Details

General

Description

The negation affix. This is a very common affix; partly because many Greenlandic verbal stems have an inherently negative meaning, so the only way to express the positive/opposite meaning is by negating the stem.

This affix takes a completely idiosyncratic set of endings in some of the moods, if (and only if!) it is the last affix before the ending (see the AITWG p. 183). The changes are:

• Indicative: Use {-la}, with deletion of /t/, instead of {vu} and {va}. /l/ geminates to /ll/ in intransitive indicative 3.pl (similar to how /v/ geminates to /vv/ there), i.e. -nngillat.
• Interrogative: Use {-li} and {-la}, with deletion of /t/, instead of {vi} and {va}. Note that in intransitive interrogative, all endings are similar to the intransitive indicative, except 3.sg, which here is V{-la}, i.e. -nngila?.
• Causative: Use {na} instead of {ga}, i.e. -nnginnama etc. However, the 3rd person mood marker {(m)m} is unaltered, so e.g. -nngimmat as usual.
• Contemporative: Does not exist, use negative contemporative (without V{ŋŋit}V) instead.
• Imperative: Does not exist, use negative contemporative instead.
• Optative: Does not exist, add V{gi}V after V{ŋŋit}V to use negation; i.e. -nngikkili! etc.

Furthermore, this affix is a t-stem, so with intransitive participial and participle /t/ is not assimilated; i.e. /tð/ ⇒ 'ts', thus yielding -nngitsoq, -nngitsunga etc.

However, it also has a true /i/, which therefore may assibilate a (single), following /t/. This happens in particular with the passive participle V{-ðaq}N, since its own idiosyncratic left-sandhi behaviour precisely results in a single /t/ before /i/. Thus we get:

V{ŋŋit}V{-ðaq}N ⇒ /ŋŋitaq/ ⇒ /ŋŋisaq/ ⇒ -nngisaq

Conjugation tables

Here is a table, showing the full set of intransitive endings for this affix. Only the iterative (ITE) and conditional (COND) moods are unaffected:

Verb stem

Meaning(s)