Details

General

Morphemic form: V{təq}V
New orthography: +terpoq
Old orthography: -terpâ
Sources: [19, 16]
Combinations: View list
Variants: N{təq}V
Left sandhi: t-truncative
Right sandhi: Default/none
Inflection sandhi: Default/none
Stem type: q-stem
Diathesis: None
Valency: Preserving
HTR-morphemes: V{ði}V

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this affix is 'Vb gradually', Or 'step by step', 'one by one' etc. It is a verbal variant of the verbalising affix N{təq}V, 'smear with N'. According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [21], they derive from the same morpheme, although their meanings seem to be only vaguely related: smearing something with N is presumably done gradually/in stages.


Left sandhi:

The affix is normally additive, but it may be truncative on t-stems, similar to V{tət}V. This is in particular seen in the combination with this aforementioned affix, i.e. V{tətəq}V, where the final /t/ indeed was deleted. However, this behaviour is likely not productive nowadays.


Right sandhi:

When this affix is followed by a vowel-initial affix (most notably V{-(cc)utə}N or V{-(cc)ut(ə)}V, it will not be able to delete the final /q/ and expose the /ə/. Thus, this combination will yield

similar to how a nominal strong q-stem would behave. Likewise, this affix uses the {-i} variant of the HTR-morpheme V{ði}V as usual with a q-stem, but this too will not remove the final /q/, but instead weaken it to /r/, so we obtain the HTR-form /təri/.


Notable forms:

Meanings and examples

Or 'step by step', 'one by one' etc.

  • aterterpoq, he descends gradually/step by step

    From aterpoq, 'he descends'.

  • aserorterpaa, he crushes/grinds it

    E.g. coffee beans in a coffee grinder.

  • kangujarterpoq, he moves further into the living room

    From kangujarpoq, he goes into the living room

  • sinerparterpoq, he goes further out towards the sea.

    Or 'towards the edge' of something.

  • sinerparteruppaa, he brings it down to the edge of the sea

    With V{-ut(ə)}V, illustrating that /q/ is not removed but weakened to /r/.