Details

General

Morphemic form: V{-kaq}V
New orthography: -karpoq
Old orthography: -karpoĸ
Sources: [9, 12, 11]
Combinations: Click here
Left sandhi:
Truncative,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: None
Valency:
Preserving,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This is a seemingly non-productive affix denoting 'Subject Vb suddenly'. It is mentioned in older dictionaries, but not in the more recent ones, including Oqaatsit (1997).


Meanings and examples

Kleinschmidt (1871) mentions: 'after having been readying to do so for a while'.

  • pissikarpoq, he suddenly jumps up [11]

    From pissippoq, 'he jumps (up)'.

  • nillikarpoq, it floats (lifelessly) up to the surface of the water [11]

    This word is lexicalised. It is not entirely clear how it is constructed. Schultz-Lorentzen (1958) suggests it is from nileq, 'fart', and the old orthography spelling, nivdlikarpoĸ, suggests that the next morpheme is V{li}V, with an apparent loss of the final /əq/ from the preceding stem. However, the intuition behind this combination, given its meaning, is not obvious.

  • assakarpoq, it falls/turns/rolls over [11]

    This is a lexicalised combination. According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary, the root is a verb base {akðaɣ-}, but this morpheme has no direct descendant in Kalaallisut.


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