Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {qaŋa} |
| New orthography: | qanga |
| Old orthography: | ĸanga |
| Sources: | [MFSJLK10], [SK71], [CR93], [CWSL58], [JP67], [CBBJRPIKJR97] |
| Combinations: | View list |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
This particle has multiple meanings:
- It may be used as a question particle, denoting 'when?' (in the past).
- It may also just denote a point of time in the past (when not used in a question).
- Christian Rasmussen [CR93] also mentions a completely different meaning, 'how Vb
Actoris!'. This is an emphasis construction with taamak (anaphoric/prefixed, exclamatory form of {im}D, cf. {ima}), and usually with V{-qə}V on the verb and an interrogative mood ending. However, this meaning does not appear in later dictionaries, so it is possibly not used in this sense nowadays. See V{ŋŋuaqci}N for a similar meaning.
Meanings and examples
- qanga tikippat, when did they arrive?
[SK71]
- qanga pinerpoq, when (I wonder) was that?
[SK71]
With taamak and usually with V{-qə}V on the verb and an interrogative mood ending.
- qanga taamak pinneqaa, how beautiful it is!
[CR93]
- qanga taamak kukkutoqaa, how wrongly he behaves!
[CR93]
- qanga taamak-uku pilluaqaat, how joyous they are!
[CR93]
- qanga taamak-ikku eqiasoqinerpat, how lazy they are!
[CR93]
- qanga taamak-una nallinnaqinerpa, what a poor wretch he is!
[CR93]
Or: how terrible for him!
Search the corpus for further examples.
Tags
References
- [MFSJLK10] Michael Fortescue, Steven Jacobson, Lawrence Kaplan (2010): Comparative Eskimo Dictionary (2ED).
- [SK71] Samuel Kleinschmidt (1871): Den grønlandske Ordbog.
- [CR93] Christian Rasmussen (1893): Supplement til 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.