Details

General

Description

Fortescue et al. (2010) suggest that this affix is formed through a combination of V{tət}V, V{-ðaq}N and N{-it}V, but it is not clear how that combination should yield the present-day form. Thus we do not record the combination here.

This affix is sandhi-epenthetic (additive), but unlike most other affixes of this kind, the epenthetic /(s)/ is injected within the affix (after /t/), rather than before it, and this /s/ does not assimilate the preceding /t/. Furthermore, the /ts/-form also appears when following V{ŋŋit}V, and possibly other t-stems (and t(ə)-stems?) as well; i.e. the affix is t-truncative similar to V{tət}V and then injects /s/. Thus the behaviour is as follows:

• On vowel stems: /tsaili/ with injection of /s/
• On k-stems and q-stems: /taili/
• On V{ŋŋit}V: /ŋŋitsaili/ with deletion of /t/ from the stem and then injection of /s/

The affix is valency-increasing by adding a new Agent, so the Actor of the preceding stem (if monovalent) is equated with the Patient role of the affix. It may presumably also form a 'double-transitive' construction, if the preceding stem is divalent, in which case the Patient role of the stem (Patient1) is equated with the Patient role of the affix (Patient2), and the Agent role of the stem (Agent1) is unspecified in the ending:

• On avalent/monovalent stems: Agent prevents Actor=Patient from Vb'ing
• On divalent stems: Agent2 prevents Patient1=Patient2 from being Vb'ed (by someone=Agent1)

According to Fortescue et al. (2010), it may also be used intransitively without a HTR-morpheme (particularly in North Greenlandic) in a reflexive sense, i.e. 'he prevents himself from Vb'ing', which is understood as: 'Agent refuses to Vb'.

Verb stem

Meaning(s)