Details

General

Morphemic form: N{sijaq}N
New orthography: +siaq
Old orthography: -siaĸ
Sources: [CBBJRPIKJR97], [CWSL58]
Combinations: View list
Constituents: N{si}V + V{-ðaq}N
Left sandhi: Default
Right sandhi: /aq/ drop
Inflection sandhi: Weak stem, Default/none, p-declined
Stem type: q-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this affix is 'a bought/found/encountered N'. It is an old combination of N{si}V, 'acquire/encounter N' and the passive participle V{-ðaq}N, seemingly with a weakening of /ð/ to /j/, which appears to have been common on vowel stems (meaning that it in practice is not written because of the preceding /i/).

Note that the incorporated N of N{si}V here appears to be equated with a Patient role, despite the fact that the affix is normally used with intransitive endings, and it is this Patient role that the resulting 'passivised' noun refers to.


Right sandhi:

Right sandhi is inherited from the right-most component, V{-ðaq}N. See this for details.


Inflection

Inflection pattern:

Stem type: q-stem
Inflection sandhi: Weak stem, Default/none, p-declined

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography +sia +sia +siaq, +siap, +siat
Phonemic orthography sija sija sijaq, sijap, sijat

Notes on inflection:

The declension here is without gemination. However, like N{-lijaq}N, it is possible that the unwritten /j/, which is a reflex of /ð/ also might geminate, but in the absence of examples to attest this, we do not record an inflection with gemination.


Meanings and examples

Or 'bought'. From the first, more common meaning of N{si}V.

  • amersiaq, an acquired piece of fur/pelt [CBBJRPIKJR97]
  • appasiaq, an acquired appa [CBBJRPIKJR97]

    A type of Greenlandic bird (uria lomvia).

  • immussiaq, some milk one has bought [CBBJRPIKJR97]
  • iputisiaq, an oar one has bought [CBBJRPIKJR97]
  • qajarsiaa, the kayak he has bought [CWSL58]

    With Absolutive 3sg/sg possessive ending N{-a}.

  • nunasiara, the piece of land I have acquired [CWSL58]

    I.e., the place I have chosen to live, with Absolutive 1sg/sg N{-ga}.

  • allagarsiatit, the letter you have received [CWSL58]

    With Absolutive 2sg/pl ending N{-tət}. Note: 'letter' is plural, even when singular is meant.

  • ernersiaq, foster-care son [CWSL58]

    Or stepson etc, literally 'an acquired son'.

  • inussiaq, slave [CWSL58]

    Literally 'a human that has been bought'.

From the second, less common meaning of N{si}V.

  • inussiaq, a person one has encountered [CBBJRPIKJR97]
  • nersutisiaq, a (land-dwelling) mammal one has encountered [CBBJRPIKJR97]
  • qajarsiaq, a kayaker one has seen [CBBJRPIKJR97]

    Or a kayak (the kayak and the man sailing in it are commonly equated).

  • puisisiaq, a seal one has seen [CBBJRPIKJR97]
  • sikusiaq, some ice one has seen [CBBJRPIKJR97]

Search the corpus for further examples.


References