Details

General

Description and behaviour

The meaning of this affix is: 'Subject is in a state of having/being Vb'ed'. Thus, it indicates a state of being after the verbal action denoted by the stem has happened. This is the meaning given by Fortescue in [13] and in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [16], and in several other newer works, e.g. [7], [8]. Given this meaning, the affix appears primarily to be used with stems that describe a transition. The resulting stem then describes a state of being after the transition.

Note that Kleinschmidt [9] and Schultz-Lorentzen [11] give a rather different translation of this affix: 'Subject is half-Vb'ing' They give the following examples and translations:

• kiveqqavoq, 'it is half-sunken' (below the water surface, but not at the bottom) [9], from kivivok, 'it is sunken'.
• sialuit toqqalerput, 'a drop of rain falls now and then' [9], from tuppoq, 'it has come to rest on something'.
• iloqqavoq, 'it is half-frozen' [11], from iluvoq 'there has come frost' (on a wall or window pane).

However, none of these constructions are lexicalised, and it is unlikely that they would have the same meaning today. Instead, the examples given in Oqaatsit [14] also seem to support the translation 'Subject is in a state of having/being Vb'ed'. Thus, this is also the translation we shall give here.

There are also three other affixes with the same meaning: V{-(u)ma}V, V{-ŋa}V, and V{sa}V. However, neither of these are used productively today. The present affix is the only one that is still productive.

Static passive meaning:
Nielsen {{ cite(nielsen_gram|p. 175) }} also describes a different meaning of the present affix. Translated to the terminology used in the present dictionary, he says: "On some divalent stems, V{ŋqa}V may be used with intransitive endings to denote static passive." We shall denote this meaning as 'Subject has been Vb'ed'.

Unfortunately Nielsen does not give any rules for which bases can be used with V{ŋqa}V in this sense, and the examples he gives do not reveal any pattern: There are agentive, reflexive and patientive stems amongst his examples. Thus, we can here only note these examples, but not provide any rules.

Form and etymology:
The affix is mentioned in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [16] under the entry for {ŋa-}, cf. V{-ŋa}V. The authors hypothesise that it may either be suppletion from a different (unknown) morpheme, or an allomorph arising from combination with t-stems, although this does not explain why the initial consonant sound is uvular. Here, we shall assume that the affix in fact is derived from {ŋa-} by some sound process, and we reflect this in the form registered here by writing /ŋ/ as the initial consonant.

Meanings and examples