Details
General
| Morphemic form: | V{-riiq}V (Combinations) |
| New orthography: | -reerpoq, -reerit, -reerluni, -reerami, -reeruni |
| Proto-eskimoic root: | ɣiiq- |
| Morpheme type: | Verbal modifier |
| Left sandhi: | Sandhi-truncative |
| Right sandhi: | None |
Description
Form and usage:
Many Greenlandic verbal bases can be used either in a present or past sense without any special affix to denote time. This affix denotes that the action has already been completed, thus indirectly implying a past tense. It also denotes that the listener knew on beforehand that the action was supposed/intended to be performed. Compare: aallarpoq, 'he has departed' vs. aallareerpoq, 'he has already departed' (implying that you knew he was supposed to leave at some point).
Furthermore, the affix has some special meanings in the imperative and contemporative moods:
- In the imperative mood it expresses urgency/impatience, as if the speaker wants the action to already having been performed. It can optionally also be followed by V{-innaq}V in this sense.
- In the contemporative, causative or conditional moods it is used for ordering events in a list of actions, i.e. 'after having Vb'ed, then ...' (followed by a main clause). This is similar to V{-riaq}V, V{sinnaq}V or V{lqaaq}V in contemporative mood.
Verb stem
| Right sandhi: | Regular |
| Valency: | Valency-preserving |
| Diathesis: | Unaltered (same as the stem) |
Meaning(s)
| Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| has already Vb'ed | In the sense of 'as intended' | Examples |
| Vb already now, immediately! | When used with the imperative mood | |
| after having Vb'ed | With endings in the contemporative, causative or conditional moods | Examples |