Sounds and orthography
The Greenlandic morphemes are written with digits for syntactic class,
and with some other signs which indicate how the morphemes change when they are
concatenated to form words. The rules for concatenation may be formulated in a
simpler way if we start by realising what letter sequences a Greenlandic word
in general may (and may not) contain.
The Greenlandic orthography reflects the language spoken in Central West
Greenland, from Paamiut (Frederikshåb) in the south to Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg)
in the north. Samuel Kleinschmidt created a consistent orthography for this
language and described it in his Greenlandic grammar (1851) and in his
Greenlandic and Danish dictionary (1871, K here). The new Greenlandic
orthography introduced in 1973 is a simplification of Kleinschmidt's which
reflects the modern Greenlandic pronounciation better.
Greenlandic has only three vowels: a, i and u. i,u
are written with the letters e,o when a q or r follows in the same word. The vowels
also occur as long; this is indicated by writing the letter double:
"aa", "ii" ("ee"), "uu"
("oo"). A diphtong "ai" (i.e. long a with
a final component of i) occurs as the last sound in some inflected words.
Two vowels may be immediate neighbours in a Greenlandic word; but not if
they are forms of the same fundamental vowel (a/i/u) or if the first is a form
of a . Two similar vowels fuse into one long, and
"a" + "i,u" -> "aa"
(but "a" + word final "i" -> "ai"). If the
first vowel is long, a separating "v" or "j" is inserted
between them in most cases; "v" is the most common, but "j"
is inserted before u and after "aa" < "a" +
"i", and also between the prefix aa9 and the demonstrative stem av6:
"aajanna". Between i,u and another vowel a
weak j,v is spoken but never written.
There are also a few cases of "i" + "u" ->
"ii". In East Greenlandic, southern Greenlandic and Upernavik in the
north it is a general rule that u -> i when the vowel of the preceding
syllable is not u (nor aa < a+u) and there is no labial consonant (p,m,v)
between them. A consonant with labial component, i.e. from "p" or
"m" + another consonant (see below), will also block this vowel
transition. In southernmost
Greenlandic had originally two vowels i, let us call them i.1 and i.2 . i.1 always occurs as i, but
i.2 (written I or E in the morphs) may disappear between consonants or occur as
"a" before a vowel and in a few other cases. A letter i(,e) when neighbour to a vowel letter is never from i.2 .
Several Eskimo dialects in
Greenlandic has 14 consonants:
labial alveolar velar
front
back
stop
p t k q
nasal m n ng r(ng) [nr]
lateral l
fricative v
s j g r
The stop consonants are pronounced with a complete blocking of the air
stream from the lungs. The nasals have air passage through the nose, and the
lateral has opening by the sides of the tongue. Nasals are always voiced, stops
always unvoiced. Fricatives are spoken with a restriction in the mouth; s is
always unvoiced. j (as in qajaq) would be written y in
English (kayak).
A glottal unvoiced fricative "h" may occur initially in a few
interjections. Its place in the table would be to the right of r in a new
column.
Most consonants also occur long. Length is in general indicated by
writing the letter double:
labial alveolar velar
front
back
stop
pp rp tt rt ts kk
qq
nasal
mm rm nn rn nng
rng [nnr]
lateral ll rl
fricative ff rf
ss rs gg rr
But long ng is written "nng", and long v is written with the
letter f (reflecting the pronounciation, see below). The labial and alveolar
consonants also occur long with an initial component r; this initial component
is heard only as a retracted pronounciation (so-called 'uvularisation') of the
preceding vowel. (Remember that the vowels i,u are
written with the letters e,o when a q or r follows in the same word.) There is
no long j, but instead a long t with affrication (written ts). t is pronounced with affrication before i, and tt -> ts
here always. The lateral and the fricatives are unvoiced and are spoken with a
strong hissing sound (like s) when long.
[nr] and [nnr] are just my proposed signs for
the back velar nasal. Written "rng" usually denotes (long) nnr, which
is the more frequent sound. (Short) nr is written "q-" or
"r" or "rng": "sooq-una = soor(ng)una"
'why (ask about) that = of course'. Some speakers use a nasalized (short) r
instead of short nr.
(Genuine) Greenlandic words end in a vowel or a short stop consonant,
and they begin with one of the same sounds or with a short m/n/s. Two
consonants cannot be neighbours in a genuine Greenlandic word; it is avoided,
or they fuse into one long. In general the result will be a long version of the
last consonant: k + rp = k + (p)p ->
"pp". But if only one of the consonants is p/k/q, you get a long
version of the other: k + l = l + k -> "ll". The result of the
fusion will have an initial component r if the first consonant has it or if one
of the consonants is q: q + l = l + q -> "rl". But m + q and n + q
often -> "rng" [my nnr] instead of "rm" resp.
"rn", probably through a stage m,n + [nr].
The language avoids (1) long consonant + consonant, and also (2) k/q +
velar consonant (in any order). Thus we get (1) "ernerup" ernEq4.#°p0 (e,g), not "ernup" (rn+q) or
"errup" (rn+r) with drop of E = i.2 before the vowel of the
inflexion. And (2) "karra" kangEq4.a0 (e,3ie,n),
probably through a stage kangEra; ng + q would give a long ng with initial
component r, but there is no such sound (note that "rng" denotes
[nnr] or [nr]). A stem final k/q is simply deleted (2) before any suffix or
inflexion whith initial velar consonant (but q + initial g -> "r",
though). It is therefore unnecessary to write "-" between
"." and q or k. And neither between "." and ng if you note
that -k (or possibly -t) + deverbal .ngavoq in some cases gives -nngavoq:
tunngavoq, nipinngavoq.
Some speakers of Central West Greenlandic still distinguish two
consonants s. We may call them s.1 and s.2, as they are written "s"
resp. "ss" in the old orthography (see below). s.2
is a retroflex s.1 when they are pronounced differently. Other Eskimo dialects
have a voiced fricative (j or retroflex z) where Greenlandic has s.2 . It corresponds to apical r in some old loan words,
e.g. "musaq" 'carrot' (compare old Norwegian mura
'Potentilla anserina'). And we have s.2 in some frequent morphemes where the
voiced fricative corresponding to t (i.e. ð = the first sound in English 'the')
would be expected: "igasoq" iga2.Toq4.¤0
(e,n) 'a cook'. "s" as first sound in a
Greenlandic word is s.1 except in the onomatopoeic verbal stem seeq2 'hiss'.
"ts" has s.1 always.
A t in contact with i.1 often becomes s.1 . But
tt after i.1 may -> "ts" instead, and tt before any i ->
"ts" as said above. In North West Greenland (Aasiaat to Uummannaq) rt
doesn't -> rs(.1) however, and before a,u they have
tt instead of "ts". Another characteristic of North West Greenlandic
is that "g" and "ng" both are pronounced as a nasalized (voiced
fricative) g.
The two s-consonants behave differently under gemination, see [Grammar]Concatenation of morphemes (4). "s"
= s.1 (and "j") in general -> ts when geminated:
"natsat" nasaq4.#°t0 'caps'. "s" =
s.2 is not usually changed by gemination: "igasut" iga2.Toq4.#°t0
(f,) 'cooks'. But in a few cases "s" = s.2 -> "ss" (long
s.2): "qissivoq" 'finds a piece of driftwood' ("qisuk"
'[drift]wood'). The stems in files i really consist of
a constant part and a variable part: na saq4, qi zuk4.
When you give a word through the push-button [+-], Ordbogeeraq = (Os)P is shown in Samuel Kleinschmidt's orthography, see
[Guide]The dictionaries. As said above, it uses the sign /ss/ for s.2 . Length may be indicated with an accent over a vowel
letter: /â/ = "aa", /ák/ = "akk", /àk/ (or really with a
tilde: /ãk/) = "aakk". The old orthography has not fully effected the
fusion of adjacent vowels or consonants, so you will meet combinations like /ai
(even inside a word), ae, ao, au/ = "aa", /gk, vk/ = "kk",
/ngm, vm/ = "mm". q,Q are written as /k with
short vertical, K'/. Long l is written with the sign dl: /tdl, gdl, vdl/ =
"ll", /rdl/ = "rl". Word final i,u
(but not "i" in final "ai") is written with the letters e,o
as before the letters q and r in the same word. In some cases a "v"
is written between u and a or i/e.
In Ordbogeeraq /l'/ denotes a retroflex l (compare s.2) from Norwegian
apical r in loan words: /pal'áma/ = "pal'amma" 'lighter' (< pram),
see "usingiaassuaq".