Details

General

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

According to [MFSJLK10], the meaning of this morpheme is/was 'must'. The authors propose that it is a combination of +{jar}V + +{ŋqar}V. However, given the meaning, I believe this is an error or a simple typing mistake, and that it actually should be +{jar}N + +{ŋqar}V. I therefore record the present affix as that combination accordingly.

The authors give no explanation of the initial /gi/, but similar to +{giaq}V, it seems likely that the initial part may be from +{ki}V, which in PI would have become {gi}, with a weakening of the /k/. The /j/ would then have become inaudible, and therefore not written, although it can show up in some derived forms in some of the daughter languages, e.g. in Kalaallisut V{-rijaq}N.

We posit this as an hypothesis and record +{ki}V as the initial segment here, but we follow the convention of the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [MFSJLK10] of not writing the /j/ after the /i/ in the morphemic form of the present affix, even though a reflex of it still can appear in the daughter languages.

Meanings and examples

Search the corpus for further examples.

References

• [MFSJLK10] Michael Fortescue, Steven Jacobson, Lawrence Kaplan (2010): Comparative Eskimo Dictionary (2ED).