Details

General


Morphemic form: {ujamirijak}N
New orthography: ujamerissat
Old orthography: ujameríssat
Sources: []
Combinations: View list
Right sandhi: Default/none
Inflection sandhi: Geminating
Stem type(s): Weak q-stem

Description and behaviour


Form and usage:

The meaning of this stem is 'crowd' or 'swarm' or similar. The stem is not recorded in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [22], so the origin is unknown. Given the form, it might be related to {uyamiɣ}, 'neck', although it is unclear how the present form, or its meaning, should be derived from this. Here, we assume this, and further assume that the final part is formed similar to {inuijak}N.


Inflection sandhi:

This is a weak k-stem that inflects with gemination of /j/ ⇒ [cc].


Inflection


Declension pattern:

Stem type: Weak q-stem
Declension type: p-declined
Declension sandhi: Geminating
Gemination type: j⇒cc

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography ujamerissa ujameria -, -, ujamerissat,
Old orthography ujameríssa ujameria -, -, ujameríssat,
Phonemic orthography ujamirijja ujamirija -, -, ujamirijjat,

Notes on declension:

The stem is only used in plural, so we do not record the singular forms in the inflection here. However, Kleinschmidt [14], Ordbogeeraq [18] and Schultz-Lorentzen [8, 17] all list the absolutive singular form ujameriak, albeit this is likely just for showing the stem form, which would be used if affixes were to be added.


Meanings and examples


The stem is only used in plural.

  • ujameriassuit, an enormous crowd. [14]

    From {ujamirijak}N + N{(q)cuaq}N, which reveals the un-geminated form of the stem, due to the addition of the affix, and also illustrates that this stem in fact is a k-stem (since we get 'ss', and not 'rs', at the boundary between the two morphemes).


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