MOFO - Details

Details

General

Morphemic form:	{əlma}
New orthography:	imma, immannguaq, immaralaannguaq, immaralaarsuaq, immakanneq, immatsiaq, immaannaq
Old orthography:	ingma, ingmánguaĸ, ingmaralãnguaĸ, ingmaralârssuaĸ, ingmakáneĸ, ingmatsiaĸ, ingmaínaĸ
Sources:	[MFSJLK10], [SK71], [CWSL58], [JP67], [CBBJRPIKJR97]
Combinations:	View list

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this particle is 'a little', or, according to Kleinschmidt [SK71], 'briefly', albeit this temporal meaning is rarer. Despite being a particle, it may be used with a few, diminutive affixes, according to the examples in Kleinschmidt [SK71], Schultz-Lorentzen [CWSL58], and Ordbogeeraq [JP67]. These are:

{əlma} + N{ŋŋuaq}N ⇒ immannguaq, 'a little'. This is the most common.
{əlma} + N{-ralaaq}N + N{ŋŋuaq}N ⇒ immaralaannguaq, 'a tiny bit'.
{əlma} + N{-ralaaq}N + N{(q)cuaq}N ⇒ immaralaarsuaq, 'rather little; not a lot'.
{əlma} + N{-kanniq}N ⇒ immakanneq, 'a little'.
{əlma} + N{tciaq}N ⇒ immatsiaq, 'a little!', 'quietly!', as an exclamation.
{əlma} + N{-(g)innaq}N ⇒ immaannaq, 'just a little'.

Despite being used with nominal affixes, we still record this stem as a particle, rather than as a noun stem, because it has limited combination potential with noun-attaching affixes, and it is never used with nominal endings. It is never inflected; its meaning is adverbial.

Meanings and examples

Most commonly with N{ŋŋuaq}N.

Tags: Uncategorised

immannguaq apivoq, it has only snowed a little bit [SK71]
immaralaarannguaq inuuvoq, he is only living a tiny bit [SK71]

I.e., he is almost dead.
immannguaq najorpara, I was only with him briefly [SK71]

Here, the meaning is temporal.

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.