The constant sound changes and the changes in word structures are so dramatic that you will not be able to recognize the words you actually know if you are not aware of the logic behind the changes. It is therefore crucial that you have the processes off by heart. That is the theme of the present chapter
Learn the new words by heart. Do not ever mess with the correct sequence of learning: Not until you move freely from the target language (Greenlandic) to English will you try to go the other way. And remember also always to speak out the words loud.
aap yes
aappaagu next year
anaana a mother
ataata a father
eqqaama- to remember it
eqqumiitsuliortoq an artist
ilinniar- to learn, to study
ilinniartitsisoq a teacher
Ilisimatusarfik Greenland's university
kunngi a king
oqaaseq (uqaa(t)siq) a word (plural = a language)
oqaasilerisoq a linguist
otteoghalvtres 58
piareer- to be ready
syvogtyve 27
suli still
taa- to mention it, to name somebody (something {±mik})
tamarmik all (subject)
tassa that is
tutsiuteqqip- to be back, (literally: to sound again)
ukioq a year, a winter
Vb+GALUAR to Vb of course but ..
N-LIRI to handle N, to deal with N
N-NNGUR to become N
Vb+TAR to Vb repeatedly
N{±mut} noun in terminal case "to N"
N{±ni} noun in local case plural or after personal endings "in/ on N"
N{±nik} noun in instrumental plural or after personal endings "with N"
Vb{+vaaŋŋa} indicative verb 3.Pl-1.Sg "they-me"
Vb{+vaat} indicative verb 3.Pl-3.Sg "they-him"
Vb{+vit} interrogative verb 2.Sg "you"
Vb{+viuk} interrogative verb 2.Sg-3.Sg "you-him"
Vb{+vugut} indicative verb 1.Pl "we"
Vb{+Tuŋa} participle 1.Sg "that I"
Hej. Tutsiuteqqippugut. Piareerpit?
Eqqaamaviuk uanga Tikamik ateqartunga? Tikaajaammik ateqaraluarpunga tamarmilli Tikamik taasarpaannga. Uanga 25-nik ukioqarpunga. Ataataga Frederimmik ateqarpoq tamarmilli Kunngimik taasarpaat. Ataata eqqumiitsuliortuuvoq. Taanna 56-inik ukioqarpoq. Anaanaga Karenimik ateqarpoq. Ilinniartitsisuuvoq. Anaana aamma 56-inik ukioqarpoq.
Uanga suli Ilisimatusarfimmi ilinniarpunga aappaaguli bachelorinngussavunga. Oqaasilerisuni ilinniarpunga tassa Institut for sprog, litteratur og medier-imi.
Gender is not a category in Greenlandic so whenever 'he' is mentioned it ALWAYS means 'he/ she/ it'.
Did you notice the two types of verbs? On the one hand we have for instance
ateqarpunga my name is
najugaqarpoq he lives
sulissavit will you work?
ilinniartunga that I study
piareerpugut we are ready
tutsiuteqqittarpunga I normally stay in touch
kalaaliuvoq he is a Greenlander
A little simplified one can say that such verbs have the structure 'SOMEBODY DOES' without mentioning the target for the doing. We are only informed about the doer and the doing. Such verbs are said to be intransitive.
On the contrary we have verbs like
ilinniartippassi I teach you
eqqaamassavaannga they will remember me
taagaluarpiuk Did you really mention it?
giving us three pieces of information: Who does (the subject) what is done (the verbal content) and the target for the doing (the object). Verbs like these are called transitive verbs.
In English the distinction between transitivity and in-transitivity is not crucial the same way as it is in Greenlandic so that you most likely will need to learn the lesson that this distinction is one you must keep in mind all the time and you might as well get acquainted to the terms right away even if they should feel a little unfamiliar in the beginning.
It is therefore important that you work your way through exercise II-1-1 and II-1-2 to ensure that you understand the principles in depth. If not you must ask your teacher or peer group for help or do some serious studying in the grammar books.
is the verb form we among other things use to make subordinate clauses in 'that' but only when the subject in the main clause is different from the subject for the participle.
'Tika thinks that Per drinks too much' (Tika the thinker ≠ Per the drinker). Ergo we have Tika thinking in the indicative mood whereas Per drinks in the participle.
'Per thinks that he does not drink too much' (The thinker = the drinker). No participle here.
Eqqaamaviuk Tikamik ateqartunga? (you ≠ Tika. Ergo 'you' remember in the indicative and Tika is called in the participle.
Quite a number of very frequent morphemes have like the participle or Vb+TAR ('uses to Vb, normally Vb') a morpheme initial variable. Fortunately the alternations are systematic and quite simple. The rule is that T turns /s/ after a vowel and /t/ after a consonant
ilinniartippassi means 'I teach you' and sulivoq means 'he works'. 'I use to teach you' and 'he uses to work' are thus new stems made with the morpheme +TAR:
/ilinniartip+TAR+vassi/ ⟹ /ilinniartiptarvassi/ (p is a consonant making T materialize as a t) ⟹ ilinniartittarpassi
/suli+TAR+vuq/ ⟹ /sulisarvuq/ (i is a vowel making T into an /s/) ⟹ sulisarpoq
Exercise II-1-3 trains these alternations. They are very important so give them what it takes.
In exercise II-1-8 you will need still another sound rule. It states that all vowels turns /a/ if they are preceded by an /a/. The rule can be formalized like this:
V ⟹ a/ a __
Here are two examples:
/arnaq-U+vugut/ ⟹ /arnauvugut/ ⟹ arnaavugut
/ataata-U+vuŋa/ ⟹ /ataatauvuŋa/ ⟹ ataataavunga
If you think you heard Tika's pronunciation of the word bachelorinngussavunga like bachelorinngussaanga you are absolutely right. Unfortunately, the explanation is rather complicated and the issue not really important so do avoid to waste too many mental resources on the question.
The fact is that a late reduction rule deletes /v/ of the indicative after Vb-SSA when – and only when – it is followed by /u/. We thus get a /u/ right next to an /a/ which in accordance with the rule above will turn the /u/ into and /a/
bachelorinngussavunga ⟹ *bachelorinngussaunga ⟹ bachelorinngussaanga
but
bachelorinngussasunga, bachelorinngussavit, bachelorinngussagaluarpunga etc. with no reduction in hundreds and hundreds of other contexts. As a matter of facts the reduction appears in a total of only 5 wordforms.
So take my advice: Do not attempt to activate the v-dropping feature into your fragile beginner's language. Statistically the amount of instances that trigger the v-deletion is a fraction of the instances where such deletion does not take place so you should simply not waste energy on a detail that does not really matter until you have acquired the general rule that will account correctly for about 80% of all instances of Vb-SSA in running text.
Not to mention the overwhelming likelihood that you will get confused by the 20% exceptions and get lost in the easy 80% on regularly constructed wordforms once you start making more complicated words.