Details

General

Description

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

Meaning(s)