Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {əsi}N |
| New orthography: | isi |
| Proto-eskimoic root: | əciʀ |
| Morpheme type: | Noun base |
| Right sandhi: | None |
Description
Form:
In modern day, there may be some confusion between {əcə}N (eye), {əci}N (drum skin) and {isə}N (boot tip), since all three forms have fallen together into just one, isi, in the New Orthography. You may therefore hear both e.g. isia and isaa for absolutive 3.sg/sg N{-a}. Some of the confusion was present already in the Old Orthography, where {əcə}N isse could be distinguished from ise, but the latter could be either {əsi}N or {isə}N, because the Old Orthography did not distinguish between /ə/ and true /i/. Only in the etymological orthography of the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary can we distinguish all three:
- {əcə}N derives from {əðə} with a regular change of /ð/ to /c/ following a vowel.
- {əsi}N derives from {əciʀ} through a loss of the final /ʀ/.
- {isə}N derives from {itəɣ} through a loss of the final /ɣ/, and then with assibilation of /t/ to /s/.
Noun stem
| Stem type: | Vowel-stem |
| Declension type: | p-declined |
| Declension sandhi: | Regular |
| ABS.sg | ERG.sg | ERG.pl | ALL.sg | ABS.3sg/sg | Special forms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New orthography | isi | isip | isit | isimut | isia | |
| Phonemic notation | əsi | əsip | əsit | əsimut | əsia |
Meaning(s)
| Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| drum skin | ||
| violin string | According to the dictionary by Schultz-Lorentzen (1958). The modern dictionary instead gives noqarti, agissap noqartaa for this meaning. |