Details

General

Morphemic form: V{mmarik}V
New orthography: -mmarippoq
Old orthography: '-marigpoĸ
Combinations: Click here
Constituents: V{-(u)ma}V, V{'-rik}V,
See also: V{mmaqluk}V,
Left sandhi:
Default,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: k-stem
Diathesis: None
Valency change: Preserving
Valency:
None,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This is a non-productive affix, and one part of a pair, V{mmarik}V and V{mmaqluk}V, which seem to have been formed similarly, and with opposite meanings, matching the pair V{'-rik}V and V{'-qluk}V. The present affix is a combination of V{-(u)ma}V, 'in a state of Vb'ing' and the geminating affix V{'-rik}V, 'is good at Vb'ing', which has caused the /m/ to double to /mm/, thus yielding the form V{mmarik}V. The meaning seems to be synonymous with V{'-rik}V, i.e. 'Subject is good/skilled at Vb'ing', and it is thus unclear what the addition of V{ma}V contributes. It may even be that this form is only used with stems, that are already derived with V{ma}V.


Meanings and examples

Maybe 'very good', or 'exceptionally good' or similar, according to Kleinschmidt (1871).

  • oqaluummarippoq, he is well-spoken
    [4]

    This is a strange example, since it seems to have been formed from oqaluuppoq, 'he is speaking to himself', which furthermore is a t(ə)-stem. Thus, since this affix is truncative, the /ə/ should have appeared. Thus, either this word is irregularly formed, or not formed from oqaluuppoq, or it is a spelling mistake in the old orthography (e.g. maybe it should have been oĸalúmarigpoĸ, rather than oĸalũmarigpoĸ which is what was written in Schultz-Lorentzen (1958)).

  • ikummarippoq, it is burning well
    [4]

    Compare ikumavoq, 'it is burning'.

  • inuummarippoq, he is doing very well
    [4]

    From inuuvoq, 'he is alive', so the literal meaning is something like 'he is really well in his current state of being'.


References