Details

General

Morphemic form: N{-ruq}V
New orthography: -rorpaa, -ruivoq, -rorpoq
Old orthography: -rorpâ, -rorpoĸ
Combinations: Click here
Variants: N{ŋŋuq}V,
Left sandhi:
Truncative,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: Reflexive
Valency change: None
Valency:
Divalent,
HTR morpheme:
ði,
HTR stem: -rui,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This affix is a conflation of two, historically different, affixes, which have come to have the same form in Kalaallisut. According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary, they are:

In the former sense, the affix is only used with nouns for body parts. It thus has limited combination potential and is presumably not used productively in modern language. In the latter sense, the affix does not appear to be productive at all nowadays: it is not mentioned in newer dictionaries than Schultz-Lorentzen (1958), and he marks it as having limited usage.

The historical form {ŋ(ŋ)uʀ-} has a far more common, and productive descendant in Kalaallisut, namely the affix N{ŋŋuq}V, 'become N', which itself supposedly derives from {ŋu-}, modern-day form N{-u}V, 'be N', plus a non-productive, geminating affix {ʀ-}, 'become Vb'ing', here given as V{'-q}V. The strange, variant form N{-ruq}V in the second case thus seems to have been formed from {ŋu-} + {ʀ-}, where the /ŋ/ for unknown reasons has been dropped, or maybe generalised from /ʀ/ or /q/ final bases where this last consonant for unknown reasons was not deleted.

In any case, the exact origin of the second form is unclear, but the result is that the present affix has two very different meanings, and with different valencies. The first meaning is divalent (and reflexive), whilst the second meaning is monovalent.


Meanings and examples

With N denoting a part of the body. This is the meaning from {ʀuq}, and the affix may still be (marginally) productive in this sense.

  • niororpaa, he hits him in the leg
    [8]

    From niu, 'leg'.

  • niaqororpaa, he hits him in/on the head
    [8]

    From niaqoq, 'head'.

  • uummaterorpaa, he hits it in the heart
    [8]

    From uummat, 'heart' (i.e. a tə-stem).

  • isarorpaa, he wounds him in the eye
    [4]

    This word is irregularly formed and lexicalised: the base is {əcə}N, 'eye', where the final /ə/ has become [a] rather than [i] for unknown reasons.

  • assarorpoq, he wounds/cuts himself in the hand/finger
    [4]

    From assak, 'hand' or 'finger'. In this example, the affix is used with an intransitive ending without a HTR-morpheme, which illustrates that the meaning becomes reflexive in that case.

This is the meaning from {ŋ(ŋ)uʀ-}. It is non-productive in this sense.

  • inororpoq, he matures
    [4]

    Literally: 'he develops into a human'.

  • perorpoq, he develops
    [4]

    From the dummy base {pi}V, giving the pure meaning of the affix itself.

  • ullororpoq, it is late in the day
    [4]

    Literally: 'it develops into day', or perhaps 'it (the day) develops into itself'.

  • imarorpoq, it becomes open water
    [4]

    I.e., the sea ice breaks up, the water clears.


References