Details

General

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this affix is unclear.

• Kleinschmidt [9] translates it as 'Agent causes Patient to be (or be treated as) an N'.
• Schultz-Lorentzen [11] translates it as 'Agent tries to get an N for Patient'.

Here we record only Schultz-Lorentzen's definition, since it has an example that seems to fit with the proposed meaning.

The affix is not recorded in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [16], so the origin is also unclear. Given the meaning, it may be related to V{si}V, 'become', but if so, it does not explain why the affix here attaches to a noun stem. Alternatively, it may be related to N{si}V, here in the sense of 'find', which also seems to fit with the meaning given by Schultz-Lorentzen. It may even be that the present affix in fact is two affixes, derived from both of the aforementioned affixes, and which then have fallen together into the same form. In any case, neither of these hypotheses explain what the final /q/ is. Thus, we do not record the present affix as a combination.

Meanings and examples