Details

General

Morphemic form: {nanuq}N
New orthography: nanoq, nanu, nannut
Old orthography: nanoĸ, nanu, nánut
Sources: [SK71], [JP67], [CWSL51], [CWSL58], [CBBJRPIKJR97]
Combinations: View list
Right sandhi: Default/none
Inflection sandhi: Weak stem, Geminating, p-declined, n⇒nn
Stem type: q-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this stem is 'bear', most commonly referring to the polar bear, Ursus maritimus.

Many dictionaries [SK71], [CWSL58], [CBBJRPIKJR97] list two forms of this words, either as a q-stem, nanoq, or a vowel stem, nanu, and the forms are used interchangeably today. However, according to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [MFSJLK10], the reconstructed historic form is {nanuʀ}, i.e. with a final, uvular consonant. Thus, we here record the form with a final /q/.


Inflection

Inflection pattern:

Stem type: q-stem
Inflection sandhi: Weak stem, Geminating, p-declined, n⇒nn

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography nannu nanu nanoq, nannup, nannut
Phonemic orthography nánu nanu nanoĸ, nánup, nánut
Phonemic orthography nannu nanu nanuq, nannup, nannut


Meanings and examples


Search the corpus for further examples.


References