Details
General
| Morphemic form: | N{-aq}N (Combinations) |
| New orthography: | -aq, -gaq |
| Proto-eskimoic root: | aʀ |
| Morpheme type: | Nominal modifier |
| Left sandhi: | Sandhi-truncative |
| Right sandhi: | None |
Description
Form and usage:
This is an old, non-productive morpheme found in many lexicalised words. The meaning is rather obscure, given as 'thing resembling something' by Fortescue et al. (2010). Schultz-Lorentzen (1958) describe it as giving the stem a specialised/more specific, and derived meaning, but exactly how is not further clarified.
One seemingly quite consistent (albeit lexicalised) usage is with animal names, where it denotes 'young/offspring of'. It is noted in Fortescue et al. (2010) that this usage is from {ʀaʀ}, which however is speculated to be a doubling of {aʀ} or a generalisation of {aʀ} from uvular stems. Thus, we record this special meaning with the present affix.
Left sandhi:The affix is generally truncative. However, in some lexicalised words it appears that the affix has weakened the final consonant, rather than removing it, for example ivigaq from ivik. This may be caused by a preceding /ə/ (as in this case), or possibly also a long vowel which would otherwise have required an epenthetic consonant to be injected (by phonotactics).
Declension information
| Stem type: | Weak q-stem |
| Declension type: | p-declined |
| Declension sandhi: | Regular |
Meaning(s)
| Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| thing resembling N | Examples | |
| young of N | With animal names | Examples |