Details

General

Morphemic form: V{-liq}V
New orthography: -lerpoq
Old orthography: -lerpoĸ
Combinations: Click here
Left sandhi:
Truncative,
Right sandhi:
Assibilation (t⇒s),
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: None
Valency change: Preserving
Valency:
None,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The affix indicates the onset of an action, or the transition from one state of being to another. Often, this can simply be translated as present tense, possibly with a 'now'. However, the affix is often required in Greenlandic, because many verb stems have an inherent past-tense meaning. In such cases, the effect of adding this affix is to locate the action right before the present moment.

Note also that the true /i/ can cause assibilation of a following /t/ to /s/.


Meanings and examples

This is often too literal a translation.

  • angerlalerpoq, he is going home (now)

    From angerlarpoq, 'he goes home'. The affix indicates that this is the exact moment when the person begins to perform the action, e.g. just when he goes out of the door.

  • iluliarsuit aseroraangata assut mallilersarpoq, whenever the huge icebergs break it (habitually) begins to create a lot of waves.
    [10]

    The key point to notice here is the word mallilersarpoq. The combination is V{-liq}V{ðaq}V which yield -lersar-, because the true /i/ causes assibilation of /t/ to /s/.


References