limoneneis wrote:Sorry I don't know how it is in Inuktitut but in Kalaallisut the -u- is used for example for numbers or professions if you want to say "is". It's different from saying "this is ...", but it's used to express a characteristic trait.
illu - house
illuuvoq - it is a house
nakorsaq - doctor
nakorsaavunga - I am a doctor (the u changes to a because of the a in front of it)
inuk - person
inuuvunga - I am a person
But inuuvoq also means "lives, is born", so I guess it can mean both here.
limoneneis wrote:What resources are you using? Do they give a translation for 'inuktunga'? I am not sure what you are asking. Are you looking for a translation for 'I am alive'?
limoneneis wrote:'inuktunga' looks like a different form. I am not sure how it is in Inuktitut but in Kalaallisut -toq/-soq is used to say 'someone who [verb]' or in sentences that would use 'that' in English: He knows that I live.
yaktubu wrote:How does -nngit- negative interact with -[ng]u- copula? Which comes first and how does deletion apply?
So if pinnguaq -> pinnguangujuq, what is 'it's not a game'?
deardron wrote:yaktubu wrote:How does -nngit- negative interact with -[ng]u- copula? Which comes first and how does deletion apply?
So if pinnguaq -> pinnguangujuq, what is 'it's not a game'?
The first comes the copula verb (in Greenlandic it never has the -ng- element) and then the negation suffix.
The stem -nngit- is never used in its 'deep' form, in indicative mood it comes as 'nngila-'.
So altogether it gives pinnguaanngilaq = pinngua-a-nngila-q ('it's not a toy').
(-a- is the phonetic modification of the copula stem -u- which is used after 'a')
yaktubu wrote:Do you know if this 'deep' form business occurs in Inuktitut, or is it only in Kalaallisut? I've only ever heard 3p-s as -nngittuq, so 'pinnguangunngittuq'?
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