Details
General
| Morphemic form: | V{niaqcarə}V |
| New orthography: | +niarsaraa, +niarsaraaq |
| Old orthography: | -niarssarâ, -niarssaraoĸ |
| Combinations: | Click here |
| Constituents: | V{niaq}V, V{(q)carə}V, |
| Left sandhi: | Default,
|
| Right sandhi: | Default/none,
|
| Inflection sandhi: | ə-contraction,
|
| Stem type: | ə-stem |
| Diathesis: | None |
| Valency change: | Preserving |
| Valency: | None,
|
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
Form:
This affix is not mentioned in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary, nor in Schultz-Lorentzen (1958) or any of the older dictionaries.
The earliest attestation seems to be in Ordbogeeraq (Petersen, 1951), which gives the forms -niarssarâ, -niarssaraoĸ, and it subsequently appears in Fortescue (1983) and in later editions of the Greenlandic Dictionary - most recently, Oqaasiorfik (Ilinniusiorfik, 2008).
This suggests that this affix is a fairly recent invention.
I assume it is formed from V{niaq}V, 'intend' and an obscure, presumably non-productive morpheme V{(q)carə}V with unclear meaning.
The latter is mentioned in Petersen (1951) and Fortescue (1983), but they do not agree on the meaning, and the affix does not appear in any later dictionaries.
The affix only appears with transitive endings in Ordbogen (Jones and Petersen, 2003). However, neither V{niaq}V nor V{(q)carə}V normally appear to increase the valency of the stem, and the latter is given with both transitive and intransitive endings in Petersen (1951). The transitive endings can be explained by the fact that all the examples given in that dictionary are of divalent stems, so we assume the affix is simply valency-preserving. However, this gives no indication of how this affix will behave on a monovalent stem, or whether its usage is limited to divalent stems.
Meaning:
With respect to the meaning, there also seems to be some confusion.
According to Ordbogen (Jones and Petersen, 2003), 'try' can be expressed in the following ways:
- misilippaa, 'he tries it' (as an experiment, test, or for the first time)
- ooqattaarpaa, 'he attempts it' (or 'tries it' in the sense of tasting e.g. a new kind of food)
- +niarsaraa, 'he tries/strives (with some difficulty) to Vb it'
However, V{niaqcarə}V seems to be preferred, at least by some speakers (Ilulissat), over ooqattaarpaa as a way to express 'attempt' (and thus limiting ooqattaarpaa to mean 'try tasting' or 'try on' e.g. a new pair of shoes). Whether this reflects a general change in the usage/meaning, or just local preferences, is unclear.
Left sandhi:
Left sandhi is inherited from the left-most component, V{niaq}V. See this for details.
Meanings and examples
- ammarniarsaraa, he tries (hard) to open it
[8]
From ammarpaa, 'he opens it'.
- tiguniarsaraa, he tries (hard) to grab hold of it
[8]
From tiguaa, 'he takes it'.
- tikinniarsaraa, he tries (hard) to get to it
[8]
Or 'to reach it', where 'it' refers to a destination. From tikippaa, 'he arrives at it'.
References
- [2] Michael Fortescue (1983): A comparative manual of affixes for the Inuit dialects of Greenland, Canada and Alaska.
- [6] Jonathan Petersen (1967): Ordbogêraĸ.
- [8] Christian Berthelsen, Birgitte Jakobsen, Robert Petersen, Inge Kleivan & Jørgen Rischel (1997): Oqaatsit.