Details

General

Morphemic form: V{na}
New orthography: +na
Old orthography: -na
Sources: [CR88], [CWSL51], [SB03], [FAJN19]
Combinations: View list
Ancestor(s): +{na}V (PE)
Left sandhi: Default

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This is a variant 2sg imperative ending. It is less immediate than V{-git}, i.e. it pushes the command a little into the future, and it is therefore usually also considered more polite than the immediate imperative.

It is often also used in various well-wishes, especially with V{(l)luaq}V, which are expressed with the imperative. Compare e.g. the following:

In the second case, the person is not immediately about to fall asleep, and therefore the present ending is the proper one to use. Here are some further examples:

Note that V{na} is commonly used in conjunction with V{gi}V, which also indicates a future meaning. However, the present ending may also be used without V{gi}V with the same, future meaning. The previous examples could also be sinilluarna, nerilluarna, weekendisiorluarna with no difference in meaning.

Etymology
According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [MFSJLK10], the present ending is historically actually an affix, +{na}V, which also is found as a component in some other lexicalised affixes. Thus, it might actually be considered as an affix in Kalaallisut, with a null-morpheme marking the mood and person. However, in this imperative usage, it is never followed by other affixes, so in line with the standard grammars, we also consider it as an ending here.


Meanings and examples

Less immediate than V{-git}.


Search the corpus for further examples.


References