MOFO - Details

Details

General

Morphemic form:	{ni(g)u}V
New orthography:	niuaa, niusivoq, niuvoq
Old orthography:	niuvâ, niussivoĸ, niuvoĸ
Sources:	[MFSJLK10], [SK71], [CWSL58], [JP67], [CBBJRPIKJR97]
Combinations:	View list
Right sandhi:	Default/none
Inflection sandhi:	Default/none
Stem type:	Vowel stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This stem is the antonym of {əkə}V. According to Kleinschmidt [SK71], this stem has three different meanings, depending on whether it is used with transitive or intransitive endings:

Active: 'Agent takes Patient out (of N@ABL)' with transitive endings. This could be something taken out of a box, a boat etc., but also food ladled out of the cooking pot. The form may be made intransitive by adding a HTR morpheme without altering the meaning.
Reflexive: 'Agent=Patient takes himself out (of N@ABL)' with intransitive endings. This is normally used to express 'Actor gets out', or 'gets off', or 'disembarks' or similar, i.e. out of a boat, a car, an aeroplane etc.
Passive: 'Patient is taken out (of N@ABL)'. This meaning is not mentioned in Oqaatsit [CBBJRPIKJR97], so the stem is perhaps not used in this sense nowadays.

Etymology and form

According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [MFSJLK10], the reconstructed historical form of this stem is {nigu-}. The /g/ has generally disappeared, but we include it as a parenthetical segment (g), because it seems that a reflex of it may appear, if a geminating affix is added to this stem. For example, Ordbogeeraq [JP67] mentions

{ni(g)u}V + V{'-vigə}V + V{IND.3sg/3sg} ⇒ /nigguvigəa/ ⇒ nigguigaa

where the affix causes gemination of /g/ ⇒ /gg/.

Right sandhi:

The parenthetical segment (g) is not normally present. However, if a geminating affix is added, it may appear and geminate.

Notable forms:

HTR: {ni(g)u}V + V{ði}V ⇒ /niuci/

The HTR form is mentioned in KLeinschmidt [SK71] and in Ordbogeeraq [JP67].

Inflection

Inflection pattern:

Stem type:	Vowel stem
Inflection sandhi:	Default/none

Meanings and examples

Tags: Moving

Search the corpus for further examples.

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.
[JP67] Jonathan Petersen (1967): Ordbogêraĸ.
[CBBJRPIKJR97] Christian Berthelsen, Birgitte Jakobsen, Robert Petersen, Inge Kleivan & Jørgen Rischel (1997): Oqaatsit.