Details

General

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This 'pseudo-affix' is a special construction with abstract participle V{nəq}N and {ajuq}V, denotes that the subject categorically does not Vb. It is commonly used to express the inverse of the habitual affix V{ðaq}V, and the corresponding word is formed by replacing V{ðaq}V by this construct, V{neq ajuq}V. Compare for example:

• kaffisortarpunga, 'I (habitually) drink coffee' ⇒ kaffisorneq ajorpunga, 'I never drink coffee'.
• kalaallisut oqaluttarpunga, 'I speak Greenlandic' ⇒ kalaallisut oqalunneq ajorpunga, 'I don't speak Greenlandic'.

I have decided to regard this construct as a single morpheme, even though it forms two separate words, because its meaning is not at all obvious from the individual meaning of the constituents; and furthermore, because valency is preserved by the construction: Thus, if the stem is divalent, then the resulting 'stem' after adding this construct will still be divalent. This means that {ajuq}V can actually take a transitive ending in this construction, which would otherwise be impossible, since {ajuq}V itself is monovalent.

The resulting word is sometimes even written with a hyphen, i.e. +neq-ajor-, which further signifies that this should be regarded as a single affix. There is also some doubt as to whether even an enclitic such as *{lu} can be added onto -neq, or whether it must be moved al the way to the end of the ajor- stem. Thus, some speakers may prefer e.g. kaffisorneq ajorlunilu over kaffisornerlu ajorluni.

Left sandhi:

See V{nəq}N for left sandhi.

Meanings and examples