Details

General

Morphemic form: {ilulijaq}N
New orthography: iluliaq, ilulissat
Old orthography: iluliaĸ, ilulíssat
Sources: [SK71], [JP67], [CWSL58], [CBBJRPIKJR97]
Combinations: View list
Right sandhi: Default/none
Inflection sandhi: Geminating
Stem type(s): Weak q-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this stem is 'iceberg'. In plural, Ilulissat, is also the name of a town in Nord-West Greenland (literally 'icebergs').

According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [MFSJLK10], it derives from a morpheme {iluliʀaʀ}, where the single inter-syllabic /ʀ/ has dropped at some point. The /j/ occurring in this position in the present form does not reflect an historical phoneme, but is simply inserted to make the geminated form, where /cc/ occurs, be regular. In the new orthography, /ij/ is written as 'i', so the single /j/ never appears in writing.


Inflection

Declension pattern:

Stem type: Weak q-stem
Declension type: p-declined
Declension sandhi: Geminating
Gemination type: j⇒cc

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography ilulissa ilulia iluliaq, ilulissap, ilulissat,
Phonemic orthography ilulijja ilulija ilulijaq, ilulijjap, ilulijjat,


Meanings and examples

Name of a town in West Greenland

  • Ilulissanukarpoq, he travels to Ilulissat

    Note that the plural form of the allative verbalisation is used here, because the name of the town is plural.


References