MOFO - Examples

Examples

Meaning

the Vb'ing of Possessor

Notes

When used with possessive endings on divalent stems. This can either be understood in an active or passive sense:

If the stem is non-patient preserving, or if there is a HTR-morpheme, then the meaning is active; i.e. 'Possessor's (act of) Vb'ing'. Thus Possessor will be understood as the Agent of the verbal action.
If the stem is patient-preserving, and there is no HTR-morpheme, then the meaning is passive; i.e. 'Possessor's (act of) being Vb'ed.' Thus Possessor will be understood as the Patient of the verbal stem.

If the action is future, this is often expressed by adding the nominal future affix N{kcaq}N to V{nəq}N, before the possessive ending, rather than adding V{ssa}V to the verbal stem before V{nəq}N.

Kalaallisut	Translation	Notes
Piitap tikinnissaa qilaanaaraara	I'm looking forward to Piitaq's (future) arrival	From {təkit}V{nəq}N{kcaq}N{-a}. {təkit}V, 'arrive', is a non-patient-preserving stem, so no HTR-morpheme is required: The meaning is active, Piitap is the `Agent`.
Piitap toqunnera	the killing of Piitaq	{tuqut}V is a patient-preserving stem, and since there is no HTR-morpheme, Piitaq is therefore understood as the `Patient` of the action; i.e. he is killed (by someone).
Piitap toqutsinera	the kill(ing) of Piitaq	Here there is a HTR-morpheme {ði}, so the meaning is now active; i.e. Piitaq is here understood as the one who performs the act of killing.

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