Details

General

Morphemic form: {aqnaq}N
New orthography: arnaq, arni
Old orthography: arnaĸ, arne
Sources: [10, 13, 16]
Combinations: Click here
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: Weak q-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The basic meaning of this stem is 'woman'. It can sometimes also denote 'female' of an animal, although this usage is less common.

However, with a possessive ending, or the verbal possessive affix N{-gə}V, it can also denote 'Possessor's mother', e.g. arnaa, 'his mother' (not 'his woman'), arnaraara, 'she is my mother', and so on. If instead one actually wants to express 'his woman', in the sense of 'his girlfriend', N{-utə}N must first be added. Thus: arnaataa, 'his girlfriend'.

See also {aŋutə}N, 'man', which is used in a similar construction to express 'father'.


Inflection sandhi:

Note special 4.sg/sg possessive form arni, 'his (own) mother', with the archaic absolutive 4sg/sg ending N{'-i}, which causes the final /VC/ to drop.


Inflection

Declension pattern:

Declension type: p-declined
Declension sandhi: Default/none

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography arna arna
arnaq
arnap
arnat
arni
Phonemic orthography aqna aqna
aqnaq
aqnap
aqnat
aqni


Meanings and examples

With possessive ending or N{-gə}V, e.g. arnaa his mother; arni his (own) mother, etc. Note: this is formal language; less formally, one would just use anaana for 'mother; mom' instead.

  • Piitap arnaa, Peter's mother
  • arnaraa, she is his mother [10]

    With N{-gə}V.