New CBB

Part I: Introduction to Greenlandic

Welcome to my Greenlandic lessons!

I'll give you a little bit of background, then, just in case. Greenlandic is an Eskimo-Aleut language spoken in (you guessed it) Greenland, as well as in parts of Nunavut, Canada. There are three major dialects of the Inuit language spoken on Greenland: North Greenlandic, West Greenlandic, and East Greenlandic. All three dialects are alive and well in Greenland, and all three are diverging in various ways. The dialect I will be teaching here is West Greenlandic, as it is the most spoken. (If you are familiar enough with a Canadian Inuit language such as Inuktitut, you might actually find North Greenlandic easier.)

Greenlandic is a polysynthetic language, meaning that its morpheme-per-root ratio is a lot higher than that of English, giving rise to its notoriety for its long words.

But I'm sure you knew that.

Now, I'm sure that many people have looked at examples of Greenlandic and freaked out instantly; it can get scary, especially for a speaker of a European language. So, if you have similar reservations, throw them away.

Approach Greenlandic with an open mind. You do not have to memorize these words on their own. Words are composed of things Greenlandic linguistics refer to as postbases: a blanket term for both suffixes and clitics. The name "postbase" is important, as it hints to that it is only postbases that inflect Greenlandic roots. Yes, everything goes after the root (which is immensely helpful in text parsing). There is one lonely prefix, but it's fossilized and used only in demonstratives for a use that I will cover later when the time comes.

Anyway, what you have to memorize are these very postbases (and roots, of course), because with their help, you'll be building Greenlandic words left and right; it'll be as easy as stacking Legos. The best thing about these postbases is that, even though they're technically derivative suffixes, almost all of them are fully productive.

Also, if you like, you can imagine Greenlandic as an isolating language; just put spaces between the postbases so that each word is easier to grasp. For example, the word inigineqarsinnaasoq "habitable" might be difficult to remember, but if you break it up:
ini-gi-neqar-sinnaa-soq (home-have.as-passive-can-that.which)
...it just turns out to be the English "that which can be had as a home" in a different order of words! Of course, not all Greenlandic words translate as smoothly, but it's a good rule of thumb to take apart words; you'll remember the postbases quicker that way, and it just helps with understanding frighteningly long words anyway. Just remember to take away the spaces when you're writing.

Anyway, now that we've covered the basics, let's get on with the fun stuff, shall we?

(Comments, questions, concerns? Please let me know. Typo corrections are always welcome.)

Disclaimer: I've always wanted to write some fine print. Anyway, I'm not fluent in Greenlandic and I won't pretend to be, so learn at your own risk, as there may or may not be mistakes, although you can be sure that I've done my best to confirm everything from multiple sources so that I don't accidentally teach something wrong. However, for this reason, I won't be using too many conversation examples, as I'm not sure what is stylistically acceptable in modern Greenlandic. Similarly, I barely know any colloquialisms aside from what I've managed to find in informal contexts (such as YouTube and blogs), so don't except much of that. I'll do my best, though.

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

Continue! Continue!

_________________
When scientists in the future speak of our life-time they will say that most of the things, ideas that was possible for us to invent was never invented in our life-time because we hadn't yet invented the words to describe the components.

Caution: < You will see this tag before things I am not sure about. Learn at your own risk.

Part II: Phonology

Vowels

Phonemically, Greenlandic has three vowels: /a i u/. All three can geminate. An important thing to note is that /i/ and /u/ have allophones of /e/ and /o/ before uvular consonants /q ʁ ɴ/. /e/ can be pronounced as either [e] or [ɛ], and /o/ can be pronounced as either [o] or [ɔ]. For example:
illu "house" (note the u)
-qar "have"
-punga "indicative first person intransitive"
If you were tasked to put them together without any prior knowledge of Greenlandic, you would come up with *illuqarpunga. Of course, now you know that /u/ changes to /o/ before uvular consonants, so you would come up with illoqarpunga, which means "I have a house".
Also look at this set of a root and postbases:
neri "eat" (note the i)
reer "already"
punga; you know this one already (if you don't... well, you'll get there <3)!
If you put them together, you should come up with not *nerireerpunga but nerereerpunga, which means "I have already eaten."

Caution: Additionally, /a(:)/ tends to front to [æ(:)] or even [e(:)] at times. /a/ often turns into [e] at the end of a word before a /t/, while /a:/ often turns into [æ:] medially or at the beginning of a word. Aslo, /u(:)/ is often realized as [ʊ(:)] everywhere.


Consonants

Greenlandic has relatively few consonants. All but /j/ can be geminate; a geminate <v> /v/ is written and pronounced as <ff>. The only possible consonant clusters are /rC/. This is a defining feature of West Greenlandic: it has simplified most consonant clusters.

<f> /f/
<ff> /f:/
<g> /ɣ/
<gg> /x:/
<j> /j/
<k> /k/
<kk> /k:/
<l> /ɬ/ after /ʁ/, /l/ elsewhere.
<ll> /ɬ:/
<m> /m/
<mm> /m:/
<n> /ɴ/ after /ʁ/, /n/ elsewhere.
<nn> /n:/
<ng> /ɴ/ after /ʁ/, /ŋ/ elsewhere.
<nng> /ŋ:/
<p> /p/
<pp> /p:/
<q> /q/
<qq> /q:/
<r> /ʁ/
<rr> /χ:/
<s> Optionally /ʃ/ after /ʁ/, usually /s/.
<ss> /ʃ:/ or /s:/. The latter is more common.
<t> /ts/ before and, as a coda, after /i/, /t/ elsewhere.
<tt> /t:/
<ts> /t:s/
<v> /v/

Only /k t p q/ and in rare cases /n/ can end a Greenlandic roots and postbases, as well as words.

Q-tip: if you find it difficult to pronounce /q/, just use a glottal stop. That works most of the time in rapid speech. Make sure to learn how to do it properly eventually, though.

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

I'm gonna' have fun trying to pronounce some of these!

_________________
I speak English and a touch of Gàidhlig.
I am creating a conworld, which I refer to as the Carrion Series, that will contain three languages, Iriex, Dvoen and Maxna.

Pure awesomeness.

_________________
Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

Thanks, guys!

Part II: Phonology, continued.

Allomorphy

At first glance, the combination of postbases might seem highly irregular and unpredictable; may your apprehension be assuaged! Greenlandic postbases just display highly reactive allomorphy. In Greenlandic linguistics, allomorphic consonants in postbases are written with capital letters (also keep in mind that it's easier to not change /i/ and /u/ according to their allophony when glossing Greenlandic). There are some rules that bind all postbases:

(1) Whenever C1 is followed by C2 and is not /q ʁ/, C1 completely assimilates to C2, geminating C2. For example: sinip "sleep" + Vuq "third person indicative" = sinippoq "he/she/it sleeps"
(2) Except word finally, a vowel assimilates to a preceding short /a/. For example: nuna "land" + u "be" = nunaa "be land"
(3) A high vowel is preceded by a glide of opposite frontness when it follows a long /a:/. The back glide is realized as /v/, and the front glide is realized as /j/. For example: igalaa "window" + u = igalaaju "be a window" and igalaa + i "third person possessive and plural" = igalaavi "its windows"
(4) If the affix appears after <q> /q/ and starts with a consonant, the <q> /q/ is realized as <r> /ʁ/. For example: atuaq "read" + Vuq "third person indicative" = atuarpoq "he/she/it reads"

I'll go into the postbases with the specific capital letters later when I introduce a postbase with one.

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

Now that the unavoidable basics are past us, we can move on to actually learning the language!

Part III:

Lesson 1: the Indicative Mood!

Aah, finally. The good stuff.

First, before diving headfirst into the magical world of Greenlandic verbs, let me tell you a little about them. Greenlandic verbs inflect by person (subject, object), polarity, and mood (nine moods, in fact: indicative, interrogative, imperative, optative, conjunctive, participial, past subordinative, future subordinative, and habitual subordinative). Everything else is highly productive derivation.

So with our first lesson we start with the most essential mood, the indicative! Basic! But so useful!

But you already knew that.

Section 1: Intransitives

Let me just list some verbal roots that we can use.

sinip "sleep"
neri "eat"
atuaq "read"

So how do we inflect these bad boys? Easy.

1s: Vunga
2s: Vutit
3s: Vuq (you know what this is supposed to be in actual Greenlandic! I believe in you!)
1p: Vugut
2p: Vusi
3p: Vut

Greenlandic is an intensely pro-drop language. I'll cover when actual pronouns are used later on!

Remember when I said I'd cover capital letters standing for allomorphs when I come to them? Well, the time has come!

That capital V you see there has the following properties, two of which you already know:

(1) If the affix appears after a vowel, V is realized as <v> /v/.
(2) If the affix appears after a consonant, V is realized as <p> /p/.
(3) Whenever C1 is followed by C2 and is not /q/, C1 completely assimilates to C2, geminating C2.
(4) If the affix appears after <q> /q/ and starts with a consonant, the <q> /q/ is realized as <r> /ʁ/.
(5) When the subject is the third person plural, V is realized as <pp> /p:/ after a vowel and <p> /p/ after a consonant. (Thank you, Omzinesý!)

So where does that leave us? Let's see. Let's take neri. How would that be conjugated? Take a guess before looking at the answer.



Okay, now, what about sinip?



And finally atuaq.


Think you can do some by yourself? Try masak "be wet", taku "see", and atsiq "name". You can post the conjugations if you want.

Vocab list:
atuaq "read"
atsiq "name"
masak "be wet"
neri "eat"
sinip "sleep"
taku "see"

Tune in next time for some hardcore indicative polypersonal agreement! Make sure you've memorized these endings before you start the next section.

This is my first set of lessons on anything ever, so please tell me what I can do better if you notice anything. Also I'm open to suggestions on what to include next.

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

Okay, here's my attempt at conjugating these three verbs.

For masak:


For taku:


For atsiq:

Torerpoq! Correct!

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

I do like Inuit languages.

_________________
초보

You have a mistake there or then it's a dialectal difference, but my Greenlandic grammar says the pl3 is neripput.
By the way, it has the same example verbs.

Sorry, but I'm confused here. Could you please make it clearer for me when <t> is pronounced /ts)/?

_________________
そうだ。死んでいる人も勃起することが出来る。
俺はその証だ。

Yes, you are absolutely right. It is always -(p)put in the third person plural no matter what stem it is. I'll be fixing it immediately.



Yeah, sorry, it wasn't a very good explanation.

<t> is pronounced as /ts/ after an /i/ (<ti>) or at the end of a word after /i/ (<...it#>).

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

‹ti› is not a /t/ after an /i/, it's an /i/ after a /t/ (a /t/ before an /i/). ;e

Great job!

_________________
= | = | = | = | = | =
‹› · Ḿḿ Ńń Ĺĺ Śś Źź Ąą Ǫǫ Ųų Æ̨æ̨ Ǽǽ Œ̨œ̨ Œ́œ́ Ɣɣ Y̋y̋ Įį Şş Z̧z̧ θ
Āā Ēē Īī Ōō Ūū ↗ Ṭṭ C̣c̣ Łł Ḍḍ Ṣṣ Ẓẓ Ṇṇ Ŋŋ e˞ o˞ ʷ ʲ ʰ ə

Here are my attempts att conjugating the verbs.

Masak


Taku


Atsiq (Atseq?)

_________________
そうだ。死んでいる人も勃起することが出来る。
俺はその証だ。

Yes Dx



All of that is correct, except for the third person plural of taku, though I don't blame you, as I forgot to add the rule in before people read the lesson... The rule for this is rule 5 on the list:



Also, I write all roots and postbases in their most basic form according to Greenlandic linguistic glosses, so even though you probably will see atser most of the time in Greenlandic, I will write atsiq. I feel that glossing words as they appear in text distracts from the morphology.

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

Lesson One: the Indicative Mood!

Section Two: Transitives

Here we go! This is what we've all been waiting for! Or not. But whatever.
So you've learned to conjugate every verbal root in Greenlandic there is (they are all [mostly <3] regular, after all!) in the intransitive indicative mood, but how would you say, for example, "I see you"? This is where Greenlandic bipersonal agreement comes in play. In one verb you can include both the subject and object; and this isn't even a conlang where you get to use exciting features, this a natural language you can actually speak!

Well, I mean... I found that to be exciting, personally.

Anyway, let's get started. There are a couple of things you need to know about the indicative transitive postbases:

(1) They all start with Va.
(2) V is realized exactly as it is in indicative transitive, except:

• nothing weird happens in the 3p forms
• V disappears when the root ends in a <u> /u/

(3) Endings that are fused subject and object agreements are added on to the Va (as is the case for all other moods). Va is thus called the mood marker for transitive indicative verbs. (Va is not a complete postbase on its own.)

Okay folks, hold on to your hats, because shit's about to go down!



These are the subject-object endings. Like I said before, you just stick them onto Va and you're good to go!

To use the table, first find your desired subject in the column, then match it up with the object in the row. Ø means that the form doesn't exist. (I'll tell you how to say "I see myself" in due time!)

If you're already feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of memorizing eight different tables of subject-object agreement forms, then let me tell you: it doesn't take long at all to memorize. Of course, no one says you have to memorize them all at once, but all you have to do is expose yourself to some Greenlandic occasionally and look for recognizable forms. Plus, intermodal bipersonal agreement endings tend to be similar, so if you've learned one the indicative table, for example, you will have an easy time learning the subordinate mood endings, hands down!

Now, since asking you guys to grind tables bipersonal agreement tables would be silly, I'll give you a couple of things to translate:

"We see thee." (heehee)
"I write it."
"You give [to] them."
"He forgets it."
"They learn it."

Here are the roots so you can do the translations: allat "write", tuni "give to", puiguq "forget", ilip "learn".

Tune in next time for Lesson 2: Babby's First Derivational Postbases!

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons

I'm not sure these will be absolutely correct, but here's a try based on what I do know:

Here're my answers.



Hope they're correct.

_________________
そうだ。死んでいる人も勃起することが出来る。
俺はその証だ。

Addendum to Lesson One

As I was romping around Unilang's Aleut-Inuit language section, I noticed a comment made by someone. According to this comment, without any derivational postbases to show otherwise, verbs are automatically perfective. So more probable translations for all of the example verbs I've given so far should be in the present perfect.

Keep this in mind when translating Greenlandic texts. That is all.

_________________
sup

---

have some lessons