Details

General

Morphemic form: V{niraq}V
New orthography: +nerarpaa
Old orthography: -nerarpâ
Sources: [14, 11]
Combinations: Click here
Left sandhi:
Default,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: Reflexive (BP)
Valency:
Agent increasing,
HTR morpheme: ði
HTR stem: nirai,

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This is a valency-increasing affix: it adds new roles to the relation, and it can form so-called 'double-transitive' verbs, if used on a divalent-stem. See further the general description of these constructions here: Double-transitive constructions.

This affix is one of the few that may even follow the sentential segment of a verb. It is seemingly never used with a HTR-morpheme.

It can be added to both monovalent and divalent stems, which however affects the meaning slightly differently:


Meanings and examples

And 'Agent says that he (himself) Vb' when used with intransitive endings.

  • apinerarpaa, he says it is snowing [14]

    The 3sg object is here the 'dummy' object 'it', which refers to the Actor of the underlying, avalent stem apivoq, 'it is snowing'.

  • suli tikissimannginnerarpaat, they say (that) he has not arrived yet [11]

    Here 3sg object 'he' refers to the Agent of the underlying divalent, agentive stem tikippaa, 'he arrives at it'. Hence, the reading here is that the stem first drops its Patient role and thus behaves like a monovalent stem tikippoq, 'he has arrived'. Then the subject of this stem (Agent=Actor) is then mapped to the Patient role of the affix.

  • takunerarpara, I said that I saw him; I said that he was seen (by someone)

    From the underlying divalent stem taku-, i.e. takuara, 'I saw him'. The word is ambiguous, since it could either be the case that the Agents coincide and the Patients coincide (in which case we get the first meaning); or that they do not coincide (in which case we get the second meaning).

  • ilinnut takunerarpara, I said that he was seen by thee

    A double-transitive construction where the underlying Agent of the stem (Agent1) is different from the Agent of the affix (Agent2), and hence is not specified in the verb ending. Instead, it is added in the allative case (ilinnut). Unlike the previous example, this example is not ambiguous, because the underlying Agent is specified explicitly.

  • Nuumminngaanneernerarpoq, he said that he (himself) was from Nuuk

    And example of intransitive usage; here the meaning becomes reflexive.

  • ilisiitsuunerartagaavoq, she was rumoured to be a witch [8]

    From ilisiitsoq, 'witch' and N{-u}V, 'be', and followed by V{ðaq}V, 'habitual', and V{-ðau}V, 'passive'.

  • kalaaliunnginnerarlugu oqaatigineqarpoq, he was accused of not being a Greenlander [8]

    Literally: 'it was said of him, him being said about not being a Greenlander'. Note that the meaning 'say about' appears twice here, both in the main verb, and through the meaning of the affix in the object clause. This can seem redundant, i.e. kalaaliunani oqaatigineqarpoq should convey the same meaning, but according to Nielsen [8] the present affix may be used on the object clause, when the main clause denotes e.g. saying, speaking etc.


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