Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {kan}D, {kat}D |
| New orthography: | kanna, takanna, kanani, kanunga, kanannga, kanuuna, kassuma, katuma, kakkua |
| Old orthography: | kána, takána, kanane, kanunga, kanánga, kanûna, kássuma, katuma, kákua |
| Sources: | [MFSJLK10], [SK71], [CWSL58], [CWSL51], [JP67], [CBBJRPIKJR97] |
| Combinations: | View list |
| Right sandhi: | Default/none |
| Inflection sandhi: | Irregular, Demonstrative inflection |
| Stem type: | Other |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
The meaning of this demonstrative is 'down there', below the speaker, e.g. 'down by the coast'. When standing on a hill-side in West Greenland, this corresponds to 'west'.
The anaphoric, predicative/exclamatory form, takanna, has acquired a special usage in modern Kalaallisut, something like 'here you go' or 'here you are'. It is very commonly used whenever anyone hands you something, e.g. when a shopkeeper hands you the exchange money, or your receipt, or if someone hands you a cup of coffee and so on. According to common (folk?) etymology, the origin of this expression is from when a host would offer food to his guests. The food would be placed on the floor, and the host would therefore gesture towards the floor and exclaim 'takanna!', literally 'down there (it is)!', referring to the food. This usage has then been extended, such that it is now used whenever someone gives/offers you anything.
Inflection
Inflection pattern:
| Stem type: | Other |
| Inflection sandhi: | Irregular, Demonstrative inflection |
| Sources: | [SK71], [JP67], [CWSL51] |
| Stem before consonant | Stem before vowel | Notable forms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New orthography | kan | kan | kanna/takanna, kassuma/takassuma/katuma/takatuma, kakkua/takakkua, kanna/takanna, kanani/takanani, kanunga/takanunga, kanannga/takanannga, kanuuna/takanuuna |
| Old orthography | kan | kan | kána/takána, kássuma/takássuma/katuma/takatuma, kákua/takákua, kána/takána, kanane/takanane, kanunga/takanunga, kanánga/takanánga, kanûna/takanûna |
| Phonemic orthography | kan | kan | kanna/taðkanna, kancuma/takancuma/katuma/takatuma, kankua/takankua, kanna/takanna, kanani/takanani, kanuŋa/takanuŋa, kanaŋŋa/takanaŋŋa, kanuuna/takanuuna |
Notes on inflection:
The inflection generally follows the common pattern for demonstrative stems, but there are a few irregularities: When the prefix {ta(ð)}* is added, the extra consonant /ð/ is not inserted (unlike all other demonstratives beginning with a plosive consonant). In the predicative/exclamatory form (after D{a}), /n/ geminates to /nn/, and the prefix {ta(ð)}* does not suppress this gemination. Finally, in the pronominal inflection, the inflectional stem may either be built from {kan}D with {cum}, or from the alternative form {kat}D with {um}, and these may be used interchangeably. In details:
Pronominal inflection: The pronominal stem is {kan} or {kat}, and with the anaphoric prefix {ta(ð)}* it is {takan} resp. {takat} without insertion of /ð/. The absolutive singular marker is D{na} as usual. The inflectional stems are {kancum} or {katum} in singular, and {kankun} or {katkun} in plural. Notice that the pronominal absolutive singular form is equal to the predicative form.
Predicative: The exclamatory form is {kanna} (new orthography: kanna; old orthography: kána) with gemination of /n/ to /nn/. Adding the anaphoric prefix {ta(ð)}* does not affect the gemination, and /ð/ is not inserted, so the form is takanna, old orthography takána.
Adverbial inflection: The adverbial stem is {kan}. The locative, allative, ablative and vialis are formed regularly with {ani}, {uŋa}, {aŋŋa}, {uuna}.
Meanings and examples
Used whenever someone offers you something, and you accept, including food, drink, exchange money in a store, receipts, and so on.
Tags: Uncategorised
Search the corpus for further examples.
Tags
- Semantic categorisation / Demonstrative / Restricted
- Semantic categorisation / Demonstrative / Closer to speaker
- Semantic categorisation / Demonstrative / Downwards
- Semantic categorisation / Uncategorised
References
- [MFSJLK10] Michael Fortescue, Steven Jacobson, Lawrence Kaplan (2010): Comparative Eskimo Dictionary (2ED).
- [SK71] Samuel Kleinschmidt (1871): Den grønlandske Ordbog.
- [CWSL58] C.W. Schultz-Lorentzen (1958): Den Grønlandske Ordbog.
- [CWSL51] C.W. Schultz-Lorentzen (1951): Det Vestgrønlandske Sprog.
- [JP67] Jonathan Petersen (1967): Ordbogêraĸ.
- [CBBJRPIKJR97] Christian Berthelsen, Birgitte Jakobsen, Robert Petersen, Inge Kleivan & Jørgen Rischel (1997): Oqaatsit.