TY - JOUR
T1 - Repititive, iterative and habitual aspectual affixes in West Greenlandic
AU - Trondhjem, Naja Blytmann
N1 - 1949-0763 (Online)
Special Issue: A Tribute to Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen for her 60th birthday
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - In West Greenlandic, there are about 50 to 60 derivational aspectual affixes, and some of them have more than one meaning: a concrete meaning and a temporal meaning. The aspectual affixes are divided into quantitative aspect and phasal aspect. The phasal aspectual affixes are further divided into "inner" phasal aspectual affixes with a verb-modifying function and scope over the verb stem, and "outer" phasal aspectual affixes with a sentence-modifying function and scope over the sentence. Most of the tense affixes are polysemous and also belong to both inner and outer phasal aspects such as -ler begin, be about to, near future. Among the quantitative aspectual affixes, a group of aspectual affixes contain an iterative/habitual/repetitive meaning. Of these, the most general affix is -tar/-sar, which seems to contain iterative, habitual, generic and gnomic meanings. According to Kristoffersen, -sar has a verb-modifying function with scope over the verbal stem, and a sentence-modifying function with scope over the sentence. There are a few other aspectual affixes with meanings that suggest iteration and repeated action, such as -llattaar from time to time, -qattaar repeatedly etc., where the meanings are more concrete, purely aspectual and seem to be only verb-modifying compared to -tar/-sar habitually, which has a more general and tense-like meaning. In this paper, I examine the contexts in which the more concrete iterative/repetitive meanings are used in comparison to the more general repetitive and habitual meanings of -tar/-sar, and the combination of -tar/-sar with other affixes of iteration and repetition.
AB - In West Greenlandic, there are about 50 to 60 derivational aspectual affixes, and some of them have more than one meaning: a concrete meaning and a temporal meaning. The aspectual affixes are divided into quantitative aspect and phasal aspect. The phasal aspectual affixes are further divided into "inner" phasal aspectual affixes with a verb-modifying function and scope over the verb stem, and "outer" phasal aspectual affixes with a sentence-modifying function and scope over the sentence. Most of the tense affixes are polysemous and also belong to both inner and outer phasal aspects such as -ler begin, be about to, near future. Among the quantitative aspectual affixes, a group of aspectual affixes contain an iterative/habitual/repetitive meaning. Of these, the most general affix is -tar/-sar, which seems to contain iterative, habitual, generic and gnomic meanings. According to Kristoffersen, -sar has a verb-modifying function with scope over the verbal stem, and a sentence-modifying function with scope over the sentence. There are a few other aspectual affixes with meanings that suggest iteration and repeated action, such as -llattaar from time to time, -qattaar repeatedly etc., where the meanings are more concrete, purely aspectual and seem to be only verb-modifying compared to -tar/-sar habitually, which has a more general and tense-like meaning. In this paper, I examine the contexts in which the more concrete iterative/repetitive meanings are used in comparison to the more general repetitive and habitual meanings of -tar/-sar, and the combination of -tar/-sar with other affixes of iteration and repetition.
U2 - 10.1080/03740463.2011.735475
DO - 10.1080/03740463.2011.735475
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0374-0463
VL - 44
SP - 64
EP - 76
JO - Acta Linguistica Hafniensia
JF - Acta Linguistica Hafniensia
IS - 1 (2012)
ER -