Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {sakijak}N |
| New orthography: | sakiak, sakissat |
| Old orthography: | sakiak, sakíssat |
| Sources: | [22] |
| Combinations: | View list |
| Right sandhi: | Default/none |
| Inflection sandhi: | Geminating |
| Stem type(s): | Weak k-stem |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
The meaning of this stem is 'rib', i.e. the bone with or without the meat. This can be the rib of either a human or an animal. In plural, it denotes 'chest', i.e. the chest is perceived as a collection of ribs. Thus, as with several other stems for denoting limbs of the body, this stem may have a singular meaning despite having plural form.
According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [22], the reconstructed historical form is {caki(C)aɣ}. The unknown consonant appears during inflection in Kalaallisut, where it geminates to [cc]; hence we encode this as /j/ in the morphemic form recorded here.
Inflection sandhi:
This is a weak k-stem that inflects with gemination of /j/ ⇒ [cc].
Inflection
Declension pattern:
| Stem type: | Weak k-stem |
| Declension type: | p-declined |
| Declension sandhi: | Geminating |
| Gemination type: | j⇒cc |
| Stem before consonant | Stem before vowel | Notable forms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New orthography | sakissa | sakia | sakiak, sakissap, sakissat, |
| Old orthography | sakíssa | sakia | sakiak, sakíssap, sakíssat, |
| Phonemic orthography | sakijja | sakija | sakijak, sakijjap, sakijjat, |
Meanings and examples
The meaning in singular is 'rib', but in plural it can denote 'chest', i.e. 'chest' is perceived as a collection of ribs.