MOFO - Details

Details

General

Morphemic form:	N{'-i}
New orthography:	-i
Old orthography:	-e
Sources:	[7, 11]
Combinations:	View list
Left sandhi:	Truncative, /VC/ deleting, /aq/ deleting

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This is an archaic variant of the absolutive 4sg/sg possessive ending. According to Christian Rasmussen [7], it could be used interchangeably with the ordinary absolutive 4sg/sg ending, N{ni}, but the later grammars by Schultz-Lorentzen and Bjørnum [8, 10] do not mention it at all, and Nielsen [11] marks it as non-productive. However, there are several lexicalised nouns listed in the Oqaatsit dictionary [19], which are formed with this ending; for example erni, 'his own son'; arni, 'his own mother'; qaanni, 'his own kayak' etc. These seem especially to be words of personal significance.

Left sandhi:

According to Christian Rasmussen [7], this ending is not used on stems ending on 'u', 'oq', 'k' or 't', which instead always would use N{ni}. However, this rule may not be quite as clear-cut, since there is at least one example, náine (naanni), 'his own little sister', which is from a k-stem, {najak}N. He even mentions some counter-examples himself; ĸivke (qikki), 'his own blanket', and páne (panni), 'his own daughter'. Thus, it should perhaps rather be regarded as a rule of thumb.

Besides the above, this ending also has a rather complex left-sandhi behaviour:

The ending is truncative, like all other vowel-initial endings.
On stems that decline with metathesis, this ending will also trigger metathesis. Thus, these forms become indistinguishable from the absolutive possessive 3sg/pl form.
On other (i.e. non-metathetic) stems, the ending is /VC/ deleting, which will trigger compensatory gemination in the stem if possible. If the stem normally declines with gemination, the geminating consonant (which will be right before this ending after /VC/ deletion) will behave similar to when it geminates before a consonant-initial ending. This is also observed in stems with strange gemination patterns, and also cases where the geminating consonant is not written.
Furthermore, even vowel stems, that geminate, may also lose their stem-final vowel and geminate with this ending.
The ending may even trigger compensatory gemination in stems that do not normally geminate.
When no gemination is possible, because the consonant before the final /VC/ is long (i.e. a consonant cluster), the ending will just delete /VC/.
On stems with /aq/ drop, this ending may also delete /aq/. Thus, these forms too become indistinguishable from the absolutive possessive 3sg/pl form.

See the examples below for instances of these rules. Sometimes there may even be disagreement about which of these rules to apply; for example Nielsen [11] lists atii, tuppi, from {atəq}N and {tupəq}N (the first with plain truncativity, the second with /VC/ drop and gemination), whereas Rasmussen [7] has arĸe, tovĸe (i.e. aqqi, toqqi), both formed with metathesis. This might reflect a change in the use of metathesis in inflections (which generally seems to be dying out), or the preference of using gemination and /VC/ drop might be to better distinguish this form from the absolutive 3sg/pl possessive form. However, if the latter were the case, we should expect to also see the form *atti from {atəq}N, rather than atii.

Meanings and examples

Archaic, but may be seen in older texts, and in some common (lexicalised) expressions today.

uii, her (own) husband [11]

From {uvi}N. Here the ending behaves just ordinarily truncative.
atii, his own name [11]

From {atəq}N. This example is strange, since the ending neither causes gemination, nor triggers metathesis. Ordbogeeraq [17] lists this form as a variant of arĸi, i.e. aqqi, the metathesised form. Earlier dictionaries and grammars, such as Rasmussen [7] list only the metathesised form.
aqqi, his own name [7]

From {atəq}N. This is the metathesised form, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
toqqi, his own tent [7]

From {tupəq}N, spelt tovĸe in the old orthography. This is the metathesised form, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
qikki, his own blanket [7]

From {qipək}N, spelt ĸivke in the old orthography. This is the metathesised form with a rare case of k-metathesis, and here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
orngi, his own armpit [11]

From {unəq}N. This is the metathesised form, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
qarngi, his own mouth [11]

From {qanəq}N. This is the metathesised form, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
-kki, his own Vb'ed thing

From the /gaq/ form of the passive participle V{-ðaq}N. For example, Rasmussen [7] mentions nâlagke (naalakki) from {naalagaq}N, and Nielsen [11] mentions atuakki from {atuvagaq}N. Thus, here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination.
talli, his own arm [7]

From {taliq}N, spelt tatdli in the old orthography. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination.
oqaatsi, his own word [7]

From {uqausiq}N, spelt oĸautse in the old orthography. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination.
-Vqqi, his own small N [7]

From {-Vraq}NN, spelt -Vrĸi in the old orthography. Specifically, Rasmussen [7] gives the example saveeqqi from saveeraq, 'small knife'. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination.
qaanni, his own kayak

From {qajaq}N, spelt ĸáine in the old orthography. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination, in this case still according to the highly atypical gemination pattern of this stem.
niaqqi, his own head [7]

From {niaquq}N, spelt niarĸe in the old orthography. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination (as standard for this stem).
panni, his own daughter [7]

From {panik}N, spelt páne in the old orthography. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination, even though this stem does not normally decline with gemination.
kammi, his own boot [11]

From {kamək}N. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination, even though this stem does not normally decline with gemination, but rather with metathesis.
tuppi, his own tent [11]

From {tupəq}N. Here the ending caused /VC/ drop and compensatory gemination, even though this stem does not normally decline with gemination, but rather with metathesis. In contrast, Rasmussen [7] gives the metathesised form, tovĸe, i.e. toqqi instead.
nissi, his own leg [11]

From {niju}N. Here the ending caused the final /V/ to drop, similar to the /VC/ drop pattern, even though this is not a consonant stem.
tuffi, his own shoulder [11]

From {tuvi}N. Here the ending caused the final /V/ to drop, similar to the /VC/ drop pattern, even though this is not a consonant stem.
kiffi, his own maidservant [7]

From {kəgvaq}N, spelt kivfi in the old orthography. Here, the preceding syllable has a consonant cluster, so no gemination is possible.
erni, his own son [7]

From {iqnəq}N. Here, the preceding syllable has a consonant cluster, so no gemination is possible.
-ssi, his own future N [11]

From {kcaq}N, spelt '-ssi in the old orthography. For example, Nielsen [11] gives the example nuliassi, 'his own future wife', from nuliassaq. Here, the preceding syllable has a consonant cluster, so no gemination is possible.
aappi, his own partner [11]

From {aippaq}N. Here, the preceding syllable has a consonant cluster, so no gemination is possible.
arni, his own mother [11]

From {aqnaq}N. Here, the preceding syllable has a consonant cluster, so no gemination is possible.
-nngui, his own (cute) little N [11]

From N{ŋŋuaq}N. Specifically, Nielsen [11] gives the example erninngui, 'his own little son', from erninnguaq. Here the ending caused aq-drop, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
nulii, his own wife [11]

From {nuliaq}N. Here the ending caused aq-drop, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.
umii, his own (women's) boat [11]

From {umiaq}N. Here the ending caused aq-drop, so here the ending behaves like the absolutive 3sg/pl ending N{-i}.