Details

General

Description

This is a straightforward combination of passive participle V{-ðaq}N and N{-qaq}V. This combination is one of the ways in which something like indefiniteness may be conveyed in Greenlandic. The 'passive noun' created with V{-ðaq}N, which represents the Patient role of the verbal action, can be incorporated with N{-qaq}V to create a completely indefinite construction, corresponding to 'some/any' in English. The indefinite N (or Ns) may optionally be specified in the Instrumental case as a modifier For example:

• takuara, 'I saw it', from {taku}V, 'Agentsees Patient'
• takusaqarpunga, 'I saw some(one/thing)'
• angutinik takusaqarpunga, 'I saw some men'
• angutinik takusaqanngilanga, 'I haven't seen any men' with negation affix V{ŋŋit}V

and so on. Note how the meaning changes from 'some' to 'any' with the addition of the negation affix V{ŋŋit}V. Compare this with

• angutit takuakka, 'I saw the men'

where angutit is a direct object, and hence has focus, which signals definiteness in Greenlandic.

Since the first morpheme is V{-ðaq}N, this combination inherits all the peculiar left-sandhi rules of this affix, so see it for examples and explanations.

Verb stem

Meaning(s)