Details

General

Morphemic form: V{(t)siisə}N
New orthography: -tsiisaa, +siisaa
Old orthography: -tsîsâ, -sîsâ
Combinations: Click here
Constituents: V{(t)sii}V, V{'-tə}N,
Variants: V{(t)siisəgə}V,
Left sandhi:
Default,
Irregular,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: tə-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this affix is 'time while waiting for Subject to Vb'. Note that this meaning is verbal, even though the resulting stem in fact is nominal. It is always used with possessive endings, with the Possessor denoting the Subject of the underlying verbal stem; i.e., the thing or person awaited for to Vb. Thus, Possessor will usually be the 3rd person, singular, and the resulting word will be used in the Absolutive case, i.e. with the possessive ending N{-a}. Alternatively, it may be used with the verbal possessive affix N{-gə}V instead of possessive endings; see the combination V{(t)siisəgə}V.

The affix is formed from a combination of V{(t)sii}V, 'wait for' and the non-productive affix V{'-tə}N. The latter is a variant of V{-(cc)utə}N, which is here used in the (rarer) sense 'time when/while', thus giving this affix the meaning 'time when one waits for something to Vb', or, more eloquently 'meantime'. The true /i/ in the stem of the former has then caused assibilation of the initial /t/ to /s/ of the latter, which resulted in the present form, i.e.:


Left sandhi:

Left sandhi is inherited from the left-most component, V{(t)sii}V. See this for details.


Right sandhi:

Right sandhi is inherited from the right-most component, V{'-tə}N. See this for details.


Inflection sandhi:

Inflection sandhi is inherited from the right-most component, V{'-tə}N. See this for details.


Meanings and examples

Or 'in the waiting-time before' or 'while waiting for'.

  • anitsiisaa, in the meantime, before he comes out
    [8]

    Note that this is regularly formed, since anivoq is a vowel stem, but compare this with the example anissiivaa mentioned in the examples under V{(t)sii}V, which I suspect is an error.

  • qalatsiisaa, in the meantime, before it boils
    [8]

  • mitsiisaa, in the meantime before it lands
    [8]

    or 'while waiting for it to land' (e.g. an aeroplane), from mippoq, 'it lands'.

  • qaammarsiisaa, the time before dawn
    [8]

    I.e., 'in the meantime before it becomes light'.

  • oqarsiisaa, while waiting for him to say something
    [8]

  • unnussiisaa, while waiting for night to come
    [8]

    Or 'in the meantime, before night falls'. From unnuppoq, 'it becomes night', an avalent verb where the dummy subject 'it' does not refer to anything, hence neither does the Possessor.


References