Valency

The valency of a verbal stem denotes the number of logical (semantic) roles in the verbal action. This is an inherent feature of the stem (determined by its meaning). Greenlandic verbs can have one of has five different valencies, from valency 0 (avalent) to valency 4 (quadrovalent).

• Avalent stems can only take endings intransitive endings, and usually only 3.sg (or 4.sg) with no explicit specification of the subject. The person marker in the ending denotes a dummy subject 'it', such as e.g. siallerpoq, 'it rains'.

• Monovalent stems can only take intransitive endings, but with any person.

• Divalent stems will normally require a transitive ending. If it is given an intransitive ending, without an intervening HTR-morpheme, it may change the diathesis/voice of the verb, so it may become reflexive or passive.

• Trivalent and quadrovalent stems are like divalent stems in that they also usually take transitive endings, which indicate the Agent and Patient roles of the verbal action. The other logical roles are not denoted explicitly in the verb ending, but they may optionally be specified with a noun in the allative an/or instrumental case.

• Some affixes can increase the valency of the stem they are affixed to. These are marked as valency-increasing. Thus, they can turn a monovalent stem into a divalent stem, etc.

• Some affixes will reduce the valency of the stem they are affixed to, and they are therefore marked as valency-reducing. Thus, they can e.g. make a divalent stem monovalent (usually changing the meaning to passive), or even in some cases avalent.

• Most affixes do not affect the valency of the stem. Hence, they are marked as valency-preserving.

Besides verbal stems, we can also classify the valency of affixes, because they can affect the valency of the stem they are attached to. We have the following classifications:

• Preserving: Most affixes do not affect the number of logical roles in the verbal action, so attaching any of these affixes will leave the valency unaltered, which is indicated by this classification.

• Increasing: The affix increases the valency by adding a new role to the verbal relation. We subdivide these, depending on which role they add:

  • Agent-increasing: The affix adds a new Agent role to the relation. If the stem is monovalent, the result is a divalent stem; usually with the Actor role of the stem equated with the Patient role of the affix. However, if the stem is divalent, the affix may 'shadow' (hide) the underlying Agent role of the stem, and the Agent of the affix then becomes the Agent of the combined stem. This can produce a so-called double-transitive construction.

  • Patient-increasing: The affix adds a new Patient role to the relation. If the stem is monovalent, the result is divalent; usually with the Actor role of the stem equated with the Agent role of the affix. However, if the stem is divalent, the affix may shadow the underlying Patient role. There are even further possible complications, if the underlying stem is trivalent; see especially the affix V{-(cc)ut(ə)}V and related affixes for these constructions.

• Decreasing: The affix decreases the valency by removing one or more roles from the verbal relation. Some affixes, especially V{naq}V, may remove any or all roles, thus producing an avalent stem, but other affixes will only remove a specific role, and they can therefore only be used if the underlying stem contains that role. We subdivide these depending on the role they remove:

  • Agent-decreasing: The affix removes the Agent role from the relation. This will necessarily promote the Patient role to Subject, so these affixes are passivising; see especially the affixes V{nəqaq}V and V{-ðau}V.

  • Patient-decreasing: The affix removes the Patient role from the relation. This can be used to give a divalent stem intransitive form, but without making the verb passive or reflexive, in case the diathesis of the stem is patient-preserving. This is called the anti-passive construction.