Details

General

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This stem denotes a whale of the Monodontidae family. There are two subtypes, distinguished with a modifier:

• qilalugaq qaqortaq, beluga (Delphinapterus leucas).
• qilalugaq qernertaq, narwhal (Monodon monoceros).

According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [18], the historical form of this stem is {qilaluɣaq}, so the stem historically ends in /gaq/, which is also the most common form today. However, in older dictionaries and grammars using the old orthography, especially Kleinschmidt [10] and Schultz-Lorentzen [13, 5], it was usually spelt with a 'v' instead, i.e. ĸilaluvaĸ (Kleinschmidt calls the spelling with g 'provincial'). This 'v' nevertheless still geminates to [kk], spelt 'vk', thus revealing that the underlying phoneme in fact is /g/. This pattern is seen in a number of stems, cf. e.g. {iqalugaq}N and {uugaq}N.

Inflection sandhi:

The stem has regular gemination of /g/ to [kk]. Even in the old orthography, where this was spelt ĸilaluvaĸ, the stem still had gemination of this /v/ to [kk], spelt 'vk', thus revealing that this phoneme in fact is a /g/. This pattern was apparently standard for stems ending in -vaĸ, according to Schultz-Lorentzen [5].

Inflection

Declension pattern:

Notes on declension:

We include the old orthography declension with '-vaĸ' ⇒ '-vka', although the spelling nowadays is most commonly with '-gaq'.

Meanings and examples