Details

General

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The basic meaning of this stem is 'toe'. According to Kleinschmidt [10], it can (rarely) also be used to denote 'fingers', in a possessive construction with assak, 'hand', i.e. assaap inuai etc. Lastly, as a derived meaning, it can also denote 'draughtsman; checker piece', because the finger bones of seals used to be used as game pieces.

Etymology

The stem appears to have been formed from an old combination of {inuk}N and N{-aq}N, according to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [18]. In older dictionaries, such as Kleinschmidt [10], it is therefore also recorded as inuaq (old orthography: inuvaĸ), i.e. as a q-stem, cf. the variant form {inuvaq}N. However, for unknown reasons, it has lately come to be regarded as a k-stem instead.

Similar to several other old combinations of N{-aq}N and a k-stem, the /k/ was not removed but instead weakened to /g/, and this /g/ (in the combination /uga/) was then further fronted to /v/, which is unwritten in the new orthography. In other cases, this consonant is still written as a /g/ in the morphemic form, cf. e.g. {iqalugaq}N and {uugaq}N, because it still behaves as /g/ during inflection. However, this is not the case for the present stem, cf. the inflection sandhi section below. There seems to have been a further change of this consonant from /v/ (unwritten due to the sound and spelling rules), to a completely dropped consonant, that only appears in gemination as [cc]. In the present form, this unwritten consonant is therefore indicated as (j) in the morphemic form.

Inflection sandhi:

Because of the etymology and the strange change of the stem-final consonant to /k/, this stem has two different inflection patterns:

• The stem can inflect like a regular k-stem with up-declension. This is likely the most common inflection pattern today.
• Alternatively, the stem can inflect like a weak k-stem with gemination of the /v/, probably as a reflection of the fact that this stem originally was a weak q-stem. Here, a second complication arises:
  • Because the unwritten consonant (previously written as /v/) historically was a /g/, it can also geminate like a /g/, i.e. become [kk], even though this consonant is now treated as /v/ and therefore not even written in the new orthography. Thus, when viewed in the new orthography, we get the strange pattern 'ua' ⇒ 'ukka', or, when written in the old orthography: 'uva' ⇒ 'uvka'. This pattern is described in Schultz-Lorentzen [5], but for the q-stem variant. We therefore record this pattern under the variant {inuvaq}N instead.
  • Alternatively, the unwritten consonant may geminate to [cc], similar to stems such as {aju(j)aq}N and N{-ru(j)aq}N, maybe by influence from stems containing N{-ijak}N.

There may be some confusion between the two forms /inu(j)ak/ and /inuvaq/, with mixing of the two inflection patterns, so it is not unlikely that some speakers also may inflect them as inuak, inukkat and inuaq, inussat instead. However, these irregular patterns are not described in Ordbogeeraq [14], so we do not record them here.

Inflection

Declension pattern:

Notes on declension:

This is the regular inflection, where the stem inflects as a regular k-stem with up-declension. This inflection is mentioned as one alternative in Ordbogeeraq [14].

Declension pattern:

Notes on declension:

This is the second inflection mentioned in Ordbogeeraq [14], where the stem inflects as a weak k-stem with gemination. This inflection is irregular, because the gemination phoneme seemingly is /v/ in the old orthography, which is unwritten due to the new orthography (although it were written in the old orthography), but the geminated consonant nevertheless becomes [cc], rather than the usual [ff] or [pp].

Meanings and examples