheme {ði}, but on a stem with a seemingly lengthened vowel. This form is listed as the only HTR-form of ujarpaa in the DAKA dictionary.

The source of the lengthened vowel in the second case is unclear. According to Schultz-Lorentzen (1958), the only HTR-form given is ujardlerpoĸ (ujarlerpoq). However, for the stem ujáupâ (ujaappaa), formed from combination with V{-ut(ə)}V, two different HTR-forms are listed: The standard ujáussivoĸ (ujaassivoq), and a non-standard form, ujaussivoq (ujaasivoq), with an unexplained loss of the diacritic. This latter form, when transcribed into the new orthography, matches the HTR-form given in the DAKA. Hence, one possible explanation is a confusion with this variant HTR-form of ujáupâ.

An alternative possibility is that the HTR-form ujaasivoq is formed under influence from {qinəq}V, which also has a strange HTR-form, ĸinaissivoĸ (qinaasivoq) with a lengthened vowel. However, according to Fortescue et al. (2010), this form has not arisen by combination with V{-ut(ə)}V, but instead with a morpheme {-a} indicating sequential action.

To further complicate the matter, the two competing HTR-forms seem to be used in slightly different senses nowadays, according to native speakers:

• ujarlerpoq is used when searching for something you know is somewhere, but just cannot readily seem to find. For example, if you are looking for a pen in your office. You know, you left it there somewhere, but you just cannot readily find it.
• ujaasivoq is used when searching e.g. for a missing person, or searching for something on the Internet. This meaning seems to be broader, or indicate that you do not necessarily know whether the search will yield a result, e.g. because you do not know whether the missing person actually is in the area where you are searching, or because you do not know whether a page with the desired information exists on the Internet.

Verb stem

Meaning(s)