Details

General

Morphemic form: N{təq}V
New orthography: +terpaa, -tserpaa
Old orthography: -terpâ
Sources: [14, 11]
Combinations: Click here
Variants: V{təq}V,
See also: N{-iqluiq}V,
Left sandhi:
Default,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: Reflexive
Valency change: None
Valency:
Divalent,
HTR morpheme:
ði,
HTR stem: təri,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this affix is 'Agent smears Patient with N' or 'covers with', 'sprinkles with' etc. It is a verbalising variant of the verbal affix V{təq}V, 'Vb gradually'. According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary, they derive from the same morpheme, although their meanings seem to be only vaguely related: smearing something with N is presumably done gradually/in stages. They also mention a possible relation to a morpheme {ləʀ-}, although the reason for this is unclear.


Right sandhi:

When this affix is followed by a vowel-initial affix (most notably V{-utə}N or V{-ut(ə)}V), it will not be able to delete the final /q/ and expose the /ə/. Thus, this combination will yield

similar to how a nominal strong q-stem would behave. Likewise, this affix uses the {-i} variant of the HTR-morpheme {ði} as usual with a q-stem, but this too will not remove the final /q/, but instead weaken it to /r/, so we obtain the HTR-form /təri/.


Meanings and examples

Or 'covers, sprinkles' etc.

  • imerterpaa, he waters it

    I.e., 'he sprinkles it with water'.

  • imerterut, a watering jug

    With V{-utə}N, so literally 'tool/means for sprinkling water on something'.

  • aatserpaa, he smears blood on it
  • orsuutiterpaa, he covers it in tar
  • iperterpaa, he dirties it

    i.e., he smears it with dirt.

  • masatserpaa, he moistens it

    From masak, 'moisture'.