Details

General

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this stem is 'harpoon shaft'.

According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [22], the reconstructed historical form is {unəʀaʀ}, where the /ʀ/ appears to have dropped at some point, causing the /ə/ to take the sound [a]. The dropped consonant may optionally resurface during inflection where it geminates to /rr/, which here takes the sound [χχ]. Hence, we indicate this dropped consonant as (r) in the morphemic form.

Note that even when /r/ resurfaces, the preceding vowel (which historically was /ə/) still retains the sound [a]. Thus, we record it as /a/ here, rather than as /ə/.

Inflection sandhi:

According to Kleinschmidt [14] and Schultz-Lorentzen [8], this stem may optionally decline with gemination of the unwritten consonant (r), which geminates to /rr/, pronounced [χχ] and spelt 'rr'. This may also be seen in some (lexicalised) combinations with /VC/ dropping affixes that cause compensatory gemination in the stem, for example unarrerfik from {una(r)aq}N + N{-liq}V + V{(v)vik}N, where N{-liq}V has caused the final /aq/ to drop, together with its own initial /l/, which has triggered compensatory gemination of the unwritten /r/ to /rr/.

However, Kleinschmidt also remarks that this only happens sometimes, i.e. presumably this inflection pattern is not used by all speakers. Likewise, Ordbogeeraq [18] does not record this inflection with gemination, but instead records the stem as an ordinary weak q-stem with p-declension, i.e. unaaq, unaat. Here, we only record the special inflection with gemination, since the other is regular.

Inflection

Declension pattern:

Notes on declension:

This is the inflection with injection and gemination of /r/ to [χχ].

Meanings and examples

Tags

• Thematic grouping / Hunting