In this chapter we attempt to draw the lines in your scattered knowledge about nouns. It introduces no real news.
aappaatigut on the other hand
atorfissaqartip- to need him
eqqarsartariaaseq (iqqarsartariaa(t)siq) a way of thinking
erneq/ ernerup a son
ersi- to be afraid
ilami by the way
ilimagi- (ilimagә) to expect it
innaallagissiorfik/ innaallagissiorfiup a power plant
isi (isә) an eye
nakkar- to fall down
niller- tp be cold
nuannari- (nuannarә) to like him
nukik/ nukingup a power
nukik/ nukiup a power
oqaluttuaq a tale
pavani in there/ up there
qaartartoq a bomb
qimarnguik/ qimarnguiup a refuge/ a shelter
qiteq a middle/ a central
qularnar- to be doubtful/ insecure
sana- to build it
sapinngisamik as good as possible
sermersuaq the ice cap
sorsunneq/ sorsunnerup a war
timmisartoq an airplane
tunuliaqut (tunuliaqutә) a background
usi- to carry smt/ to freight
INSTRUMENTALIS-IR verbalizes instrumental case: "to do with N"
N-KU a worn-out N
Vb+(L)LUINNAR to Vb absolutely
Vb-QӘ to Vb much
N-RUJUK a big N
N-RUJUK=SUAQ a very big N
Vb+TARIAQAR to necessarily Vb
Vb+TUQ=RUJUK=SUAQ=U to Vb very much
Vb+TUQ=RUJUK=RUJUK=SUAQ=U - to Vb really, really much
N{-attut} noun in equative case Sg. "owned" by 3.Pl: "like their N"
N{±minik} noun in instrumental Sg. "owned" by 4.Sg: "with his N"
N{-minik} noun in instrumental Pl. "owned" by 4.Sg: "with his N-s"
Vb{+varput} indicative 1.Pl-3.Sg: "we - him"
Vb{+vatit} indicative 2.Sg-3.Pl: "you - them"
Immikkoortumi kingullermi tusarparput Per 1970-imi Pituffimmut suliartortoq. Massakkut Pituffimmiinneranut tunuliaqutaasut ilaat sapinngisamik nassuiassavakka. Oqaluttuassakka eqqumiilaarput aappaatigulli soqutiginaqalutik. Immaqa nuannarissavatit. Piareerpit?
1950-ikkunni 60-ikkunnilu ukiut "sorsunnersuup nillertup" ukiuinik taasarpavut. Tamanna soorunami nalunngilat. Mannali immaqa naluat: Pituffimmi Pituffiullu eqqaani sorsunnersuaq nillertuinnaanngilaq. Nillertorujorujorujussuuvoq.
Pituffik radareqarfiuvoq. Amerikarmiut DEW-line-systemiat (tassa Distant Early Warning) Pituffimmi radarerujussuit ilagivaat. Ilami Pituffik qitiusut ilaattut taasinnaavarput. Immaqa tusarsimavat taamani atomip nukinganik qaartartoqarfiusoq. Perip nammineq isiminik qaartartut taakku inikui takuai. Qularnanngitsumillu eqqaamavat timmisartumik B-52-imik atomip nukinganik qaartartumik usisumik 1968-imi Pituffiup eqqannguani nakkartoqartoq.
Taareerpara Pituffik radareqarfiusoq amerikarmiunut pingaarluinnartoq. Tamanna pissutigalugu amerikarmiut Pituffiup russinit qaartartumeerneqarnissaa ilimagisariaqarpaat - sakkutuut eqqarsartariaasiat malillugu. Ersinerlu tamanna pissutigalugu qimarnguik atorfissaqartippaat. Qimarnguik taanna Camp Centurymik taallugu sanavaat. Camp Century pavanerujussuarmi sermersuarmi illoqarfiuvoq atomip nukinganik innaallagissiorfilik.
The category of case can be a little tricky to deal with because we have so little case left in English. Keep in mind that case does not mean anything so do not try to understand it at a deeper level. Case is just a set of labels that are glued to the words mechanically to help us see what kind of relations a given word has to its neighboring words.
When I say I am tired 'I' is the undersigned and when I say You know me 'me' is the undersigned. 'I' = 'me' semantically but grammar demands of us to make a choice all the time. The undersigned is 'I' whenever subject but 'me' whenever object in English.
It works the same way in Greenlandic. Case is only here to help us keep track of what which words do when.
There are two major cases in Greenlandic and six minor. The major cases are absolutive and relative.
Absolutive (abbr. Abs) does not have endings of its own. Abs is used whenever
the noun is subject for an intransitive verb as in Tika ilinniarpoq ('Tika studies'), Sakkutuut angutaapput ('The soldiers are men') and Illoqarfissuaq Nuummik ateqarpoq ('The big city is called Nuuk')
the noun is object as in Uanga Tika ilinniartittarpara ('I teach Tika'), Qaanaarmiut sakkutuut ilagivallaanngilaat ('People from Qaanaaq did not really keep company with the soldiers') and Illoqarfissuaq soqutiginngilaat ('They did not like the big city').
the noun is an independant time expression as in Aasaq Danmarkimiippugut ('We were in Denmark last summer').
Relative (abbr Rel) has the ending {-p} with the p-stems and the ending {±up} with stems that follow the up-declension. In the plural Abs and Rel coincide. Rel is used whenever
the noun is subject for a transitive verb as in Tikap ilinniartippaanga ('Tika teaches me') and Sakkutuut Qaanaarmiut ilagisarpaat ('The soldiers keep company with people from Qaanaaq').
the noun is possessor as in Tikap ilinniartitai ('Tika's students') and Sakkutuut najugaat ('The soldiers' quarters').
Locative (abbr Lok) means 'in/on N'. The ending is {±mi} after uninflected words as in Nuummi ('in Nuuk') and illumi ('in a house'). It is {±ni} after inflected nouns as in Sisimiuni ('in Sisimiut') and illutsinni ('in our house').
Allative (abbr Trm after latin 'terminalis') means 'to N'. The ending is {±mut} after uninflected nouns as in Nuummut ('to Nuuk') and illumut ('to a house') and {±nut} after inflected nouns as in Sisimiunut ('to Sisimiut') and illutsinnut ('to our house').
Ablative (abbr Abl) means 'from N'. The ending is {±mit} after uninflected nouns as in Nuummit ('from Nuuk') and illumit ('from a house') and {±nit} after inflected nouns as in Sisimiunit ('from Sisimiut') and illutsinnit ('from our house').
Instrumental (abbr Ins) means 'with N' or 'N is an indefinite object' or 'N is an adjective to an incorporated N'. The ending is {±mik} after uninflected nouns as in Nuummik ('Nuuk' in contexts like 'The city is called Nuuk') and illumik ('with a house') and {±nik} after inflected nouns as in Sisimiunik (see the explanation under Nuuk) and illutsinnik ('with our house').
Prosecutive (abbr Via after latin 'vialis') means 'via N'. The ending is {-kkut} after uninflected nouns as in Nuukkut ('via Nuuk') and illukkut ('through a house') and {(ti)gut} after inflected nouns as in Sisimiutigut ('via Sisimiut') and illutsigut ('through our house').
Equative (abbr Aeq after latin 'aequalis') means 'like N'. The ending is {±tut} after all nouns as in Nuuttut ('like Nuuk'), illutut ('like a house'), Sisimiutut ('like Sisimiut') and illutsitut ('like our house').
We introduced the concepts possessor and possessum in chapter 3 and we took it a little further in connection with direction and space in chapter 4. Let us try to draw the overall picture here.
There are no possessive pronouns in Greenlandic (possessive pronouns are words like 'my' 'his' 'our') as we know them from English and most other languages. But Greenlandic has a suite of endings that serves the same purpose as do the pronouns in English.
But before we enter into these endings one basic concept must be crystal clear since we know from experience that it very often confused even though it is not really difficult. So keep in mind that case plays a role all the time. All nouns will always have one of the 8 cases we walked through in the preceding paragraph but personal endings added to the nouns seem to confuse students utterly. So just in case
Tika is Tika whenever she i subject for an intransitive verb or she is object as in Tika ilinniarpoq and Uanga Tika ilinniartittarpara.
Tika is Tikap whenever she is subject for a transitive verb or she is possessor as in Tikap ilinniartittarpaanga and Tikap ikinngutaa ('Tika's friend').
Now the same story with nouns with personal endings. In lesson I-5 we saw the word nuliara (nuliaq+ga ⟹ nuliara). The ending {+ga} tells us that there is only one nuliaq and that she is mine. But there is actually a third piece of information included in the ending namely that nuliara is in the absolutive case. Hence
nuliara can be used exactly as Tika was used above but cannot be used where Tikap was used. Hence nuliara ilinniarpoq and Uanga nuliara ilinniartittarpara are well-formed sentences.
But whenever nuliara is not subject for an intransitive verb or object it cannot be used. We need the ending for Sg+1.Sg possessor+Rel. We need {±ma}
nuliama is accordingly the correct wordform whenever she is subject for a transitive verb or possessor as in nuliama ilinniartittarpaanga ('my wife used to teach me') and nuliama ikinngutaa ('my wife's friend').
And of course will 'my wife' also occur in each of the six minor cases: 'at my wife', 'like my wife', 'with my wife' etc.
Here you get the whole system at a glance. The endings you have met this far are all included.
As you can see we have a mighty 144 combinations of person, case, and number. I know that it looks overwhelming at first but the endings are surprisingly easily learned because they base on a common logical system and exhibit a substantial number of identical endings.
Unfortunately, we cannot refer you to any easy-to-read authoritative presentation of this logic in English but you might want to address my old grammar book in Danish from 1997, Et forsøg til en forbedret grønlandsk pædagogisk grammatica. With a little help from Danish or Greenlandic friends you might be able to struggle your way through the relevant chapter.
For now, all you can do is to make sure that you understand the system and that you are able to perceive and produce the endings you actually learned already safely enough and fast enough. And whenever you in real life need one of the missing ones you must ask a friend and add it into the paradigm yourself!
Singular |
Abs |
Rel |
Lok |
Ins |
Trm |
Abl |
Via |
Aeq |
no person |
Ø |
p |
mi |
mik |
mut |
mit |
kkut |
tut |
my |
ga |
ma |
nni |
|||||
your |
||||||||
his |
a |
ata |
ani |
|||||
his (coref) |
ni |
minik |
||||||
our |
||||||||
your |
||||||||
their |
at |
ata |
anni |
annut |
attut | |||
their (coref) |
Plural |
Abs |
Rel |
Lok |
Ins |
Trm |
Abl |
Via |
Aeq |
no person |
t/it |
t/it |
ni |
nik |
nut |
nit |
tigut |
tut |
mine |
kka |
ma |
||||||
your |
||||||||
his |
i |
|||||||
his (coref) |
minik |
|||||||
our |
||||||||
your |
||||||||
their |
it |
|||||||
their (coref) |
Vb-QӘ means 'to Vb much'. The morpheme has the old schwa as its stem vowel which as usual causes a little turbulence. But there is no way around Vb-. It is very widely used. And of course you can learn to use it once you master your ә-rules. If you are able to handle those rules it should be obvious why 'because I studied hard' is ilinniaqigama from af hhv. /ilinniar-QӘ+gama/ and 'that I have studied hard' is ilinniaqisunga from /ilinniar-QӘ+Tuŋa/.
It is a bit more complicated to understand why the indicative 'I study hard' is ilinniaqaanga from /ilinniar-QӘ+vuŋa/. The explanation lies in the fact that indicative's /v/ (and occasionally also the /v/ from interrogative's modal marker) has a tendency to disappear as we already saw it after Vb-SSA and N+GƏ. /ilinniar-SSA+vuŋa/ ⟹ /ilinniassauŋa/ ilinniassaanga.
With Vb-QӘ the same process is in play. /ilinniar-QӘ+vuŋa/ becoms /ilinniaqәuŋa/ after syncopating the /v/ leaving us with a /ә/ before a vowel. Before vowels /ә/ becomes /a/ so we get /ilinniaqauŋa/ which with progressive assimilation after /a/ reads as ilinniaqaanga.
In chapter 5 we learned that schwa creates some problems in the contemporative mood so that ә becomes /a/ and causes the contemporative modal marker to reduce from {+llu} to {+lu} with only one /l/. This also holds for Vb-QӘ giving us ilinniaqalunga ('me studying hard') instead of expected *ilinniaqillunga.
Do you remember uani ('here') from chapter 6? In today's lesson you find another demonstrative adverb namely pavanerujussuarmi ('far, far away in there'). pavanerujussuarmi is constructed exactly as uani that is a demonstrative root with an ending giving us the spatial or directional information we need.
In uani the root is *uv which has the semantics 'place right here', in pavani (-rujussuarmi is only an enhancement telling us that 'in there' is really far away.) the root is *pav, meaning 'place east of/ higher up inland'.
We have a dozen or so of such demonstrative roots. Each one has its own very specific spatial and geographic domain. As examples we can take *sam meaning 'place west of' and *qam meaning 'place out of sight (for instance 'indoor' if one is outdoor but 'out there' if one is indoor. It will also express 'in there' for instance behind a wall or the like.
The roots take four endings. We ahve already seen {ani} meaning 'in/ on place' as in /uv+ani/ uani 'here' and /pav+ani/ pavani 'there in the east'. In the same way will /sam+ani/ samani mean 'there in west' (could be a whale or a boat on the sea) and /qam+ani/ qamani will be relevant in sentences like 'in there in the dining hall (the speaker not being in the dining hall himself)' or 'out there in the court yard (the speaker being indoor)' and 'in there in the house (the speaker being outdoor)'.
The three endings we have not met yet are {aŋŋa} meaning 'from X', {uŋa} meaning 'til X' and {uuna} that means 'through X'.
With these endings we can make words like
pavani, pavannga, pavunga and pavuuna ('in there (east)', 'from in there', 'in there' and 'via that in there')
samani, samannga, samunga and samuuna ('out there (west)', 'from out there', 'out there' and 'via that out there')
qamani, qamannga, qamunga and qamuuna ('in/on' 'from' 'to' and 'via' that unseen something)
uani, uannga, uunga and ugguuna1 ('here', 'from here', 'to here' and 'via here').
In today's word list you find the morpheme N-RUJUK five times. This is not really neede but because the morpheme is as frequent as it is and because it is as subtle as it is and finally because its use in both nominal and verbal contexts can be a little hard to grasp we deal with it at length here.
Basically, it means 'a big/ much/ vast N' and in combination with SUAQ in the shape of N-RUJUK=SUAQ an even bigger N. And N can expand N almost infinitely by reduplicating the RUJUK-part as much as one wants.
Its nominal nature is, though, a bit complicating when the morpheme is used to express "to Vb extremely much". RUJUK, RUJUK=SUAQ and RUJUK=RUJUK=SUAQ etc. ccan only be added to nouns. Therefore is it an inevitable first step that the verb is made into a noun before adding these morphemes. It is Vb+TUQ which handles the conversion. imer- ('to drink') +TUQ becomes imertoq ('the drinker'). Now the demand is fulfilled and we may add the morpheme to form a word like imertorujussuaq ('a very heavy drinker').
But then what if you need to express 'I drink heavily' which is a verb. The trick is to once again convert the newly formed noun back to a verb by means of the morpheme N-U. Now we can verbalize imertorujussuaq and form a verb like imer+TUQ-RUJUK=SUAQ2-U+vuŋa ⟹ imertorujussuuvunga 'I drink heavily'.
Definiteness is not a category in Greenlandic so to express indefinite nouns in impersonal contexts one must resort to other ways of doing things. For instance in today's text where we needed to express 'There was an airplane that crashed'. To do so we use the morpheme combination Vb+TUQ-QAR. nakkar+TUQ-QAR+vuq ⟹ nakkartoqarpoq 'There was a faller-down'. We will elaborate on this structure in the exercises after the present lesson.
The morpheme Vb+TUQ is pretty simple. It sticks neatly to the T-rules (the ones stating that T ⟹ s after af vowel and T ⟹ t after a consonant.
In the exercise 8-3 you will meet a seeming exception from these rules namely eqqumiip+TUQ forming eqqumiitsoq. But it is not really an exception. Try to say - as you expected - eqqumiittoq and nobody will knit a brow.
That is because the T-rules certainly work according to expectations so the "wrong" wordform we just produced are good enough and as a matter of facts very often heard in exactly the "wrong" shape.
But especially among elders there are a few late rules that work AFTER the basic rules as for instance the T-rules have done their jobs. As one example we can think of the we saw in chapter 6 that says that a /t/ will be /s/ after /i/ (but not after a /ә/ that has become an /i/). You must accordingly look at the trip from aallar+GUSUP+NIR+Tuŋa to aallarusunnersunga as a two-step process:
First the mandatory T-rule: /aallar+GUSUP+NIR+Tuŋa/ makes /aallarusunnertuŋa/. This happens in all speakers without exception. The result is aallarusunnertunga.
Assibilation: /aallarusunnertuŋa/ turns /aallarusunnersuŋa/. This is a fact only among certain speakers. The result is aallarusunnersunga.
It is almost the same that happens with eqqumiitsoq. A number of words contain the same negating element as we have in the negation proper Vb-NNGIT. It has the form Vb-IT. There is a peculiarity specific to this morpheme that it insists on sounding a tiny little s-sound on a following /t/. But as with aallarusunnersunga it is a feature that is not shared among all Greenlanders so once again you must chunck up the process into two phases:
T-rule is mandatory: /iqqumiip+Tuq/ becomes /iqqumiittuq/. All speakers go through this phase. The result is eqqumiittoq.
Optional s-sound after -IT: /iqqumiittuq/ becomes /iqqumiitsuq/. Only certain speakers have this feature. The result is eqqumiitsoq.
I take it that you have wondered why nukik is included twice in today's new words and you most likely wondered how to understadn different declension. It is not a misprint!
You will in the future from time to time come across double forms like nukik where individual wordforms from an earlier linguistic layer have survived with specific endings or with specific meanings whereas the modern variety of the same stem carry all other wordforms and meanings.
up-stems in /k/ as nukik were once inflected with {+up} and {+it} as you know it in modern inflections of words like erneq. It is ernerup, ernerit, and ernera in relative case, plural and with possessor 'his N'. In the same way nukik once was nukingup, nukingit and nukinga.
In time still fewer nouns inflected according to {+up}. The majority now inflect in accordance with {-up} giving us for instance nukiup and nukiit but with possessor the old forms some times survive - most likely only among grown-ups in modern time.
That is the explanation of atomip nukinga which bases on a stem with a {+up} declension in spite of the fact that all other forms of nukik must be understood on the base of a {-up} stem.
We will by the way see another example of the same logic already in chapter 9 where we see two identical spatial stems, old nalik in {+up} and modern nalə in {-p} both meaning 'its counterpart in time, space, value, etc.'. As we will see it, the stems have begun to complement one another. Old nalik has taken over one area of the semantics of 'counterpart' namely the counterpart in economic terms to form semantics like 'value' 'market price' etc. whereas modern nalə handles all other meanings like 'at N's time' or 'altitude of N'.
You will also get an example of old and modern wordsforms existing as parallels and used to keep differenct content apart:
soraar- means 'to stop'. The stem was originally /surair/ with an /i/ in the stem causing the rule from chapter 6, t ⇒ s / i(C) ___, to be active. But in time the old /i/ has been forgotten so if we want to say 'we made him stop' it will be {suraar+TIP+varput} soraartipparput.
But the old wordform with /t/ assibilated to /s/ is still going strong just that it has put on a specific meaning of 'making sby stop' namely 'to fire sby'. soraarsipparput accordingly means 'we fired him' in the modern language.
1There are a few irregular wordforms among the demonstrative adverbs. For instance is /uv+uŋa/ uunga and /uv+uuna/ ugguuna.
2aq in the morphemes N-NNGUAQ, N+SUAQ and Vb+GALUAQ syncopates before morphemes and endings with an initial vowel