Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {aki}N |
| New orthography: | aki, akit |
| Old orthography: | ake, akit |
| Sources: | [MFSJLK10], [SK71], [JP67], [CWSL58], [CBBJRPIKJR97] |
| Combinations: | View list |
| Variants: | {aki}V |
| Right sandhi: | Assibilation (t⇒s) |
| Inflection sandhi: | Default/none, p-declined |
| Stem type: | Vowel stem |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
According to Kleinschmidt [SK71], the core meaning of this stem is 'opposite'. However, it is used in a variety of more specialised senses:
- Verbally, it denotes 'answer', cf. {aki}V. The logic here seems to be that the one you give an answer will be standing opposite of you.
- 'Price'. Seemingly, because the price paid for an item is its equivalent or 'opposite' in value.
- 'Means of payment' or 'medium of exchange'. This is closely related to the meaning above: i.e. here it denotes not just the price to be paid, but also the payment itself.
- 'Opposite area', e.g. on the opposite side of a fjord (relative to where the speaker stands).
- 'Sleeping platform below the windows' (opposite of the main sleeping platform) in a traditional Inuit house. This meaning is only when the stem is used without a possessive ending.
Right sandhi:
The verbal usage has assibilation, so the nominal variant presumably does too.
Inflection
Inflection pattern:
| Stem type: | Vowel stem |
| Inflection sandhi: | Default/none, p-declined |
| Sources: | [JP67] |
Notes on inflection:
The stem inflects as an ordinary vowel stem with p-declension. As this is entirely regular, we do not give a full inflection paradigm.
Meanings and examples
Either in the sense of: 'the price to be paid', or 'the amount paid'.
- tassa terianniap akia, this is the price (payment received) for a fox
[SK71]
This meaning is only mentioned in Kleinschmidt [SK71] and Schultz-Lorentzen [CWSL58], so it might not be used in this sense nowadays.
- tamassa Nuup akia, this is the land across from Nuuk
[SK71]
- Narsaq Ikigaat akianniippoq, Narsaq is (located) across from Ikigaat
[SK71]
I.e. on the opposite side of the fjord.
- akitsinni illuliorput, they are building a house across from us
[SK71]
E.g. on the opposite side of a fjord.
Search the corpus for further examples.
Tags
- Semantic categorisation / Uncategorised
- Semantic categorisation / Nominal bases / Places
- Grammatical features / Spatial/positional noun
References
- [MFSJLK10] Michael Fortescue, Steven Jacobson, Lawrence Kaplan (2010): Comparative Eskimo Dictionary (2ED).
- [SK71] Samuel Kleinschmidt (1871): Den grønlandske Ordbog.
- [JP67] Jonathan Petersen (1967): Ordbogêraĸ.
- [CWSL58] C.W. Schultz-Lorentzen (1958): Den Grønlandske Ordbog.
- [CBBJRPIKJR97] Christian Berthelsen, Birgitte Jakobsen, Robert Petersen, Inge Kleivan & Jørgen Rischel (1997): Oqaatsit.