Details

General

Morphemic form: V{niq}V
New orthography: +nerpoq, +nersoq
Old orthography: -nerpoĸ
Sources: [9, 11, 12, 14]
Combinations: Click here
Left sandhi:
Default,
Right sandhi:
Assibilation (t⇒s),
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: None
Valency:
Preserving,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

According to Kleinschmidt [9], the basic meaning of this affix is uncertainty (about a question or topic), without any presuppositions about the answer. It can sometimes be translated as 'maybe', or 'wonder'. It might also be translated as something like 'whether perhaps', but this is not always suitable. Alternatives like 'I wonder' may sometimes fit better, even though 'I' is not directly expressed in the verbal ending. For example:

It can be used to pose questions in the interrogative mood, but it can also be used in the other moods, except the imperative and optative moods. It is commonly used in participial object clauses, where the main clause also expresses some kind of uncertainty. It always appears last in the word, right before the ending.


Right sandhi:

The true /i/ will regularly assibilate a following /t/ to /s/, which thus primarily is relevant in conjunction with intransitive participial endings, i.e. the mood marker {ðu}, where /niqðu/ ⇒ /niqtu/ ⇒ /niqsu/.


Meanings and examples

Used to express a question or wondering.

  • aperaanga ilaasinnaanersunga, he asked me whether perhaps I could come along.

    The affix occurs in the object clause ilaasinnaanersunga, 'whether perhaps I can come along'. The ending is the intransitive participial 1sg ending V{ðuŋa}, where the /i/ assibilates the /ð/ to /s/.

  • sumut ilinerai aperiartussajuk, Go over and ask him where (I wonder) he (may have) put them [11]

    The affix occurs in ilinerai, from ilivaa, 'he places it (somewhere -mut)'. The ending is transitive participial 3sg/3pl V{gəi}, indicating that the subject of the object-clause sumut ilinerai is different from the subject of the main-clause aperiartussajuk.

  • pissanerpunga?, should I do it (I wonder)? [11]

    I.e.: 'I wonder whether I should do it or not?'

  • toqqoraluarnerpai?, (I wonder) whether he might have hidden them? [11]
  • tikeqinerami, (I wonder) whether he already has arrived? [11]

    This example illustrates that V{niq}V even follows emphatic V{-qə}V.

  • tikinnersorluunniit tikinnginnersorluunniit tusanngilara, I have not heard whether he has arrived or whether he has not arrived [9]
  • takunnginneramikku, perhaps because they had not seen it? [11]

    Or: 'might they maybe not have seen it?'.