Details

General

Morphemic form: V{-juqtuq}V
New orthography: -jortorpai, -ortorpai
Old orthography: -ortorpai
Combinations: Click here
Constituents: V{-uq}V, V{tuq}V,
See also: V{-juraq}V, V{qqaq}V,
Left sandhi:
Truncative,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: None
Valency change: Preserving
Valency:
None,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This affix appears to be a combination of two non-productive morphemes, V{-uq}V and V{tuq}V, both of which denote 'Vb repeatedly'. However, the combination is productive. It seems to mostly be used with divalent stems, and always with plural Objects. The meaning seems to be the same as that of the compound affix V{-juraq}V, namely: 'Agent Vb (all the) Patients, one after the other'.

Regarding the initial /j/ of this affix, which is not present in the constituent V{-uq}V, see the entry for V{-juraq}V. As with that affix, the /j/ now appears to be part of the morpheme, rather than just injected epenthetically when required by phonotactics, according to the examples in Oqaatsit (1997). However, in the examples given in the older dictionary Ordbogeeraq (1951), this does not appear to be the case: For example, we have ilaartorpai from ilavaa and sanaartorpai from sanavaa, spelt ilaortorpai and sanaortorpai, respectively, in the old orthography. However, I suspect that the /j/ would be present in these words too nowadays, since these words would otherwise be indistinguishable (in the new orthography) from the forms obtained by combining the aforementioned stems with the affix V{(gi)jaqtuq}V, which has an entirely different meaning. Thus, the push to make this /j/ be part of the morpheme may also have been driven by the switch to the new orthography.


Left sandhi:

The initial /j/ may not be present in older writings, unless required by phonotactics; especially if the text is written in the old orthography. If the text has later been converted to the new orthography, the /u/ may also have been assimilated to [a] following an [a] sound. However, we shall not attempt to account for this difference here.


Meanings and examples

With divalent stems; the meaning on monovalent stems is unclear.

  • ilikkajortorpai, he learns them, one after the other
    [8]

    From ilikkarpaa, 'he learns it'. Notice that the /j/ is present, so the /u/ is not assimilated.

  • tigujortorpai, he takes them, one after the other
    [8]

    From tiguaa, 'he takes it'.

  • oqaatigiortorpai, he mentions them, one by one
    [8]

    From oqaatigaa, 'he mentions it'. Notice that the /j/ is not written in the new orthography, because it follows an [i] sound, but we can see that it is present, since the stem ends in /ə/, which would otherwise have taken the sound [a] if it were followed by a vowel.

  • orniortorpai, he seeks them out, one by one
    [8]

    From ornippaa, 'he encounters him'. The /j/ is not written, because it follows an [i] sound.


References